Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 116: Disappeared in Place

Not long ago, outside the Church of Silence.

Oliver guarded vigilantly in front of Virgil and Colestoro. After Aurorae noticed the abnormality of the Church of Silence, he only stayed in place for a few minutes and then moved on. It seemed that the camouflage array was successful, or the other party noticed something and decided to ignore them.

The figure that was getting smaller in their field of vision was no longer simply moving forward. He held the hilt of the big sword behind him firmly in his hand. The color of the armor was similar to the color of the great sword. Looking at it from a distance, Aurorae’s right arm seemed to grow a strange and abrupt hyperplasia.

Clenching the hilt of the sword in his hand, Oliver hesitated a little. According to Colestoro’s memory, counting the first time, Aurorae should have come to apply the seal for the third time. He just followed the agreement and tried to use the seal to lessen Colestoro’s pain as much as possible, but now that Colestoro had been taken out of the church by them, Aurorae had no need to move forward.

“Shall we inform him…?” He turned tentatively to Virgil.

“He knows,” Virgil shook his head and said in a dry voice. “Even I can feel it. The cracks in the law have opened, and Colesi’s body is falling back into the abyss. If he only had this purpose, he would never move on.”

But not only did Aurorae stay, he even made a posture to prepare for battle.

“Does he have any gripes with the Abyssal Church?” Oliver knew very little about that weird-tempered superior demon killer.

“I can’t guess what that Lord is thinking,” Virgil looked at the person in his arms. His tone was still mixed with a bit of vigilance but had eased a lot. “Even among superior demons, Aurorae is the one with the most eccentric temper… Personally, I’m very grateful for everything he’s done for Colesi, but I suggest you don’t intervene.”

“But if we leave it alone…”

“If Aurorae only relies on common sense to act, it’s best to unite with other surface religions, but I assure you that no matter you, me, or other surface churches; once they approach rashly, they will only be killed.” Virgil stroked Colestoro’s long hair.

“He’s the first superior demon to appear on the surface in recorded history. I have studied his intelligence for a while, and in recent years, Aurorae’s power has been constantly weakening… In this case, he insists on provoking a battle, so he must have some thoughts about it.”

The church sank by about a fifth. Countless black smoke appeared out of thin air and then condensed into an army. The open space in front of the church became crowded in an instant as the Knights of Silence drew out their bone swords one after another and rushed towards Aurorae, who was standing alone in front of them. The actions of the Knights of Silence were almost silent, which made the atmosphere of this bloody battle even more strange. There was only the sticky sound of flesh and blood being spilt; no dull hum or screams.

Aurorae wielded a big sword. With every swing, it reaped several lives. His movements were ruthless and accurate. The trajectory of the great sword swept through space as black spells were thrown out. The wind wrapped around the blade of the sword, making the harsh sound of silk being torn, and directly shattered the black helmet of the Knights of Silence. All the while, blood and internal organs splattered the ground and covered Aurorae’s breastplate, but the latter remained indifferent, as if he wasn’t chopping the flesh and blood of people, but rather some kind of succulent plant.

Even if Virgil claimed that this wasn’t Aurorae’s peak level, the momentum was still terrifying. If Nemo’s sense of oppression was like being buried deep in the soil and giving people the illusion of being choked to death, then Aurorae’s was more like thorns all over the skin, bringing dampness and tingling deep into one’s bones.

He could be sure with just a glance that he was not yet a match for Aurorae.

Oliver suddenly had a strange sense of familiarity, and the indifference of the ancient demon didn’t stem from contempt or arrogance. Aurorae’s aura was relaxed and casual, like that of a gardener hired by an inn; he skillfully sprayed the pesticides to remove the insects from the garden. The dying bugs fell on the soil in pieces, twitching.

However, a gardener wouldn’t feel sad or joy because of such a scene, just like the current Aurorae.

At this point, Virgil shouldn’t have provided him with false information to deliberately mislead him. That meant that Aurorae wasn’t an object that couldn’t be communicated with on normal terms. This type was the most dangerous.

Oliver added a few more camouflage arrays around him. He instinctively lowered his body’s center of gravity. The center of the battlefield was not far away, and it wasn’t a good idea to rush out to find Ann right now. The timing of the operation was very clear. When the armies of the other surface religions appeared, he would take advantage of the chaos between the three groups and escape. If he guessed correctly, in the absence of communication, everyone would reconvene at the same place.

Their original campsite. It was far and safe enough.

Oliver adjusted his breathing and stared at the sinking church. Although he knew in his heart that Nemo would be fine, he couldn’t help but feel his heart tighten with worry. Nemo’s mood hadn’t been very good during the period before they separated. Oliver could perceive the surging pain under the calmness.

If it weren’t for the circumstances that didn’t allow it, he really didn’t want the other party to face this alone.

The sleepy Colestoro suddenly let out a muffled hum, and Virgil, who was easily holding him, knelt to his knees. Oliver’s scalp exploded and rushed over as quickly as possible. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Virgil said reluctantly. His knees were kneeling against the soft soil. “We are just weakening… Mr. Light is probably disconnecting the flesh from the body. But this…” Even if Colestoro’s contract was incomplete, it wouldn’t be easy to disconnect. That meant that Nemo Light was not only more powerful than Aurorae, but he also had an amazing understanding of the origin of magic.

At least on the surface, such superior demons have never been recorded.

“Mr. Ramon,” Virgil gasped for a moment and lowered his voice, “Aurorae may have gone to Mr. Light.”

Originally, Virgil believed that Nemo Light could lift the seal, and to some extent, he exploited the weakening of Aurorae’s power, but now he wasn’t sure. If he was stronger than Aurorae’s during his peak… This kind of power is enough to disrupt the order on the surface.

Oliver’s movements suddenly stiffened, and he frowned. Virgil thought he would rush over to support his lover, but the young leader of Tumbleweed took a few deep breaths. “Your power is weakening… Can you still fight now?”

“I’m afraid it’s not much better than an ordinary person.” Virgil shook his head. “But you don’t need to worry about me. The camouflage array can still protect us. If you need to find Mr. Light—”

“I promised him,” Oliver’s voice was hoarse. “Nemo doesn’t like conflicts. Even if he fights Aurorae, he can escape with his strength. I promise him I will take care of you and send you out safely.”

He made a promise. Oliver thought he couldn’t do it; to leave the client who had lost his powers behind and go to Nemo to appease his “worries”.

“Let’s leave now.” Oliver glanced at the huge bony hand behind Virgil. As Virgil’s power weakened, he could feel the strong demonic aura around him. “If your power is weakened to this point, we have to leave before the troops from the other religions arrive. It’s better to be discovered by the Abyssal Church than to be discovered by them.”

Virgil stared at Oliver with complicated eyes and was silent for a long time before he nodded. He put Colestoro on his back and signaled that he was ready.

Oliver propped up the protective cover and rushed out of the camouflage array.

The start went smoothly. Thanks to the superior demon aura that leaked out from the two of them, they didn’t encounter any trouble from the guardian demons. They hurried through the dead woods as Oliver ran to the destination in his memory, leaving the bloody smell of the battlefield behind.

Suddenly, a burst of white light swept across the land under his feet, and there was a tremor of death.

Things were about to get worse.

Several screams came from far away. Virgil paused for a moment and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Oliver raised his Rest in Peace and looked around vigilantly. No problem, he repeated desperately to himself. They were already close to their destination, and they could even see the lush green on the edge of the dead land. It was far from the center of the battlefield, and other religions wouldn’t invest their troops in such a place…

His judgment was correct. There was only one team wandering there, but it wasn’t the Knights of Judgement he was familiar with.

They held up blue and white flags, and their cloaks were clean and pure dark blue. Several of them were half kneeling on the ground, inserting their broad swords deep into the soil. Wave after wave of white fluctuations spreads along the surface, like ripples on a lake.

“Willard’s Mooney Sect,” Virgil said in a low voice, firmly supporting a camouflage spell. “This is the junction of the three kingdoms. They won’t let the Laddism Church take advantage of it alone.”

“Characteristics?” Oliver held his breath and hid behind a scorched trunk. On the trunk of the tree above his head, a few surveillance bugs crawled slowly, almost integrated with the dark branches.

“They are good at guarding and restraining.” Virgil’s movements are still sharp. “Unlike the Knights of Judgment, who focus on attacking, this group is sticky like gum and is difficult to get rid of. It’s best not to fight them.”

During their conversation, a demon worshiper was discovered not far away. One of the knights, who had a solemn expression, raised his hand and threw out a few pieces of silver metal. They clung to the struggling demon worshiper like maggots to his ankle, and blue arcs of light flickered around him. Within a few seconds, he disappeared in place, leaving only a lone demon. The next second, it was nailed to the mud by a broad sword.

“What is that?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen it before.” Virgil’s expression was serious, “Mooney’s techniques are much more secretive than the Laddism Church, so their information is difficult to get.”

They were so close. Oliver could even smell the fresh vegetation not far away. If he was the only one, he could probably put up a fight, but considering he had a demon warlock who had lost his combat powers with him, it was safer to hide quietly. Unfortunately, they hid stiffly for nearly half an hour, but the knights didn’t have any intention of moving at all.

They were guarding the array, and it was too passive to go on like this.

“I’ll make a move in a while,” Oliver said softly. “I’ll use my greatest strength to create an explosion. It may be a bit uncomfortable for you, but it can temporarily force back that group for a while. Mr. Virgil, you should know where we first made camp. They seem to be guarding the array and will not pursue you desperately.”

“What about you?”

“I will catch up later. They can’t trap me.”

“…Thank you.” Virgil lowered his head solemnly.

Oliver grinned at him. He didn’t hesitate anymore, and directly pointed the Rest in Peace towards the sky.

This time he didn’t suppress his strength.

Cold blue-white beams of light rushed straight into the sky. With the bone sword as the center, waves of violent fluctuations like explosive winds shook around. The force left a lone passage that allowed Virgil to carry Colestoro on his back and rush through.

“It’s a demon warlock!” a knight yelled, but most of them were firmly nailed in place by the cold force and were unable to move forward a single step.

A few were still able to move. They rushed towards the fleeing Virgil, and the magic array suddenly spread out and broad swords swung towards the two of them.

However, the swords were blocked by a slender bone sword.

Oliver put his helmet back on to hide his face. He waved the Rest in Peace, unreservedly exuding a fighting spirit, and firmly blocked the group to one side. This “Knight of Silence”, who didn’t use abyssal magic, plunged the knights of the Mooney Sect into temporary chaos, but that didn’t last long.

“It’s a move from the Laddism Church!” the knight closest to Oliver shouted. “What the hell is this?”

Oliver closed his mouth tightly in his helmet; every nerve in his body tense. Countless pieces of metal shining with silver light flew towards him but they were all shot down to the ground.

The leader of the group of knights hissed after a burst of sparks from the collision of weapons, “You’re not a Knight of Silence. No matter who you are, we formally warn you—please stop. You’re sheltering a demon warlock, and according to the surface agreement, you’ll be convicted of the ‘crime of not fighting’.”

Oliver didn’t answer.

The demonic aura had not disappeared yet. He had to delay a while longer while Virgil escaped further.

Oliver drew his Rest in Peace in a semicircle in front of him. Its pure and majestic power repelled the three knights who rushed up. He didn’t think carefully as the knowledge Adrian Cross had taught him turned into instinct in this moment. The broad swords of the opposite knights were staggered from the blow, and even cracks started to appear. His spare hand kept drawing magic arrays, resisting the restraint props and spells that were thrown at him.

His coordination ability was terrifying. Under the stormy attack, the knights of the Mooney Sect were completely repelled, but no one had any serious injuries. The knights who had been on the battlefield knew that their opponent had done this on purpose; whether he did it out of kindness or ridicule, it was a desperate suppression of strength.

On the scorched branches, the surveillance bugs flew quietly, like a few pieces of ash that occasionally floated by. They approached the mud, picked up a piece of metal with a faint blue light, and then disappeared into the air.

“Priority is given to guarding the formation.” Seeing that the long struggle had no effect, the knights of the Mooney Sect decided to change their strategy. “Use the drift net to deal with him!”

Although he didn’t know what the “drift net” was, Oliver instantly found that the opponent’s offensive had weakened. Now that Virgil’s aura was so far away that he couldn’t detect it, he simply turned around and ran away.

Then he guessed the meaning of the drift net.

Two knights followed him from a distance that wasn’t far or near. They were sticky as spider silk, and it was difficult to get rid of them. He didn’t want to kill them, so he had to circle as hard as he could and shoot down those piecemeal harassing attacks. As time passed, Oliver’s speed became faster and stronger without showing any fatigue or omission.

He didn’t know how long it took, but the knights of the Mooney Sect seemed to realize they couldn’t take advantage of the supposedly decrease in stamina and decisively retreated.

After making sure that no one was following him, Oliver finally ran to his destination with confidence. Mr. Cross and Dylan weren’t there yet, but Ann had arrived at the camp early. The female warrior was taking care of their client, and for some reason, her expression wasn’t very good-looking.

Seeing Oliver coming back, Virgil struggled to stand up and bowed solemnly. He took out a gold coin from his pocket and put it in Oliver’s hand. “I know it’s not enough at all,” Virgil said in a deep voice. “If you have anything you need help with…”

“You’re too polite. This is a deal, and we’re just following the rules of the guild.” Oliver tugged the corner of his mouth, put the gold coin in his pocket, and turned his gaze to the bird nearby. The weird one-legged bird was flapping its wings beside Virgil, screaming unpleasantly. Oliver looked at the bird carefully for a moment, only to feel that all his hairs were about to stand up.

Virgil frowned. “…Are you sure nothing is following you?”

“No.” Oliver shook his head, still staring at the bird. “Why do you say that—”

A blue arc of light flashed across his fingertips. Oliver was startled and looked down at his hands. Ann took the crystal piece out of her pocket, opened her mouth slightly as if she wanted to say something…

In the subtle buzzing of insects, the world in front of Oliver instantly changed, and the unique discomfort of being teleported hit him instantly.

He didn’t even have time to think.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 115: Bad News

The church was collapsing at an accelerated speed. The sound of stone cracking was extremely harsh. The ground fell more and more rapidly, and as stone chips and dust continued to leak from the ceiling of the underground hall, Ulysses’ skeletal stone carving began to gradually collapse. The hideous cracks crept to the stone and brick floor, and the scene was as dark as the end of the world.

The superior demon who had just descended to the surface was crying. It wasn’t out of stinginess or grief. It was more like an instinctive reaction after losing all hope in an instant. The woman’s black skirt was scattered on the ground, and the several faces on her head were gone, leaving only an elegant and beautiful face behind. That should be what the Bishop of the Abyss should have looked like when she was still a human.

But it was now only Hagen Ingram’s body in name.

At the moment the contract was completed, the demon’s flesh would overtake the brain of the dependent and completely crush the original brain. The Bishop of the Abyss a few minutes ago was indeed no longer alive. She had disappeared quietly, with her answer.

“…She figured out the ‘truth of the existence of the Demon King’?” Nemo ignored the collapsing building. He stiffly loosened the preacher’s collar and walked towards the superior demon, who was paralyzed on the ground. “Tell me.”

“I don’t know!” the beautiful superior demon cried, crawling into the distance without any direction. If the previous Hagen Ingram had a fox-like temperament, the current demon was more like a frightened rabbit. Though her body was the same, she looked flustered and neurotic, as if she would collapse at any moment. “I only have the knowledge and memory of that human. It’s impossible to know what her specific thoughts were!”

“I understand, but is there no sign at all?” Nemo tried hard to suppress the trembling in his voice. He didn’t like the other party’s reaction of fear. She looked so scared, as if he would chew her into pieces in the next second. “Impossible.”

“She only said, ‘The law has not been broken’,” the superior demon sobbed, shrinking like she was about to freeze to death. “At that moment, she thought she had gotten a satisfactory enough answer, and the contract would naturally be completed. It’s really not me—”

Nemo shook subconsciously.

He did confirm his identity, and currently he had all his own memories, plus a little bit of fragments of Ulysses’ memory. The books in the Abyssal Church were all put into his mind, but even so, he didn’t question Bagelmaurus’ previous speculation. The law came from cognition, and he was able to erase his cognition and was able to leave. This was a relatively ambiguous explanation, but it barely made sense in theory.

However, Hagen Ingram wasn’t an empty-headed fool. She participated in the crusade and even climbed to the position of Bishop of the Abyss. According to the level of obsession by the Abyssal Church with the Demon King, her inference was obviously more valuable than Bagelmaurus’. The new information that the Bishop of the Abyss got was limited to only two points. He was on the surface, and he didn’t know why.

Referring to Adrian Cross’ first reaction,

[A complete superior demon cannot descend to the surface. This is the iron-clad rule.]

If the law wasn’t broken… then what exactly was he? Was there anything behind the “incomplete” him?

Unfortunately, the Bishop of the Abyss who had the answer was no longer alive, and no one could answer him. There were too many thoughts rampaging in his mind, like sharp nails shaking around in his flesh. Colestoro’s body was about to fall back into the Abyss, and Nemo could even feel the strange pull radiating from the cracks, as well as the illusion-like warmth.

Nemo stood in place. Behind him was a crazed believer who had fallen into madness, and in front of him was a demon who was stunned. The others in the church had withdrawn, and a bad premonition climbed onto his back like a swarm of poisonous spiders. Nemo gritted his teeth, and he directly grabbed the demon warlock who was still kneeling. At the same time, the intertwined cracks tore the floor apart, revealing an ominous fire.

The superior demon in the long black dress sat on one of the broken floors as the fragile rock was rapidly turning into a walnut-size piece. She seemed to have forgotten how to move, and she was about to fall back into the Abyss.

Nemo stretched out his hand to her. “Grabbed on!” His mind was blank as he shouted intuitively.

But the superior demon didn’t move. Tears kept flowing down her face. In the increasingly strong gravity of the Abyss, she finally moved her finger…

An incomplete and weak protective cover separated the two.

Nemo knew that he could smash it with his hand, but it made his arm suddenly heavier, and he hesitated for a moment. At that moment of hesitation, the superior demon moved to the edge of the collapsed slate and threw herself into the Abyss.

“Don’t come over.” Her voice trembled, full of fear, and it could be heard amongst the sound of debris collapsing around her.

Her figure was instantly engulfed by the cracks.

Nemo stopped breathing and stared at the burning crack for a second. He then cut open a space, grabbed the collar of the demon warlock, and immediately left the Church of Silence. They landed in a scorched open space behind the church. The sound of bombardment and the roar of magic arrays suddenly poured into his ears. The sound of a battle of the distant army came with the wind. Most of the demon worshipers who escaped from the church ordered their demons to rush to the battlefield, while a small number scattered and plunged into the scorched forest, not knowing what to do.

Before the ruins of the church completely sank, Nemo tore open a rift for the last time and fished out his staff from the cell. In the next second, the peeled spire of the church was completely swallowed by the cracks and the land aggregated like a liquid.

The Church of Silence had completely disappeared from the surface.

The corpses that were guarding the entrance to the church were scattered all over the place, and surveillance bugs flew frantically over the remaining ruins. The sun shone down unconsciously, making the metal staff warm to the touch. Everything in front of him revealed a dreamlike erratic and a false sense of absurdity. Nemo’s perception was no longer keen—rather no longer too keen—and his spirit didn’t allow him to feel it carefully.

He gasped hard, as if he was going to drown in this vast open space with plenty of air. He pressed all his weight on the staff so that he wouldn’t fall down.

“Don’t mention today’s affairs to anyone.” Nemo finally settled his mind and turned his face toward the demon warlock with only a mouth for a face. “I’m very sorry. Just in case… I have to put a silence spell on you.”

Nemo murmured something. A black spell wrapped around the demon warlock’s body like silk. It was a modified silence spell that would not cause substantial harm to the bound but would forcibly stop their actions when they were about to leak. Honestly, Nemo didn’t like this kind of one-sided forced seal, but he had to end the matter here as soon as possible…

Nemo didn’t want to stay here any longer. His uncontrollable thoughts upset him. If he didn’t find a place to relax again, he may have really collapsed for a moment because he couldn’t accept it.

Of course, the emotional breakdown wasn’t a big deal. Everyone had been overwhelmed by anger, sadness, or despair. They just needed to break something, scream or cry, and just vent.

But he couldn’t do it now.

Nemo knew better than ever before what his power represented.

Destruction was much simpler than repair. He firmly believed that he couldn’t afford the price of losing control of his strength and emotions. Just maintaining his calmness now was almost exhausting all his mental energy. The demon warlock a few steps away quietly maintained a half-kneeling posture until the dark spell disappeared into his body. After that, he raised his head slightly and let out a sigh.

Nemo turned around, not intending to have any more conversation with the other party. His eyes were sour, and there seemed to be a poisonous thorn stuck in his throat. The metal staff in his hand poked into the dark, dead ground, bringing up a little smelly mud. He lowered his head and stared at the ground, stopping for a few seconds at each step, trying to suppress the crazy tumbling emotions in his heart.

Then he saw blood. The bright red liquid came from behind and wetted his soles.

He didn’t want to see it, he thought, but he had to go back and confirm it.

The preacher was still kneeling there. A black erosion spell had already eroded his heart. Blood gushed out of his body from an incurable wound.

“I won’t divulge any of it.” He still had a happy and weird smile on his face. “My Lord… I’ll never add burdens to your plan.”

The red blood flowed into the soil and was immediately sucked in by the land, turning into disgusting black-red mud. The preacher was still half kneeling as the erosion spell was constantly gnawing at him. His body maintained that posture as it rotted and disappeared at a terrifying speed.

Until it all turned into pus and blood.

He didn’t want to kill that person. Nemo stopped forcibly as he supported his body with his staff. He had lost his last strength, and he slowly sat down on the empty, dead ground.

“I didn’t want to kill you.” He stretched out his finger into the wet soil and slowly tightened it. “Because I don’t know who you are, what your desire was to give your life to this. I don’t want to judge you based on your identity…” Just as I don’t want to judge myself based on my identity.

But the preacher was dead, and he couldn’t answer him either.

Nemo let the hem of the robe soak in the blood and stick to the mud. The whole world swept towards him at this moment, and the pain seemed to be quietly crushed, like a scream that couldn’t be heard.

Yes. It’s very quiet now.

This was a strange world, Nemo thought. In the not-so-distant past, he was weak and ordinary, and wasn’t worth mentioning at all. A drunken thug, a bloodthirsty beast, a galloping carriage; he could easily die from any of them. Even so, he would get up on time for breakfast, followed by work, and would talk to people. When night fell, he would quietly go to sleep.

Every day. In a small town with troubled times, he embraced a stable life like that, living smoothly and steadily. He didn’t need anyone’s help and he didn’t need anyone.

And now no one in the world could hurt him. Everything was soft and fragile. Even if the world was destroyed by fire, he would be the one who could survive in the end. He possessed absurd, crazy, and unreasonable power. He began to try to hold on to the people around him and finally turned everything into futility.

He had never felt so helpless.

This is inevitable, isn’t it?

He didn’t have the strength to escape, so he had to face the cruel facts. His favorite mercenary group, Oliver’s father’s mercenary regiment—their legends accompanied him through countless boring afternoons. He once lamented and was inspired by them because they made him smile.

Kind, powerful, and interesting heroes.

And they were almost completely annihilated by Ulysses—that was to say, they were destroyed by him.

He didn’t even know why, whether he was the perpetrator or the victim, or both. He didn’t remember his mood at that time. He didn’t remember their deathbed. Naturally, the Tin Soldiers mercenary regiment wasn’t the only group. From the so-called first-generation Demon King… No, since then, how many people had he killed? How many times had he been killed?

He probably never counted it himself. Perhaps only by restoring his memory could he find all the answers.

But now he… dared not.

This pain may be in his calculations. The former “Demon King” may be looking forward to his choice to restore his memory under the pressure of pain. The thoughts and memories accumulated over tens of millions of years were extremely heavy. Could the “sensibility” of more than twenty years really withstand it? No one believed that he had no other plans, not even himself. Would a life as powerful as this make such a sophisticated plan without a purpose?

He couldn’t think about it anymore. He must bear it, and before making sure that his “former self” was not malicious, he could not escape from this pain and doubt. The only thing he could control now was the “current self”.

Don’t run away. Don’t collapse. Don’t give up.

With trembling hands, Nemo drew the gold pendant to the outside of his robe. The golden metal glistened under the warm sun. Then he grabbed the only remaining blood-stained communication crystal chip.

He had to tell Oliver. Tell him everything, just as he had decided in advance. The calculated time should be almost up. He would go to his side and then make sure that there was another person—that person that would never leave him.

Like someone dying from thirst, reaching out for that last water source in the desert…

There was a small cracking sound. Nemo almost accidentally crushed the crystal chip. He twisted it carefully, and his breathing became rapid in an instant.

But the voice he was waiting for didn’t sound.

“Nemo,” Ann’s voice appeared with a bit of ominous caution. “How are you over there? You’d better come here soon.”

Ann was usually efficient when communicating. She rarely hesitated when speaking, but this time there was a short pause before she continued.

“Something has happened to Oliver.”

Don’t run away. Don’t collapse. Don’t give up.

…Don’t despair.

“I’m fine.” His voice was hoarse. Nemo clenched his arm holding the staff, embedding his nails into his flesh. Warm blood penetrated the black robe in an instant. “…I’ll come to you right away.”

As soon as his voice fell, the crystal chip couldn’t bear the burden and turned into powder in his palm.

…The dying traveler in the desert that stretched out his hand to the last water source could only grab a handful of yellow sand.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This arc is over. Get ready for some angst. Ahhh, poor Nemo.

Just to provide a summary of this arc for clarity for those who are confused:

Colestoro is a superior demon that was dragged up forcefully from the Abyss. However, the laws of nature state that superior demons cannot come to the surface in their original form, so only a part of Colestoro (similar to Pandorater) was pulled out. Unlike Pandorater, however, whoever dragged him out couldn’t tame him (because he’s a fully grown demon that has already developed thoughts and feelings). Because they couldn’t utilize him and because he’s a superior demon, they decided to destroy him instead, but they couldn’t fully kill him, leaving behind a part of his body that was rotting and dying on the surface. Thus, for years, Colestoro suffers the pain of part of his body dying on the surface.

600-700 years ago, when the Trent Plague was spreading across the land, ordinary humans came to his rotting bones to find a cure for it and fed the sick with his remaining flesh that was still on the bones. Out of all of the bodies that ate the flesh, one survived and allowed his consciousness (or soul) to occupy the body. However, because of the Trent Plague symptoms, the body his flesh occupied no longer had brain capacity, so he couldn’t propose a “deal” with it, which meant the “contract” was incomplete. While Colestoro occupies the body, his soul is still bound to his original body in the Abyss and the surface.

Aurorae then gave him two options. He could consume his own flesh and become “free” so that he could take revenge on humans (since they were the ones that put him in this situation in the first place). Then he would be consumed by madness, and Aurorae would kill him, and he would die in excruciating pain and agony as his consciousness returned to his original body, or Aurorae would apply a seal to his original body and put him to sleep, which would alleviate some of the pain.

At first, Colestoro wanted revenge, until he met Virgil. Colestoro sees Virgil as a way for him to escape his original body and his current incomplete contract. He “befriends” Virgil in hopes that Virgil would make a deal with him. At first, Virgil acts oblivious until he is on the verge of death and reveals that he’s actually an exorcist and he knew all along Colestoro’s origins and history. Virgil said he’ll make the deal with Colestoro as long as Colestoro promises not to harm innocent lives. He understood Colestoro’s pain because he too, was dying and was suffering the pain of a dying body, but he wanted to die with dignity.

In a twist, Colestoro decided not to form a contract and instead willingly offered his flesh to Virgil to save his life and turned him into a demon warlock. He then asked Aurorae to seal him and put him to sleep. Hundreds of years later, the Church of Silence was built upon his bones. The Bishops know about Colestoro’s history and, in order to forcefully keep him alive, they continue to give him sacrifices. This wasn’t because they truly worshiped him, but because his bones, and the Church of Silence were the symbol of the Abyssal Church.

Ironically, Virgil, given new life, is determined to fulfill Colestoro’s wish and grant him everlasting peace. Through the years, he learned many exorcizing (erosion) spells that could destroy demons, in hopes of one day perfecting one powerful enough to destroy Colestoro’s current human body and his original body on the surface (thus permanently ending his suffering).

Then in comes Tumbleweed who he commissioned because two demon-related beings were needed to open the gate where Colestoro’s body lies. However, his plans went awry as Nemo presented him with a third option (an option that none of them except him could do because they lacked the power).

Nemo planned to send Colestoro’s bones on the surface back into the Abyss, and complete the incomplete contract with Colestoro’s current body. He did this by pretending to be the sacrifice for Colestoro in order to find out the secret array of how the Church of Silence was providing Colestoro vitality all this time. With that knowledge, he then sent Colestoro’s bones back into the Abyss (thus collapsing the Church of Silence) and completed the incomplete contract. Colestoro should now (theoretically) live on the surface as the human he currently possesses, feeling no pain or agony of his original body until that body dies in the Abyss, at which point he would die as well. The caveat was now Colestoro would no longer be as strong as before (since he’s no longer connected to his original body).

And yes, it is heavily implied that Colestoro and Virgil have a thing for each other, but it’s not explicit. You have to read between the lines~

Also in this arc, Nemo discovers his true identity, more mysteries surrounding Ann, Jesse, and Oliver have sprouted, and now something has happened to Oliver?! Stay tuned for the next arc~

Join my discord server and we can discuss! I really love this arc, from Colesi’s x Virgil’s story, to the philosophical discussion of (religious) beliefs. Let me know what your analysis of this arc is? Am I on the mark or did I miss something?

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 114: The God You Love

Hagen was walking in front. The unnatural outline of her head was looming behind the black veil. Nemo was no longer a guest of the Abyssal Church. The anomalies under the solemnity of the church began to climb out of the dark crevices. It wasn’t the terrifying scene outside the church, but some kind of spiritual distortion. They seemed to be entities, whispering ill-will in the corner. They walked underground, and the passage became darker. Nemo didn’t even dare exert much force on his legs, for fear of accidentally tearing apart the confinement of the erosion spell.

If this scene was placed on an ordinary person, it was probably tantamount to being firmly entangled by a poisonous snake whose venom was flowing through their blood and whose fangs were pressed against the arteries of their neck. Hagen generously turned her back towards the “uninvited guest”, firmly believing he couldn’t escape.

However, Nemo was quite certain that he could, even easily, break away, like brushing the twine threads that were stuck on his clothes. This fact didn’t make him feel happy or fulfilled, but brought him pain similar to frostbite.

He was getting stronger. Every second, he was getting uncontrollably stronger. It was like an invisible dam finally cracked and released the torrent of horror that followed. Nemo knew what this meant. Even if he used his feelings to deny the fact that “he’s the Demon King”, his reasoning was slowly accepting this unnatural power. As the cognition became clearer, the power became stronger. Truly a cycle of despair.

Hagen didn’t know the happenings behind her back. She reached out her hands and opened the heavy door in front of her. A pungent bloody aura enveloped by the strong smell of spices rushed out.

A huge underground hall appeared in front of Nemo. This was about the same height as the church’s nave above ground. On the wall was the familiar statue, except that this Ulysses had no flesh, only bones. The huge bones were embedded on the side of the hall with amazing courage, as if the entire hall would be torn in half in the next instant.

In front of the statue, in the center of the hall, a huge round stone platform stood high, and several magic arrays overlapped with each other, which were deeply engraved on the stone platform. After approaching, the rancid smell of flesh became more suffocating. The entire stone platform was covered with thick layers of dark brown dirt, reflecting an uncomfortable luster, and it seemed to be slowly squirming in the fire.

There were two demon warlocks in the room. The preacher with only a mouth on his face behind the sermon table, and the middle-aged man with a lot of movable tentacles sticking out of his facial features. The tar-like demon warlock had disappeared.

Together with Hagen Ingram and Nemo himself, there were only four people in the entire room, but it contained the three strongest combat powers of the Abyssal Church.

“It’s not like a prison here,” Nemo said. He knew he should look scared, but at this moment he was really powerless. He glanced at the stone-carved bones, and an indescribable sadness firmly grasped him.

“Yes.” Hagen turned her head, with a little smile in her voice.

Nemo knew where her confidence came from, and he found the familiar aura the first moment he stepped into it. He first came into contact with it at the Church of Repentance in Hailem…

Fragments of Ulysses’ skull were embedded in the skeleton statue.

It was in much better condition than the one in the Church of Repentance. It was well preserved and enshrined. The remnant power on the bones had long since lost mental control, and the sense of oppression was like a huge wave above to be photographed. If they didn’t make corresponding preparations in advance, let alone a demon warlock, a superior demon who wasn’t qualified couldn’t even put up a half-hearted resistance.

It should have been like this.

The spiritual dam completely collapsed, and the facts were cruelly spread out. Nemo couldn’t even lift his head with a sigh. Now he wasn’t a naïve fool who had vague cognition, or his strength was restrained, or the uncertainty that he was a demon warlock.

The power of the Demon King couldn’t interfere with him for even half a minute.  Nemo tentatively touched the next power and found that he could easily take control, just as simple as picking up copper coins on the ground.

There was no doubt that it was him.

Since bringing Nemo into the area, Hagen had safely shifted her attention. She used her fingers to draw complex trajectories in the air in front of her. Light screens one after another appeared showing unobstructed images of the battle from all angles. “Cherick, our people are up against Aurorae. His condition doesn’t seem right. Go and have a look. Only me and Zachary are needed here. The outside command will be handed over to you.”

“Old rules. The church will automatically seal once the sacrifice begins. Pay attention and use the protective covers.”

The man with his facial features full of tentacles nodded, and made a suffocating whine, causing the tentacles hanging on his chest to sway up and down. Nemo stood silently in place, minimizing his sense of existence as much as possible.

“I’m very sorry, Mr. White.” After watching her colleague leave, the Bishop of the Abyss finally turned her attention back to Nemo. “Our sacrifices just ran away at this juncture. I think you might know something.”

Nemo shut his mouth tightly, without any intention of answering.  Hearing that name, his gaze swept across the skull of the statue, showing a trace of sadness.

“…What a pity,” Hagen sighed softly. “Then let’s get started, Zachary.”

The demon warlock, with only a mouth on his face, nodded. The two reached out their hands together. Chains made of flesh stretched out from the dark brown dirt, entangled Nemo’s body, and dragged it unceremoniously onto the stone platform. The standard black robe previously used for camouflage was ripped open with two big mouths, and the mask that a demon worshiper would wear fell to the ground causing the black-haired young man to look embarrassed.

But he showed no resistance. He seemed to be completely subdued by the demon’s aura in the room and was obedient as a sheep.

Hagen was puzzled for a moment. It may be that the strength of this superior demon was really low, even worse than the nightmare leopard. Although it was a bit strange that he didn’t resist, it made sense to assume that he was subdued by the aura.

He couldn’t escape anyway. The demon warlock who was supposed to be used for sacrifice disappeared, and all the human sacrifices were rescued by unknown forces, but a genuine superior demon should be enough to make up for these losses.

The magic array under the dirt revealed a red light, reflecting the entire hall, and the skeletal stone carvings under the red light looked even more hideous. The chain of flesh tightened tighter, as if it was going to strangle the sacrifice alive.

The ceremony had officially begun.

The sacrifice would slowly and painfully die out, and his flesh would be swallowed by the Church of Silence and turned into pure power. Hagen patiently drove the sacrificial array that was carefully embroidered, ready to guide the coming power…

But no power poured out. No screams sounded. The Church of Silence was not automatically sealed.

The black-haired young man slowly climbed up from the stone platform. The flesh chains broke silently, and rancid blood gushed out from the cross-section. “White”, who was supposed to be a sacrifice, was expressionless. His hair was scattered by the rough dragging, and his damaged robe was wet with black and red blood. It looked like a pale corpse crawling out of a pile of corpses.

The cross-shaped pupils swept across the cloth bags scattered on the ground. Black and red particles the size of peas were scattered among the filth piled up by rotten meat. He struggled for a while, as if he wanted to bend over to pick it up, but in the end, he only let out a small sigh.

He straightened up and grabbed a broken flesh chain casually. A dark arc of light spread to all formations along the chain. Hagen felt a sharp pain in her chest and a fishy sweet smell rushed into her throat. The control of the magic array was taken away forcefully, and the overwhelming power made it impossible for her to resist.

“Thank you. Now I know how to manipulate it.” Their sacrifice finally opened his mouth. His voice was gentle and calm, but the intonation didn’t sound very pleasant. “I apologize for what I am about to do first. Sorry, I have to tear down this place.”

As the Bishop of the Abyss, Hagen’s most indispensable thing was combat experience. She didn’t plan to be in a daze for a few seconds. She had to quickly suppress the opponent. “Zachary, emergency plan!”

As she ordered, all the light screens went out. She concentrated all her strength on the attack. Countless arrays bombarded Nemo. The attack was fierce, like the sharp breath of a blade. The preacher reacted equally quickly. A snow-white bone floated out of the stone skull, and a majestic force rushed to the back of the black-haired youth.

It was a perfect attack with no weaknesses. Even if Aurorae himself was here, it was impossible to escape unscathed.

Hagen didn’t stop. As long as the other party had some breath left. She didn’t mind if the sacrifice’s limbs were broken and were dying. As long as he lived until the ceremony was completed, it didn’t matter what form that life was.

But to her surprise, the magic array was staggered in the light. The other party didn’t even raise their hand to make any gesture of resistance. “Mr. White” just stretched out a hand, causing the bone fragment to fly into his palm as if he had summoned it. Those sharp and powerful spells collapsed on their own in front of him, bursting like soap bubbles.

“You didn’t ask for Colestoro’s will and force him to live,” the black-haired young man said unhappily. He stood firmly in front of the stone sculpture of the Demon King’s skeleton. “You think he’s too ‘weak’, so his opinion isn’t important.”

The sacrifice clenched his five fingers. Hagen heard a slight crack that made her back cold. Her heart was beating wildly…

The man crushed the fragment of Ulysses’ skull.

“You said that there is only one person you really believe in, Ms. Ingram,” the handsome and pale young man continued, “but have you ever confirmed his will?”

“How dare you speak blaspheme—” as the white bone powder drifted in the air, the preacher roared. “Archbishop, we must immediately… Archbishop?!”

Hagen Ingram stopped her attack. Transparent liquid dripped under the black veil.

She had felt this exact hostility many years ago, at the bottom of the Abyss. She was certain it was her revelation; that intense hostility that felt as if a blade had scraped through her bones and a poisonous needle had shattered her brain. It was the miraculous power that crushed the soul.

The Bishop of the Abyss picked up her skirt with very slow movement and then knelt down without any doubt.

Ignoring the plasma-soaked skirt, she let out a hoarse cough, took off her veil, and threw it aside. “I’ve been waiting for you, master.” Her voice echoed in the hall. “I never thought I would see you again in my lifetime.”

A faint vibration came from the ground, and then it became more obvious. The whole church began to shake and slowly sink below. Hagen Ingram seemed indifferent to this. She maintained a half-kneeling salute, raised her deformed head, and looked eagerly at her God.

Nemo felt uncomfortable all over, mentally.

He took the magic array that was feeding Colestoro from the hands of the Bishop of the Abyss and used his softest strength to crack the array. The bag of sandpoint plums that Oliver gave him had fallen into the dirt and could no longer be ingested. His enemy was half kneeling in front of him, and he didn’t feel any emotion resembling pleasure at all.

He did what he had to do, but he didn’t get the slightest joy of victory.

“I’ll tell you very clearly. I don’t like this,” Nemo said slowly. Hagen Ingram recognized him, so at least this saved him the trouble of explaining. “I am not your God. I treat you…”

He clenched the empty small cloth bag with his hand, which was covered in blood. Not a single sandpoint plum was left in it.

“…Without mercy.”

The preacher stood still, and after a few seconds, he knelt down in a daze, without saying a word.

“I only have one question I want to ask you, my Lord.” The Bishop of the Abyss seemed to be completely immersed in her own world. Her several pairs of eyes were shining and full of tears. “Why did you come?”

“Coincidence. I don’t know.” Nemo pulled out a wry smile. “Besides, can you stop calling me ‘Master’? I don’t want to dominate you at all.”

“Yes, you don’t need to worry. We will naturally exercise your will. Our army is always ready to fight for you and is committed to transforming the surface into an Abyss suitable for you.” The preacher, Zachary, opened his mouth tremblingly. His voice was eager, and still in a trance. “Our knights are scattered all over the world, constantly summoning your family members to—”

Nemo’s heart beat violently for a few seconds. He flashed at the preacher and grabbed his collar.

“Your people…” he struggled to get his voice out of his throat. “Answer me. Have your people been to Roadside Town in Alban recently?”

Nemo could feel his hands trembling. He took a few deep breaths before he suppressed his hostility that was almost out of control. The church trembled more severely, and the cracked voice was mixed with countless anxious shouts. The people in the church were evacuating, but he was completely disinterested in their situation.

“If you really want to recognize me as a God so much,” he smiled bitterly, “I suggest you dissolve on the spot. Do you hear me, Ms. Ingram—”

However, the demon warlock with the deformed head was gone, replaced by an extremely beautiful woman. She had beautiful long dark gray hair, an alluring face, and rosy and plump lips, but her expression ruined all this. She looked panicked; her eyes were full of fear. Seeing Nemo’s gaze sweep over her, she almost cried.

“Our contract is completed!” She screamed and slumped to the ground. “She fulfilled her wish and is dead—”

“You’re her demon.” Nemo’s throat tightened for a while, and his emotions somewhat exceeded his tolerance. The voice couldn’t help but sound numb. “What was her wish? It’s not ‘to see the Demon King again’. You’ll never agree to that kind of condition.”

“Of course!” the demon yelled, awkwardly pulling back the black dress. “She just ‘wants to know the truth about the existence of the Demon King’. Who knows what she thought she had figured out! You… don’t come here. This flesh doesn’t have much power. You can’t use it—”

She may be the unluckiest one in the entire Abyss. A superior demon who had just descended to the surface wanted to return immediately. No one had ever told her that after successfully descending to the surface, there would be a risk of directly facing the Demon King.

She began to seriously consider the possibility of escaping by suicide.

‘It’s all that woman’s fault,’ she thought angrily. At first, she thought Hagen Ingram was just a mage who was focused on spell research, and the ‘truth about the existence of the Demon King’ was just a theoretical study. She just needed to provide the other party with a long enough life span. Considering Ingram’s excellent strength, she gladly accepted this wish.

And now, that crazy woman had completely disappeared. All that was left was ecstasy, lament, and relief from the bottom of her heart, and one last sentence.

“The law has not been broken… Well, I’ll be waiting for my God.” This was the last thing that was left by the Bishop of the Abyss. Her voice was so low that only she could hear it. “It’s a great honor to be born in this world.”

---

The author has something to say:

Nemo is sure he’s the Demon King, but he’s not happy…

Hagen did perceive the truth, and then gracefully typed GG*√

*Good game.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

LMAO. Hagen got her wish and was like peace out, all yours superior demon. Meet my God.

Well, it’s finally confirmed what most people suspected Nemo is.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 113: Aurorae

There wasn’t much time left for him.

Nemo considered this possibility when he stuffed the gray parrot into the cookie tin. The control and monitoring of external communication spells had not been neglected because of the huge size of the church, but he and Bagelmaurus could ignore this.

It wasn’t because of how unbreakable the contract between them was. The power that Bagelmaurus lost to him was like a river flowing into an ocean, leaving no traces. Tracing the location of the contractor was out of Bagelmaurus’ unilateral and clear will. According to the law, the contract only exists in name. Even if his power was greater than that of Bagelmaurus, he shouldn’t have known the location of the gray parrot.

But Nemo knew where it was. The existence of Bagelmaurus was like a dim star, flashing in the corner of the dark sky.

Right now, he was too lazy to think about the principle. After confirming the location of the gray parrot again, Nemo directly cut the space like a cake, and then unsurprisingly saw Jesse Dylan’s beautiful and annoying face on the other side.

Looking at the surrounding scene, Dylan and Mr. Cross should be near the dungeon where the sacrifices were being held. The cookie tin was in Jesse’s hand. The lid was open and Bagelmaurus slowly stretched out its head and glanced at Nemo, then retracted its head even more slowly.

“What’s the matter, Mr. Light?” Jesse’s tone was relaxed and pleasant, as if they were heading towards a picnic at a scenic spot rather than on a mission at the base camp of the Abyssal Church.

He wasn’t surprised by Nemo’s behavior of splitting space.

“This place is going to collapse.” Nemo didn’t plan to have a long talk with the other party. “How long will it take you to get all those sacrifices to a safe place?”

Nemo looked at Jesse Dylan very directly through the rift in space.

“Oh, about this matter. It won’t take more than a few minutes,” Jesse replied eagerly. “You don’t need to buy me time, darling…”

“Then please act now,” Nemo interrupted the blond young man. “The sooner, the better.”

He then unceremoniously closed the space rift. Before the rift closed, Nemo was pretty sure he heard Jesse Dylan’s aggrieved hum. When the cracks in space that were forcibly opened were completely closed, the gorgeous prison became extremely quiet again.

In order to make room for the gray parrot, the cookies that were poured out were scattered all over the table. Nemo released his staff, pressed one hand on the wooden table, and with the other hand, began to stack the pile of cookies neatly in vain. The wooden table was too warm, even a little hot. It could be seen that his hands were abnormally cold.

He couldn’t be nervous.

Stomach acid surged in his stomach. Nemo didn’t like what he was going to do next. Not one bit. Instinctively, he reached out his hand and grabbed a few sandpoint plums and stuffed them all into his mouth in a single breath. Don’t be nervous. Nemo frowned as he tried to focus on the cookie tower in front of him. The next part, when they negotiate, was extremely important. He had to put on a sufficiently inscrutable posture…

Hagen opened the door with grace and elegance. She arrived earlier than he expected.

Nemo hadn’t removed his hand from the cookie tower. His face was still affected by the excessive sour taste, so it was wrinkled with a hideous expression. Even the Bishop of the Abyss was stunned for a few seconds. She turned her face and looked suspiciously at the staff on the ground, then at the cookie tower, and finally at Nemo’s face. She didn’t step into the room.

Nemo: “……”

He took in a deep breath, slowly moving his hand away from the cookie tower, and at the same time gulped down the plums in his mouth.

“Where is Lord Bagelmaurus?” She wasn’t accompanied by any Knights of Silence this time.

“Ate it.” His nostrils were full of the sweet scent of cookies.

“…” Hagen’s face was hidden under the gauze veil, so Nemo couldn’t see her expression. From any point of view, this wasn’t a good start to negotiations.

“That’s not a very good joke.” The Bishop of the Abyss still stood at the entrance. Her wide black skirt didn’t cross the threshold. “Mr. White, I only have one question for you. Are you from the ‘Gatekeepers’ side?”

Nemo straightened his back and made no comment.

“If you are, there is no need for us to be so opposed. Judging by your actions, I can’t think of any other possibilities,” Hagen said, assuming that the other’s response was an implicit “yes”. “Although our philosophies are different—after all, I’m also a Gatekeeper—I understand. In a sense, we’re also fighting for the truth.”

“Are you angry? Ah, you have enough reason to be angry,” Hagen sighed softly. “I have to follow the rules of the Abyssal Church, and now I’m here alone. I only need a small contract from you. A transaction seal. As long as you promise not to take any threatening action against the Abyssal Church, I can ignore this impolite invasion on behalf of the church.”

“Well,” Nemo said, lowering his gaze. The surveillance bug outside the church flashed through his mind and he suddenly realized something—about the upcoming battle between Aurorae and the Abyssal Church, there may be more than one spectator on the sidelines.

“Don’t look at me like this. I miss our time too.” Hagen’s voice had a bit of a smile in it. “You see, the impact can be controlled to a minimum. If you make this promise, I’m sure the others will not pursue you too much.”

She was trying to woo him. He had to say that if he was really an ordinary superior demon, he would indeed seriously consider this proposal. He was at risk of being sacrificed, plus under the pressure of other superior demons. For a superior demon who wanted to live wantonly on the surface, retaining their power was the most realistic choice.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t an “ordinary superior demon”.

“You know, this church is alive.” He didn’t respond positively to Hagen’s proposal. “You have always known those sacrifices… are almost equivalent to ‘feeding’. You’re forcing it to live, not making sacrifices to the demon.”

“Do you care about this?” Hagen hid the surprise in her voice well. “Obviously, if there’s still a chance for revenge, who would want to die?”

“Have you asked him?” Nemo sighed. “If you really want to, you should be able to perceive his emotions.”

“Look at what you’re saying. If he doesn’t want to cooperate, this church wouldn’t open a protective array for sacrifices… Oh, sorry, I shouldn’t explain it to you like this.” Hagen shrugged. “So let us talk as Gatekeepers—so what?”

“He wants to die, so what? Lord Colestoro has become a ‘symbol’ and he cannot fall.” Hagen’s voice began to become cold. “In practical terms, he is just a nightmare leopard.”

“I thought you believed in the Abyss.” Nemo almost crushed the table to pieces, but he held back.

“Of course we believe in the Abyss, but that it’s not blind faith. All we really believe in is the one at the bottom of the Abyss. Don’t you know very well? Whether it’s us or a superior demon—for that one, we’re all just ants.”

“…That’s just your imagination.”

“I understand. I get it. After all, I also came from that period, but after I really witnessed that one up close, I realized my stupidity and insignificance.” There was a bit of fanaticism in her voice. “In that crusade, a superior demon planned to take advantage of the chaos to gain some benefits. Ah, just like those lovely pseudo-gods from those churches.” She casually pointed in the direction of the surface above her head. Her voice was getting softer and sweeter. “Guess what happened? Our God didn’t even make a move.”

“It just looked at the superior demon—a complete superior demon, my friend—and it turned to ashes. It’s the biggest joke that such a being died at the hands of the surface race. If this is not God’s mercy, what is?”

“I’m sorry. I decided to be an ant and not think about that one’s thoughts.” Nemo thought for a moment before squeezing out a somewhat cold smile. “I don’t plan to cooperate with you.”

The location of Bagelmaurus was moving quickly outside the church. Good.

“Just lock me up like this.” When Hagen finds that their sacrifices have escaped, she will only have one option left.

Hagen took off her veil and sighed. Her movements stiffened and she took out a spherical black crystal from her pocket, as if staring at the flashing text on it.

“Very well,” the Bishop of the Abyss said calmly. “It’s just that you need to change places.”

She took off her lace gloves and hooked her fingers at the door. The erosion spell moved from all parts of the room and wrapped around Nemo’s body. They were wrapped tightly, squeezing into his skin. Nemo struggled symbolically a few times and stopped moving.

‘Great,’ he thought.

Oliver stopped in the scorched forest. Virgil hugged Colestoro and stopped cautiously. He still had doubts about the purpose of this weird team, but the strength of their players was too terrifying, and he didn’t think the opponent was trying to take advantage of him.

Perhaps for a gold coin? He bent the corners of his mouth weakly.

“What are we going to do now?” Virgil couldn’t understand what they were planning. He didn’t like the feeling that he wasn’t in control.

“We wait,” Oliver said. He began to quickly paint a camouflage array nearby. The overflowing power frightened Virgil. “Wait for Nemo’s signal.”

“Mr. Light… No, what is that person going to do?” Virgil hugged the unconscious demon tightly in his arms. “If you really still think I’m your client, then I have the right to know.”

“To be honest, I don’t know either,” Oliver didn’t stop the movements of his hands, “But I can guess. Nemo will send Colestoro’s body back to the Abyss, and then cut off the incomplete contract. He can’t cure Mr. Colestoro, and he’s very sorry for this.”

“After the contract is completely cut off, Mr. Colestoro’s consciousness will no longer be troubled by the pain of his body. His power will be greatly weakened, but…”

“He’ll still have decades to live.” Virgil quickly understood Nemo Light’s plan.

It wasn’t just a few days without pain or consciousness, but decades of sobriety and stability. Colestoro would lose the power supplied by the main body, but the flesh on the surface would continue to survive until the nightmare leopard’s body in the Abyss died unknowingly. Virgil buried the tip of his nose in Colestoro’s hair. His nose soured for an instant.

“Yes. ‘Then you can go anywhere, even to the Abyss and end it yourself’,” Oliver said softly. “Give me a gold coin.”

“You–” Virgil was about to speak. His vigilance honed over the years immediately interrupted his voice. Oliver’s reaction was faster, and the camouflage array was launched immediately.

A lonely figure flashed from the air, calmly advancing in the direction of the Church of Silence. He was far away from them, but it was enough for the two of them to see the figure clearly. He was wearing twisted armor and had a big sword behind him. The two people present simultaneously recognized him.

Aurorae had arrived.

Oliver immediately looked in the direction of the Church of Silence. As if responding to his gaze, the beautiful and twisted magnificent building began to shake visibly to the naked eye, slowly sinking below the ground, as if the foundation had turned into a swamp.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. Not far from him, a surveillance bug stopped on a dead tree trunk with its eyeball on its abdomen spinning frantically.

Not far away, Aurorae stopped. He wouldn’t unwind just for the scene in front of him. The fierce superior demon slayer frowned under his armor—the abyssal magic in the air fluctuated powerfully.

‘There was an extremely bad guy here, and he was wreaking havoc,’ Aurorae thought and took out a communication crystal.

“Telaranea,” he asked in a deep voice after the communication connected successfully. “I remember you had some friendship with Hagen Ingram?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Has she reported any unusual events recently?”

“It depends on what you want to know, Vance.” The demon on the opposite side of the communication crystal sounded like it was in a good mood. “Ah, no. I forgot you were working—okay, what do you want to know, Aurorae?”

---

The author has something to say:

Yes, Aurorae appeared a long time ago. XD Talbott Vance is just the name of his human shell~ Except for Nemo, there are no demons with a first and last name.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Note: I previously translated Aurorae’s name as Aurora. His official name, as given by the author, is Aurorae. Previous chapters have been fixed, but for those who read them before the change, please make note of this.

I wasn’t expecting Vance to be Aurorae. I thought he would be Jesse. Now this begs the question, who exactly is Jesse?

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 112: The Time of Parting

The closer they got to their destination, the faster the colorful scenery around them faded. The space was dissolving in a strange way, and the edges were like the ends of moldy, rotten rags. The sound also began to blur, as if it was separated by a thick wall. They could no longer discern the contents of the broken scene and could only concentrate on moving forward.

It felt odd. The first foot was still on the soft, thick grass while the second foot was on hard stone bricks. When they approached the source of the nightmare, the surroundings had become extremely quiet; so quiet that only the breathing and footsteps of two people were left in the entire space.

Therefore, the sound of crystal fragmentation was particularly loud.

The robes of the Abyssal Church were simple in style. Nemo had put the crystal piece given to him by Virgil in his only pocket. Even if Oliver was standing by his side, Ann was outside waiting for them. Cognitive interference had no effect on Nemo. He carefully calculated the time since they had entered. It wasn’t sunrise yet. In order to prevent exposure, it was reasonable that Ann wouldn’t take the initiative to contact him.

The crystal chip wasn’t a communication crystal. Once contact began, no one could decide whether they wanted to receive it or not.

Nemo hurriedly took it out and quickly isolated it with magic, so it wouldn’t be crushed into dust by the surveillance magic here.

“I know this isn’t appropriate. Sorry.” Accompanied by the clattering sound of the crystal fragmentation, the voice of the female warrior came from the crystal chip. The speed of her speech was so fast that they could barely hear the content. “The armies of other surface religions will intervene. Be careful not to meddle too much. If the momentum doesn’t seem right, retreat immediately. They want to pick up a leak. Not only this church, but all around here will be sealed…”

Before she could finish speaking, the crystal broke into pieces.

There was only one crystal chip left in Nemo’s possession, and three more were with Virgil, which couldn’t be borrowed for the time being. The two held their breaths and stared at the only piece left.

But Ann didn’t communicate again.

“She should be considering retaining it as a last resort,” Oliver said. “Don’t worry.”

“I know.” Nemo let go of the hand holding Oliver. “We have to get things done as soon as possible and get out of here.” The last thing Nemo wanted to encounter in this world was the armies of other religions.

“Another way… What are you going to do?” Oliver clenched the sword in his hand. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Yes,” Nemo quickly thought about the plan’s details. “We’ll have to separate later. You have to take him away from here and meet up with Ann. Stay as far away from the Church of Silence as possible. I’ll go… Uh…” he paused for a few seconds, trying to find a relatively mild way to put it. “I’m going to deal with Colestoro’s body.”

“Ok.” Oliver nodded decisively. “I only have one question. Will you be in danger?”

Nemo wanted to give him a smile back, but accidentally mixed some bitterness into it. Obviously, he wouldn’t be in any danger. He was probably the biggest “danger” in the world itself. “No,” he answered the question softly, “I promise.”

“It seems I have to guard them alone… I can finally get rid of this thing.” As if perceiving the bitterness in Nemo’s smile, Oliver patted his helmet twice. His voice sounded cheerful and relaxed, with the same optimism as before. “It’s a good thing.”

After a few minutes, they finally saw the source of the nightmare.

Colestoro was lying in an open sarcophagus that seemed to be placed in the middle of a huge magic array. There were many chains wrapped in runes under the dim light around the sleeping demon. They came from all sides of this space, and the ends were hidden in darkness, firmly fixing him in the sarcophagus.

Virgil was half kneeling next to the sarcophagus. The burden originally carried on his back was thrown aside at will and the two huge bone hands behind him were exposed. The brushes were scattered all over the place showing that his preparation was completed. Countless black magic arrays hovered above the sarcophagus that had not fallen yet. He stared intently at the person in the sarcophagus, unaware of the proximity of the two behind him.

Duran Virgil had a hunch that he would succeed this time.

But he didn’t know if he should be happy about it. He had been working hard for this day since he awoke alone in the forest more than 600 years ago, but when it finally arrived, he began to hesitate. It was clear that even his sleep would not make the pain disappear, and what he wanted to realize was not his own imagination, but the other party’s true wish. This was the most reasonable option. As time passed, year by year, Virgil believed that he was ready.

But he wasn’t.

The black magic array floated in the air, like a crow circling carrion. Virgil reached out his right hand, caressed the other’s long white hair, put it to his lips and kissed it.

“This is the last time I’m coming to see you, Colesi,” he said in a low voice, as if he was afraid of waking the person up. “It would be great if the world after death really existed. That way, you can wait for me… Just wait for me for a while. In fact, I’ve been…”

“Forget it,” he said quietly. “You know what? Now I draw much better than you.”

Virgil suddenly felt exhausted like never before. His long journey was coming to an end. Just like after a festival, people began to dismantle the temporary stage, the music completely dissipated, and the exquisite set turned into rags and wood chips. This was the ending that had long been destined.

The erosion runes he created would quickly destroy the person in the sarcophagus. After the demon’s body was destroyed, it would take a while for the consciousness to return to the body. Before Colestoro’s consciousness returns to its body, he could ensure that this “church” would also disappear under the action of his erosion spell.

Virgil had studied for hundreds of years, so he knew how intense this spell would be. It would invade along the cracks of the Abyss like a virus, killing the part on the other side of the Abyss, and during that period of time—that short period of time when the consciousness was helpless—there would be no more pain.

The deadly array was getting lower. The lonely exorcist leaned down and kissed the demon’s forehead. “Good night.”

But the erosion array didn’t fall.

As the creator, Virgil could feel that it was instantly destroyed by an external force. Virgil suddenly raised his head. The eccentric demon worshiper was standing a few steps away, and the Knight of Silence he controlled was following him… No, that wasn’t a Knight of Silence. The leader of Tumbleweed, Oliver Ramon, who looked gentle and harmless, was standing with him.

Virgil didn’t perceive their aura at all. He didn’t even have time to hide the distortion behind him.

Nemo’s hand that wasn’t holding the staff maintained a spell-casting gesture.

Virgil quickly took two steps back, subconsciously adding a protective array to the demon in the sarcophagus, and then sent out hostility unreservedly. The two bone hands behind him danced like normal hands, and circles of black attack spells were ready to go.

“What do you want?” Since the other party could reach here by their own strength, Virgil didn’t plan to talk nonsense.

“Price increase,” Oliver said readily, raising his eyebrows at Nemo.

“That’s right.” Nemo was a little infected by Oliver’s smile. When his words were said, the feeling of worry was no longer strong. “For additional services, it will be an extra gold coin.”

Virgil sneered without showing any signs of relaxation. Nemo wasn’t surprised. He took two steps forward and squeezed the chain that bound Colestoro.

“That’s Aurorae’s seal,” Virgil said in a hoarse voice. “You’d better take your hands away. I don’t know who you are, but it will definitely—”

Nemo clenched his five fingers tightly, and not only did the chain not bite back, but it broke in response.

It wasn’t just the one he held that shattered. The chains in the entire space all turned into light that broke at the same time. The broken light went out like fireworks after just a few seconds, leaving not a single trace behind in the dim space. It seemed that what Nemo crushed was like a soft snow sculpture piled high with snowflakes. The fragmentation was perfectly isolated in this space without leaking even a trace of energy fluctuations.

The frowning brows of Colestoro in the sarcophagus began to twitch slightly, and there were some signs of awakening.

“You…” Virgil forgot the danger at that moment and rushed back to the sarcophagus.

There was no one besides him who knew more about demons. Now it seemed that his previous inability to detect his opponent’s aura was not because the “demon worshiper” was too weak, but because he was ridiculously strong. Not to mention the Abyssal Church, which hadn’t successfully lifted the seal for hundreds of years, other superior demons with whom he had befriended could not match Nemo Light’s strength. It was obvious that he was stronger than the one who had set up this seal—this meant that his strength was above that of the rumored ancient demon Aurorae.

For him to be able to do this, except for another superior demon at the peak of their strength, there was no other possibility.

If Nemo Light was at this level, then his lover…

Virgil felt chills for a moment.

“I will explain to you slowly on the way.” As if perceiving the other party’s thoughts, Oliver walked directly to the sarcophagus. “We have limited time, and you’re a trustworthy person, aren’t you? Take Mr. Colestoro with you and I’ll escort the way.”

Virgil didn’t move.

Their client didn’t seem to be as rigid as before. They didn’t know if it was because of their attitude or because he had noticed the gap in strength and decided that resistance was useless, but it didn’t matter. Nemo tugged at the corners of his mouth weakly. “I know that the unfinished contract will bind Mr. Colestoro to his body. Don’t worry, I’ll solve this problem. Ollie, please do the rest. I’ll be back when I finish.”

“Remember to inform Dylan and Mr. Cross.”

“Of course.”

“There’s still a piece of crystal on your side. I’ll contact you after I meet with Ann.” As if insisting on reassuring Nemo, Oliver still had a smile on his face. “Seriously, Mr. Virgil. I can knock you out and drag you two away. Let’s save the trouble, okay?”

Virgil didn’t seem to react until he successfully carried Colestoro out of the sarcophagus. The demon’s head hung weakly, and the nightmares around him began to dissipate like smoke and dust. Virgil stood still for a few seconds, trying to digest the reality. In the end, a little fire ignited in his eyes.

“We can leave,” he said hoarsely. His voice was trembling.

“You can lead the way.” Oliver shrugged. “We have taken your task and we must be responsible for it to the end.”

“The surveillance aura of the Abyss has disappeared.” Nemo stretched out his hand. “Give me back the pendant, Ollie.”

“I still want to keep it for a while,” Oliver said, a little dissatisfied. “There’s an engraving that is also quite romantic.”

“Stop joking around. In case you meet people from other surface religions later…”

“I know.” Oliver made a reluctant face and threw the gold pendant at Nemo, who caught it steadily. “Wait and see. I’ll never take back what I give you—”

“Oh, the engraving is gone. I can feel it.” He gave Nemo a big smile. “See you later.”

Nemo had always liked Oliver’s smiling eyes. Even in the most desperate moments, the hope inside had never completely dissipated. Oliver Ramon’s smile always carried a kind of happiness unique to ordinary people; a pure, carefree feeling. It always made Nemo feel that his feet were still firmly on the ground and that he wasn’t a lone beast on an ice sheet. Part of him was firmly nailed to that distant town on the border by this smile, and he could always feel the simple and ordinary warmth in his memory.

But this was the last time he saw Oliver smile like this.

Nemo still thought of this moment many years later. At this moment, they firmly believed that this was just a very short parting. For some reason, they all had an inexplicable confidence, believing that they would soon be reunited with each other, just like every separation in their previous adventures.

Unfortunately, no matter how powerful he was, he couldn’t turn back time.

If he could, he would never let go of Oliver’s hand at this time. Even if he had to take everyone with him, no matter how complicated the plan would be as a result, he wouldn’t let go—he shouldn’t have let go.

But right now, he didn’t know about such things.

Nemo didn’t intend to make any unnecessary concealment of strength. He determined the coordinates he had marked, and directly cut open the space, revealing a magnificent prison on the other side of the space.

“See you later.” Nemo turned his head and tried to smile back.

He didn’t like to destroy things. Nemo preferred repair to destruction. When he was in Roadside Town before, even if the small cooking pot was burnt or leaked, he did his best to fix it, and now he had exactly the opposite thought. Destroy this church. Destroy this order…

Finally, destroy the incomplete contract.

He stood still in the so-called watertight cell and picked up a piece of cookie. Nemo could perceive that Hagen Ingram was approaching there. At her speed, the Bishop of the Abyss would arrive here in more than ten minutes. No matter what her plans were, they would try to negotiate or confuse him, then sacrifice him…

Nemo took a bite of the cookie in silence.

He must be a sacrifice.

---

The author has something to say:

Mr. Virgil, after brewing emotions for a long time, was about to achieve a tragic BE*…

*Bad ending.

Then it was forcibly interrupted by an additional service for one gold coin√

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 111: The Love at the End of Life

‘Thank God,’ Nemo thought. Oliver had metal armor on his arms, so he couldn’t feel the cold sweat on his palms.

He tried his best to look like he was in control, but his neck seemed to be rusted by anxiety, making him unable to look back at Oliver’s face. No matter how harmless he tried to find an explanation for himself, the facts were always contrary to his expectations. Nemo didn’t know what expression was on his face right now, but it was far from “calm”.

This was the third time he had directly confronted a real superior demon.

The first time was when he faced Pandorater. At that moment, he only heard the other party’s call for help, and he didn’t have the slightest idea of his identity. The opponent gave up their attack, and the whole event passed in a daze. The second time was when he faced Witherspoon. At that time, his state was delicate, and he had no impression of how to use his “powers”.

This was the third time.

This time, he was extremely sober and determined that everything at this moment was of his own volition. Because of this, he felt more deeply about how unnatural the current situation was.

To crack a spell, a normal mage must analyze every feature of the enemy’s magic array, step by step, and then make the most appropriate response in time during the process of cracking it. Just like chess players, they carefully calculated their opponents’ intentions and all possible future moves, and finally mobilized their remaining pieces to win the game. To do this, knowledge, experience, and strength were indispensable.

But the world he saw was completely different.

What was in front of him wasn’t chess pieces and a chess board, but stone and trees, which could easily be overturned by just a raised hand. Those abyssal magic had no resistance to his behavior. No matter how Nemo avoided this matter, he could see that it was abnormal. If it weren’t for the concern of the demon’s poor physical condition, he could even ignore those changing magic arrays and break through forcibly and move directly to the source of the magic.

No book had recorded this situation; not even the collection in the Abyssal Church. Whether it was abyssal magic or surface magic, the rules and restraints within it were like truths that couldn’t be broken.

However, he did do this. There were no arrays or formulas. He just needed to feel and dominate.

There was only one piece of conclusive evidence he needed. Nemo’s chest felt blocked. He didn’t want to test that possibility. The word “Demon King” was like a thorn that could bring out the pain of a cut across his mind. When this matter was over, he must talk to Oliver about it.

The memories on the side continued.

“Revenge.” The legendary “Superior Demon Slayer” repeated Colestoro’s answer. “…I respect your choice.”

Aurorae took out a small communication crystal from the bag at his waist and casually threw it at the pale demon. His voice wasn’t bitter or light. “If you change your mind, just use this to contact me.”

“You’re much different from the rumors.” Colestoro stuffed the crystal into his pocket. “I thought you would kill me directly.”

“Rumors? Ignore them… It’s just that you remind me of someone. Unfortunately, I owe him.” Aurorae’s voice came from behind the squirming helmet, and there was a rare sadness in his cold tone. “Now enjoy the rest of your life, my compatriot.”

Aurorae sighed in a low voice, turned around, and gallantly walked away.

Nemo clenched Oliver’s wrist and accelerated his steps. This was already the shortest route. After all, now was not the time to stop and peer into people’s memories. They didn’t have much time.

It wasn’t easy to step over the junction of memories. It felt like a person struggling through a thick skin film. When they entered the next memory, Nemo almost stopped subconsciously. Oliver apparently stopped for a moment, and Nemo had almost dislocated his wrist.

Seeing that the season should be spring, they saw Duran Virgil in the forest.

It was just an extremely thin Duran Virgil. Mr. Virgil looked like a dead branch that had completely lost moisture. This dead branch was sitting in front of an easel, awkwardly sketching the skeleton of a monster in the distance. Yes, only a skeleton. At present, there was no shadow of the Church of Silence, which meant this was at least 600 years ago… The appearance didn’t even remotely look similar, but Nemo was sure that this was their client. Even if he was too thin to look at, the details of his face were all there.

In this way, Duran Virgil was a demon warlock who had lived for at least 600 years.

His outfit was still familiar to them, but the big bags were placed on the ground to one side. The linen clothes he was wearing were soaked in sweat, revealing his spine and ribs. A young man in a dazzling white robe stood beside him.

Colestoro stood silently beside Virgil, crossing his arms and staring at the canvas.

Virgil was talking in a rambling manner, with a wry smile in his voice. “…I knew I should have quit sooner. Alas, that’s how people are. They always think they still have a lot of time, you know? Before, I’d been bored in a closet-like room, dealing with data and samples all day long. To be honest, I didn’t like my work very much.”

“Duri,” Colestoro said while holding a bloody animal limb in his hand. “You should eat something.”

“It’s Duran,” Virgil corrected him patiently. “I don’t eat raw meat, thank you. I’ll clean it up in a bit.”

Colestoro frowned and said nothing. He moved his gaze away from the canvas and stared at Virgil, who was nagging him while painting. His eyes were burning as if he was looking at prey.

Nemo thought it wasn’t difficult to understand. Duran Virgil had good qualifications. His limbs were intact, and he was sane. Although it wasn’t clear why he looked so weak, for a superior demon—even a dying one like Colestoro—human diseases had never been an issue.

Colestoro stared at his prey like a real leopard, waiting for the opponent to reveal the most vulnerable moment and planning to kill him with one blow. After all, the place here was remote, and the scope of personal activities of someone with an incomplete contract was small. It was hard to come across a body with an acceptable qualification, so the opportunity was extremely rare.

The deathbed of the superior demon was long, more than decades. Colestoro seemed patient. It was imperative to make a contract with the human in front of him. Nemo could see his strategy. The superior demon decided to accompany the weak human first to gain his favor and trust. Unfortunately, Colestoro couldn’t get much effective information from his current body filled with brain lesions. His kindness was too awkward.

The white demon was sullen and stuffed the bloody raw meat into Virgil’s face.

Virgil pushed the hand away with a smile, coughed a few times, and continued to smear paint on the drawing board in front of him.

“The painting is wrong, human.” Colestoro’s kindness was rejected, which made him quite dissatisfied. “Stop painting. I said you should eat something.”

“What’s wrong?” Virgil raised his brows.

Colestoro unceremoniously grabbed the brush and quickly painted across the board.

The crooked and clumsy paintings disappeared. The demon’s brushstrokes were rough, but the shaping was accurate. Virgil smacked his mouth loudly. “Would you like a drawing board?”

“Why?” Colestoro’s tone became more dissatisfied.

“Because I want to change this one back to its original appearance.”

“But that’s meaningless.”

“…Look at my current situation.” Virgil’s eyes bent slightly due to his smile. “Does it seem like I’m pursuing some ‘meaning’? I just like painting.”

The demon stared at him quietly as the raw meat in his left hand was still slowly dripping with blood.

“I’ve spent my entire life searching for the ‘meaning of life’, Colesi,” Virgil said softly. “Work step by step and live according to the expectations of my elders, but I have only now discovered… The ‘meaning’ of others has no value to me.”

“I don’t understand,” Colestoro said in a deep voice. “You are in pain and you’re suffering for a purpose.”

“No,” Virgil shook his head. “Live naturally, die naturally. This is good.”

Nemo held back the desire to stay. He pulled Oliver forward, leaving the two phantoms behind.

In the next memory, Virgil looked weaker. He curled up his tall body and trembled from the pain. Colestoro still stood beside him in silence with a twisted expression.

The forest in the summer was full of vitality. The sound of cicadas could give one a headache. Virgil held his brush and painted clumsily.

“Don’t you have any wishes, Duri?” Colestoro asked. He was carrying a piece of meat with bones in his hand, but this time the meat was burnt black. “Do you want to talk?”

“…It’s Duran.” There was an unpleasant phlegm in Virgil’s low smile. “Wish? There are many. The world is beautiful, isn’t it? If you ask what I want the most… I want to go to the end of the world to see the glaciers. I have been bored with city life all my lifetime. I’m really at a loss.”

“Oh,” the white demon said, falling into contemplation. “I don’t think it’s pretty.”

“You don’t need to agree with me.” Virgil glanced at the piece of meat, and the smile on his thin face became wider. “Colesi, what about your wish?”

Colestoro looked away, almost crushing the bone in his hand into powder. “I want to be free without pain,” he said, trying his best to suppress the hatred in his voice.

Nemo could hear Oliver sighing behind him. They were very close to the source of the magic, and the fragments of memories were passing by much quicker.

The last memory was probably on an autumn day. Most of the lush forest turned into gold and red, but this time there was no erected easel. It fell to one side and was buried under the fallen leaves. Virgil was half-lying on the ground. He had become almost skeleton-like as his body leaned against a tree. His skin showed abnormal green and gray colors. He looked as if he could die at any moment.

“Colesi,” he murmured. “Are you still there? I can’t see you anymore.”

The demon jumped from a nearby tree, still without any expression on his face. He was still carrying meat, and it looked like it was roasted just right, but he threw it aside casually.

“Here,” he responded hastily.

Virgil smiled weakly. The flesh on his face shrank and collapsed, and the smile even looked a little terrifying.

“You’re going to die,” Colestoro commented calmly.

“Yes.”

“Then make a wish,” the white demon said. “I am a superior demon, and I can keep you alive—Duri, you still have a chance to see the glaciers at the end of the world.”

“I know. I’m sorry for hiding it from you for so long… I have indeed been huddling in a small place, sorting out data and samples—as an exorcist’s assistant,” Virgil said with a sigh. “Colesi, I know what you want.”

“Yes, I am a despicable villain,” Virgil said. “If you want to do something ‘meaningful’… I should pretend to be ignorant, leave your area, and inform the nearest army. Then they will… solve the hidden danger.”

Colestoro looked at him quietly.

“But I know what happened to you, Mr. Mountain Nightmare Leopard.” The thin man coughed heavily as dark purple blood dribbled down from the corners of his lips. “You didn’t do anything wrong… and I know how desperate it is to be trapped in a dying body.”

“…I don’t need human pity.”

“No, maybe I’m too sentimental.” Virgil’s voice was very low. “I move myself on my own initiative. I ran away and waited to die on my own initiative. I liked it on my own…”

Not knowing if it was because of pain or something else, he stopped talking and took a few deep breaths.

“I want to make a wish to you.” When he spoke again, Virgil’s voice became even smaller. “I want to make a wish to you.”

“And that wish—you’ll be able to realize,” he said. “I’m sorry. I have a position as a human, but there’s one more thing I can do… My wish is, ‘please don’t indiscriminately kill innocent people’.”

His body twitched a few times as he gasped for a while. “You can take this body, and then go anywhere—even to the Abyss to cut yourself off… You just need to swear to me…”

Colestoro was silent for a long time before he finally spoke, “I see.”

Virgil’s arm moved, as if he wanted to make a gesture of raising his hand, but in the end, he didn’t succeed. He lowered his head and bowed, as if accepting his fate, and fell into a lingering lethargy.

Colestoro once again approached with meat, but the dark purple flesh was still pulsating. It was his own flesh.

The white demon pursed his lips tightly and slowly painted a magic array. On the other side, the pulsating flesh seemed to have gained life. It wrapped around Virgil’s neck and pierced the back of his neck. Dark blood flowed out slowly.

“You should keep painting,” he said to the unconscious human. “You paint terribly.”

Colestoro straightened up and stood expressionless for a while. He then turned around and walked towards the bones of his body without looking back. Nemo could clearly see the cold sweat oozing from the demon’s forehead and the slightly trembling body. After consuming this piece of flesh, his strength could no longer suppress the pain. Now it was all coming back.

“Lord Aurorae,” the white demon activated the communication crystal, “I changed my mind.”

“Seal me… The sooner the better.”

“…What did he do?” Oliver’s voice came from behind Nemo. It sounded unpleasant.

“Ollie, just like I told you before. In theory, there’s also a rare situation that can produce a demon warlock.” Nemo found that his voice was also extremely dry. “A superior demon gave up the contract and voluntarily gave away its strength.”

They gave each other their freedom, but no one really succeeded. Considering the complexity and obscurity of the erosion spell and the ancient passage that was secretly broken underground in the church, Virgil should know the Church of Silence like the back of his hand…

As far as the current situation was concerned, Duran Virgil didn’t gain true freedom.

“He’s fulfilling Colestoro’s wish.” Oliver’s voice was soft. “Do we really want to intervene? Isn’t it rude to Mr. Virgil?”

“I don’t know,” Nemo said. His voice was trembling. “But in theory… there is indeed a better way.”

Generally speaking, Virgil’s choice may be the most reasonable. Nemo took in a few deep breaths, trying to make himself think as calmly as possible. If his conjecture wasn’t wrong, if he really had that terrifying unknown power…

Then another option was viable.

---

The author has something to say:

Nemo set up a huge flag* for himself.

*Hint/foreshadow.

Virgil and Colesi… blurry double arrows*√

*Refers to an ambiguous (blurry) requited love (double arrows).

————————

In fact, after thinking about it carefully, it was quite embarrassing to be honest.

Nemo: (bitterly) Ollie, I think I am the Demon King.

Ollie: (thought he was joking) Huh? If you’re the Demon King, then I might be the hero.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Oh… Colesi’s and Virgil’s story hurt my heart. They deserve happiness too! All these side characters deserve happiness!

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 110: Severe Pain

To Nemo’s surprise, Oliver took the lead this time. Instead of attacking, he extended his hand and twisted a leaf in the decorative potted plant on the side of the stone steps. As white light was injected into the leaves, the veins of the leaves flashed with a faint silver light. Oliver released his hand, and the leaves drifted towards the weird, misplaced forest without any wind.

Then it automatically split into several pieces without moving forward, and a few pieces disappeared out of thin air.

“…” Oliver’s expression became stiff. “I’m starting to think about whether the sentence ‘I can’t find you’ means something else.” He grabbed another leaf and threw it in the same position, but this time the leaf moved further away.

“The attack mode of this thing is constantly changing,” Nemo said, tearing off a piece casually. Unlike Oliver’s situation, the leaves withered directly in his hands, but the dead leaf was unexpectedly lucky. It jumped up and down around the space in front of them and circled the field slowly before returning back to its original place. It didn’t even break the edge.

“Uh… but its attacks seem to only be aimed towards surface magic,” Nemo added dryly as he stepped off the stone steps first.

This nightmare leopard was on the verge of death. Not to mention a human body, the power from its actual body was already dwindling. Nemo didn’t think it could cause him any substantial harm. At that moment, the owner of this dreamland was already delirious, and the uncontrolled abyssal magic was surging frantically, instinctively guarding the consciousness of the nightmare leopard, but when those violent forces hit him, it only brought a soft touch of warm water that flowed through his fingers.

Nemo reached out his right hand and pressed it into the air. At that time, countless runes unfolded in front of the two of them, flashing and beating from time to time.

“Here’s the identification of the aura of the abyss.” After dispersing the runes, Nemo breathed slowly. “Cognitive interference is also attached.”

“In other words, I have to find a way to get in.” Oliver wiped his face. He was able to cheat the two rows of corpses at the front entrance. Considering the uncertain identity of visitors, it was reasonable that there would be some leeway. But this was the stronghold of the Abyssal Church. Its defenses couldn’t be that simple. “What is cognitive interference?”

“It’s hard to explain. You can experience it for yourself later.” Nemo stretched out his hands towards the back of his neck and untied the gold pendant he was wearing. He threw it at Oliver, who subconsciously caught it.

“This is…?”

“We all know that it’s very valuable to me.” Nemo’s voice was clear and serious. “Oliver Ramon, I’ll now lend you this valuable item. You’ll need to return it to me when we leave here.”

Oliver instantly understood. “Okay, I promise you.”

Suddenly, his left forearm burned, as if someone had cut his skin with a hot blade. After the burst of pain, a faint burning sensation lingered. Oliver took off his armor to confirm it. A complex and bizarre engraving appeared on the inside of his left forearm, burning quietly near his left wrist.

“This is a trade seal of a superior demon, similar to that of Mr. Cross.” Nemo smiled dryly. “As an ‘aura of the Abyss’, this should qualify.”

Oliver walked down the stone steps in the direction of Nemo. After officially stepping into the weird nightmare forest, he immediately understood the actual meaning of “cognitive interference”. He was sure that he was moving at a more stable pace, but it felt extremely weird, as if he was squeezing through invisible narrow tubes at different speeds. The scenes around him that were already distorted became even more distorted, passing by quickly and slowly.

He even had a strong nausea when he stopped, as if the carriage he was riding in suddenly stopped while traveling at high speed.

“It’s interfering with our perception of time.” Nemo grabbed Oliver’s arm, who shook his head and closed his slightly dilated pupils. “Sorry. Considering the physical condition of this demon… I can’t interfere with it rashly or I’ll hurt it.”

“But there doesn’t seem to be any problem with Virgil’s movement.” Oliver stood firmly. “Even if you want to move forward in a place like this… If I’m not mistaken, you can only cooperate with the environment. His situation doesn’t seem right.”

“That’s right,” Nemo nodded. “He should be the demon warlock of this superior demon.”

“But you said, ‘its body is sleeping’.” Oliver moved carefully, turning his head to avoid the twisted branches floating slowly. “If he’s a demon warlock, shouldn’t the will of the superior demon be in his body? Is it possible that other demons besides Telaranea could split their soul—”

“No.” Nemo immediately shook his head and stretched out his hand again. “In theory, there’s another case of producing a demon warlock, but it’s very rare.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if I can’t stop the cognitive interference, I can restore the elements of these dreams. You know, it can’t create such a thing out of thin air. This is all based on its memories.” Nemo didn’t look at Oliver. “Perhaps we can see it.”

Black filaments emerged out of Nemo’s shadow and poured into the darkness behind the peeling crevices. As they slowly closed, the black forest in front of them seemed to be smashed into pieces by an invisible mortar, and then gradually bonded. Everything around him was quickly restored, giving Oliver an uncomfortable feeling. It was like watching a plate of applesauce turning back into a complete apple, and they happened to be submerged in that plate of sauce. This definitely wasn’t a good feeling.

The twisted nightmare and the weird floating trees were gone, and the surrounding scenery quickly reorganized. The scene in front of them had become a complete and normal night view of the forest, with stars twinkling in the night sky, and the air was fresh and cold.

Listening to what Nemo just said, this should be the basic element of that nightmare, the memory of the superior demon.

“Follow me closely.” Nemo grabbed Oliver’s arm again and walked in front. “Don’t stop.”

Oliver stared at the hand with complicated eyes, then moved his gaze to the back of Nemo’s head. Nemo had become different, and he seemed to be desperately downplaying this. When he did things that the “Nemo before” couldn’t do, there would always be some unintelligible embarrassment in his voice.

Oliver didn’t specifically point it out. He had an inexplicable confidence that Nemo would never hide anything from him. If the other party didn’t want to talk about it, he naturally wouldn’t force it. He just stared at Nemo’s hand that was holding on to him; those slender and fair fingers squeezed tightly around his wrist.

This scene was a bit familiar, Oliver reminisced. A few months ago, it was also the same scene—but at that time, he was the one leading the way, and they were clueless, scared, and flustered.

But that was when they were equally ordinary.

Now, he didn’t say it, but he knew Nemo’s strength had left him far behind. He didn’t feel envy, rather only a deep sense of powerlessness. It surged repeatedly along the way, wantonly inflecting pain and bitterness in his blood. Nemo had been protecting him, guiding him, and he couldn’t do anything to help in return.

He didn’t like the feeling of being protected unilaterally by Nemo.

Oliver bit his tongue fiercely, forcing himself to focus on the present. It wasn’t the time to be irritated. Someone had appeared from the ‘memories’.

A group of people had appeared, walking in a strange, winding way. Not far away was a huge skeleton that seemed to pierce the sky. There were still traces of flesh and blood between the white bones. The smell of decay penetrated his nose and a strong sense of vomit came. The smell seemed to be pulling his stomach through his nostrils.

Oliver reluctantly held back his steps.

On the other side, people in simple cloaks approached the skeleton. They knelt in front of the half-mutilated body and smashed their foreheads into the mud religiously. They dressed very old-fashioned, and they didn’t look like demon worshipers. This should just be a group of… ordinary people.

After kowtowing, they untied the people on their backs and carefully placed them on the grass.

The unconscious people wore white clothing painted with distorted blood characters. The place had not become a desolate area yet; the grass and leaves were still verdant. Those who were placed on the ground were no longer vibrant. Their eyes opened blankly, their pupils were extremely dilated, and their eyeballs seemed to have lost the ability to move. These people were still breathing faintly but had no other reaction.

Trent Plague.

The time period should be seven or eight hundred years ago. A plague had emerged, causing people to respond in a special way. They would put on white clothes covered with blood runes for the sick, trying to drive away the disease with various sacrifices. The characteristics of the patients were also fully in line with the symptoms. Considering the current geographical location, Oliver was confident in his judgment.

The leader yelled something loudly and raised a sharp machete. After more than a dozen prostrations, he cut off the remaining flesh between the bones and fed it one by one to the patients lying flat on the ground.

Indeed, they were seeking any cure. According to records of that period, many people were driven crazy by the inexplicable plague. They would search for all kinds of incredible “medicinal cures” and make unreasonable “sacrifices”. Some even dug up coffins and ground the hair of the sick and dead corpses into powder for other patients to take, just to get a glimmer of hope.

The current leader’s approach initially seemed to be effective.

The limbs of the patient who swallowed the demon’s flesh began to twitch, and two even showed signs of awakening. It was a pity that the good times didn’t last long. Black blood gradually gushed out of their mouths, and their bodies began to rot rapidly, quickly turning into a mass of black and rancid mud. People began to scream and stagger away, and fragments of their offerings and extinguished torches fell to the ground.

But… Not all the patients’ flesh rotted.

After everyone fled, a white figure slowly stood up among the pile of rotting corpses. He looked at everything under him blankly, then squatted down. As if he had found his voice for the first time, he let out a mournful and painful scream.

“Those patients didn’t have enough magical qualifications,” Nemo added without looking back. They left in the night and stepped into the forest in the daytime. The scream still lingered in their ears. “They were careless, leaving one behind.”

“It’s Trent Plague, right?” Oliver said softly. “Can such a possession succeed? If I remember correctly, patients with this disease… Their brains begin to shrink and rot. If the foundation of the contract of a superior demon is a wish, then this contract is impossible to fulfill. It’s impossible for humans who have completely lost consciousness to make a wish.”

“Yes, so this contract was not completed.” Nemo’s voice was a bit bitter. “He couldn’t get a complete contract; thus, it stands to reason he couldn’t leave too far from the noumenon.”

The sun was gradually shining. Only two people appeared in the memories this time.

Oliver saw the body of the superior demon clearly. Its body was suffering from a lack of pigment. The color of its hair and skin was surprisingly white, and the face was beautiful and thin. His face was very calm—not the good kind of calm, but closer to ash-like numbness than “calm”.

His lavender eyes were staring at the person opposite of him.

No, that may not be a “person” either. The other party looked like a warrior, but it didn’t have a human appearance at all. He had a terrifying helmet buckled on his face that seemed to be alive, as the holes had obvious biological characteristics. The wrinkles on it were constantly distorted. The warrior was carrying a big sword behind him, and the texture of a spine protruded from the brown sword. The entire sword looked like a withered skeleton of some kind of monster.

“You can’t kill me,” the ghostly pale superior demon said slowly. “Why?”

“The part of you on the surface is dead,” a low, muffled voice came from the helmet. “The part of the Abyss can only be killed if you’re in the Abyss. Even if I kill your body, your consciousness will only return here.”

The warrior pointed with his hand wearing leather gloves to the rotting skeleton in the distance with his fingers.

“…The pain will not go away but will only worsen. You’ll only waste a piece of flesh in vain. Now you can’t afford any more loss of flesh, Colestoro. You should use all your strength to suppress the pain.”

Colestoro didn’t speak; his face was still expressionless like a corpse.

“Two options. You can consume part of your flesh and change your body to gain ‘freedom’.” The warrior’s tone was flat. “Of course, you know the result of excessive wear and tear. You will become a monster, tormented by pain and then destroyed by instinct. I will eliminate your body and you will return to that rotten corpse and die in madness and severe pain.”

“Option two. I can give you a seal when you can no longer bear it. It won’t eliminate the pain, but it will put you to sleep. Although it still hurts, it will always be better than waking up. You will die in your sleep.”

“Choose. Revenge, or wait quietly for death? The former is actually quite cost-effective. I won’t take action against you if you only kill 10,000 or 20,000 people. You’ll still have time to take a group with you to your funeral.”

“Revenge.” Colestoro raised his eyes, and his voice was calm. “I choose revenge, Lord Aurorae.”

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 109: The Black Forest

Sitting still behind the dead shrub, the Knight of Judgment, Parish, was tying his horse to the scorched trunk. After Oliver left, they didn’t talk anymore until…

“Your choice is very wise,” the female warrior said suddenly. She tied a bag of preserved fruit to the back of the fuller goat. “Cooperate cordially to gain our trust, kindly bring us here, then wait for our combat power to disperse… Can we have a temporary truce? I quite like this goat.”

Parish’s movements of fixing the reins became rigid.

“Quietly remove the guardian array and let me and it ‘accidentally die’.” Ann patted the area between the two corners of the goat’s head. She was still in the rippling barrier, but the barrier had been separated from the Knight of Judgment. There were only two light balls on Parish’s candlestick. “I guess it’s not that easy to meet a second Cross… Ahem. You Knights of Judgment are always like this. Of course, so I understand.”

Parish Sherman took advantage of Ann’s laxness to remove the barrier between her and the fuller goat, but the barrier didn’t disappear immediately. The female soldier maintained it by herself and didn’t instantly rot and die from shock. The expression on Parish’s face disappeared, and all the original helplessness and smile turned into vigilance. There was a brief metallic scratching sound as he pulled out his silver sword.

“Are you sure you want to fight?” Ann continued nonchalantly. “You can’t pretend that it was all an accident?”

“For the glory of Zenni,” Parish took in a deep breath and clenched his hands tightly. “I’m very sorry, miss, but this task cannot be lost. I must eliminate all unstable factors.”

“It seems that you’re pretty sure that our leader won’t be able to come out in time. How interesting.” Ann twirled her spear in the air. “Would you be interested in another exchange of information, Mr. Upright Knight?”

This time, Parish ignored her request. The Knight of Judgment stuck the candlestick firmly to his waist, raised his sword, and attacked directly. His offensive was fierce and firm, and there was no hesitation in his movements. The spear and the sword collided. Ann deliberately adjusted the angle of her hunting spear, causing a string of sparks to appear between the metal. The lightning climbed up along the silver sword and was immediately shattered by the light array that covered the blade.

Ann whistled.

Parish’s movements didn’t stop. The silver sword pierced the throat of the female warrior, and the latter narrowly dodged. The blade left a shallow blood mark on the side of Ann’s neck, but the Knight of Judgment paid a greater price. Ann’s attack arrived almost at the same time, forcing him to avoid it. His eyes were scorched by the lightning and injured his forehead, leaving a terrifying scorched black mark.

Holding his sword in one hand, Parish continued to attack the fragile female warrior’s leather armor while he quickly drew a magic formation with his other hand, but Ann was faster than him. The same white magic array hit the air, showing the obvious gap in their powers. Then, Parish took two steps back, but he lost his balance. He tried his best to regain it by tumbling, but a small mistake could be fatal in front of an equally matched opponent.

The female warrior stepped on his throat and wiped the blood flowing down his neck casually. Lightning gleefully exploded sparks along the armor of the Knight of Judgment.

“Even if you kill me, there will only be new people—” Parish hissed.

“I know. If it was really more cost-effective to kill you, I would have done it as soon as our captain left.” Ann raised an eyebrow. “I just want to make sure of one thing. You told us the content of your task, but you never said that you’re a recorder. You’re also not wearing the silver badge of a recorder. So…” She quickly pulled open the buckle of the cloak on the Knight of Judgment and looked at the hidden array below, “it turns out to be Mr. Inspector from the heresy court. How rude.”

“You seem to know the Laddism Church very well.”

“What happens next is just my personal guess,” Ann ignored him and rubbed her chin. “Your story doesn’t sound like it’s fake. According to the temperament of those old farts of the Laddism Church, they will certainly secretly record the battle between Aurorae and the Abyssal Church.”

“But you’re an inspector of the heresy court, and at the same time, for your so-called ‘stability’, you didn’t hesitate to kill a Black Chapter… How interesting. Is it because they wanted you to do it?”

Parish stared at her from the ground, expressionless.

“It seems that my guess is right,” Ann hummed, and moved her foot away from the neck of the Knight of Judgment. “Still, would you like to do another exchange of information, Mr. Upright Knight?”

“…Are you insane?”

“Like I said, it’s not cost-effective to kill you. Besides, the top will only send new people immediately. I saw you were carrying a sacrificial dagger. Isn’t this a big deal?” Ann remained vigilant with her hunting spear. “You’ll sacrifice your body for the teleportation coordinates, and I can’t stop that.”

“You… What do you want to know?” Parish clenched the sword in his hand. He couldn’t guess what purpose the woman in front of him had. If she was from the Abyssal Church, what she knew was enough for her to go back to report, yet she didn’t seem to have any intention of that at all.

“Aurorae is weakening, right? You want to take advantage of the opportunity and when they are both defeated and injured, take them out.”

“This doesn’t seem to be what you want to ask.”

“That’s right.” The smile on Ann’s face disappeared. “My question is, which side will be coming from the Laddism Church, Alban or Garland?”

“…Where are your chips?”

“If you tell me,” the female warrior stood upright, exuding a more awe-inspiring aura, “I swear not to disrupt your action against the members of the Abyssal Church.”

Parish laughed. “You?…Although it’s a bit rude to say, you’re only a single person.”

“A single person teleportation is fine, but if you plan to use the coordinates of your corpse to provide the army with a teleportation destination, you must match it with the corresponding magic array.”

“Yes, but those arrays will never leak to—”

“Even though I don’t know which one it is,” the female warrior said solemnly, “they don’t require much magic, so I can afford to try them one by one.”

Behind her, countless small white arrays were suspended in the air. Parish’s eyes widened and his lips quivered. The blood all over his body seemed to be filtered by ice as it became instantly cold. He clearly saw the pre-arranged signal array in them, and there were even many he had never seen before. According to the composition of the mantra, those strange magic arrays were by no means fabricated out of thin air.

“The leader is the Preceptor Bishop of Alban,” Parish quickly explained.

The face of the female warrior suddenly became very ugly. She didn’t even bother to mask her expression, allowing vigilance and worry to mix on her face.

Parish thought that this woman was too dangerous. Their plan couldn’t be broken by an inexplicable Black Chapter. Her focus was also oddly strange. Generally speaking, even if she knew who was in charge, it wouldn’t have had any impact on their upcoming crusade.

He had exposed an insignificant piece of information and this Black Chapter—

“Look at me,” the cold and hoarse female voice suddenly sounded. Parish subconsciously raised his head and clenched the hilt of his sword. He had been trained thoroughly, so the charm technique would not work on him, and she couldn’t play any other tricks.

However, he was stunned.

All the white formations behind the female warrior disappeared, replaced by a huge pattern. It emitted a soft light on the dead ground, a light he was well acquainted with… Impossible was the word that was left in his mind.

This is impossible.

“I order you.” The female warrior took a few steps forward, grabbed the hair on the back of Parish’s head, and kept her gaze firmly in contact. “Parish Sherman, inspector of the heresy court. I order you to forget everything—like your mission went smoothly; you have not encountered any Black Chapters; and the wounds are all caused by a demon guard. You will continue to stand by and wait for the horn of war.”

“…Yes.” The eyes of the Knight of Judgment gradually became blank.

At the same time, on the upper floor of the catacombs.

“He’s going to kill it… That makes sense,” Oliver said after thinking about it for a while. “I suggest taking a look first. What are your plans?”

They passed through the high platform and drilled out of a small collapsed gap. The entrance of the cave was only half a person high, as if it was forcibly broken apart a long time ago, and thick dust and stone debris were scattered everywhere.

“Just like you, one step at a time. After all, if it’s completely hopeless, it’s just the difference between ‘now’ and ‘decades’ later,” Nemo said. “This is indeed not something we can intervene in rashly.”

Which side was the true goodwill, saving or killing? Only the demon itself could decide. After all, they were only bystanders and had no right to intervene on behalf of others.

There was a strong miasma outside the entrance of the cave. Oliver frowned. Nemo immediately grabbed the armored hand and was dissatisfied with the cold touch. “Don’t force it.”

“It can’t hurt me. It’s just the smell is too strong,” Oliver said. “I’m not made of glass. Don’t worry. If you look like that again, I can’t help but break off these thorns on your armor.”

Nemo stared at the long thorns, looking very approving.

“Mr. Virgil will be suspicious,” Oliver added, but couldn’t hold back the smile in his voice.

Things in front of them quickly erased the smiles on their faces. In the tumbling miasma, brown-yellow bones were formed into neat, tall cubes, and sporadic jewels flickered among the bones. A tall and thin shadow squatted next to the cube of bones, stroking the skull one by one with scary translucent fingers, as if counting. Its movements were slow and focused, and it had no interest in the light reflected by the torch.

“Leave it alone,” Nemo said, lowering his voice. “We’re not here to rob the tomb. It will not take the initiative to attack us.”

“Then the enemy that Mr. Virgil said… Ah, I see.” Oliver sheathed back his Rest in Peace. “What are these things?”

“Remnants,” Nemo said bitterly. “They’re lower-level demons and aren’t very strong.”

The remnants after the completion of a large-scale sacrifice. They weren’t ghosts of the dead, but the product of the remains of the living body being dominated by abyssal magic…

A mass of shriveled flesh wriggled in front of them. It was like someone roughly connected human hands, feet, and heads to pieces of meat and made them rot in a pile. It—or they—stretched out their hands to them, making vague groans with their mouths. Before it had time to move, it was pressed and torn into pieces by another remnant.

The deformed shadow picked up the scattered limbs on the ground and carefully stuffed them into the cube of bones. Nemo exhaled slowly as the remnant suddenly screamed and crawled away in a weird pose.

“…Isn’t the defense here too loose?” Oliver didn’t have time to act. He had probed around but found no living things other than long shadows and remnants. There wasn’t even a demonized mouse.

“Virgil’s passage should avoid most of the guards outside,” Nemo said. “After all, it must be opened at least once a month. I think the focus of the security is at the lower entrance.”

As if in response to their words, the torch suddenly accelerated and moved forward at full speed. Oliver put on his helmet, and the two of them hastily followed the torch. After not knowing how many cubes of bones they had crossed, they finally arrived at their destination.

A group of weirdly dressed people… or something, wearing large cloaks and metal pointed hats that covered their heads, were circling around the room. In the center of the circular room was a fuchsia heart tied by a thread that was still pulsating slowly. As soon as Nemo stepped into the room, they instantly stopped moving. Countless tiny smelly tentacles stretched out from under the cloak and shot at Nemo like arrows.

It made sense why Virgil wanted them to avoid this. If he was just an ordinary demon worshiper, if he had to face one of these things head on, he would be grinded into meat sauce right about now.

Just as Nemo was thinking about how to respond, the heart in the center of the circle pulsated extra hard a few times. The tiny tentacles turned around and then leaned towards the heart in the center, touched it for a few seconds, and finally drilled back into the cloak figures, like a living snake.

The group in the room began circling again.

“What do you need me to do?” Nemo glanced at the heart, trying to make a look of uncertainty.

“I held them off for the time being. Don’t worry, the heart of the bitter salamander can last for at least an hour. This is the inspiration you gave me.” Virgil was neatly dressed, but his forehead was full of shiny sweat. “I need you to use abyssal magic with me, Mr. Light. At least two people need to be present to open it.”

He threw a ball of paper over, on which was a simple magic array. Nemo wiped it with his hand. The ink stain was still new. It should’ve just been drawn—which meant, it was deduced on the spot.

“No problem.” He nodded, without asking more questions.

“After the formation is completed, you’ll wait on the stone steps and don’t go anywhere,” Virgil exhorted. “This isn’t a joke, Mr. Light. Just remember that there’s no danger on the stone steps of the entrance.”

Following his words, the room gradually rotated, and the door at the original entrance turned to the other side, exposing the entrance to the lower level.

There were more than ten stone steps down, and the place where the stone steps led was difficult to describe in words.

Judging from its constituent elements, it was probably a forest, but to be more specific, it looked like a nightmare. Everything didn’t obey the laws of the surface. The space was distorted, and trees grew in all sorts of varied directions. The trees themselves seemed to be roughly spliced together after being crushed. Common sense was completely broken, and the sense of distortion made people’s internal organs tight. Looking at the scene for too long would make people dizzy. There were still unnatural vacancies in many places, like peeling walls with pure darkness behind them.

Nemo sat down obediently on the stone steps while the “Knight of Silence” stood idly beside him. The room behind them rotated back again and the entrance disappeared.

“Don’t walk around or I won’t be able to find you,” Virgil exhorted again, trying to show a smile. “I… Five hours at most. You only need to wait for me for five hours.”

He then stepped into the weird distortion without hesitation, and within a few seconds, his back was completely engulfed by the floating dark forest.

Duran Virgil’s smile had always been sincere, but there wasn’t much positivity in that smile just now. It couldn’t even be called a smirk as it only conveyed a lifeless sadness. In all of Nemo’s memories, he had never seen such a desperate expression.

Oliver took off his helmet, and this time he fixed it directly behind his back. Nemo recognized the momentum; Oliver became serious. He also clenched the useless staff tightly and stood up.

“Should we follow?” Oliver scratched his head.

“Follow and look,” Nemo said. “Maybe there’s something we can do to help.”

“What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing.”

---

The author has something to say:

When I chose the name of the chapter, I wanted to eat black forest* for a moment…

*Unsure if she’s referring to black forest ham or black forest cake or something else entirely.

I have to say that the most magnanimous identities in the whole team are the knight commander and the gray parrot.

————————

Knight commander: …Your circle.

Gray parrot: No, I’m just a little parrot!

Oliver: I didn’t mean to hide it.

Nemo: I didn’t mean to hide it.

Ann: I’m sorry, I concealed it on purpose.

Jesse: …Concealment makes me happy!

---

Kinky Thoughts:

So… out of all the “normal” people, it seems Adrian is the most normal?

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 108: Rescue and Kill

The library was on the ground floor, and on the next floor was the dungeon where the sacrifices were held. The room where Nemo was imprisoned was directly below the dungeon. Nemo tried to continue to dive down, but his perception began to be distorted by the cracks in the law. It was like a hazy black mist, or the air tumbling desperately at a high temperature. What he discovered began to distort and eventually disappeared into the darkness.

There was only a rough outline of the mountain nightmare leopard and a very weak life response.

Virgil walked in front to lead the way, followed by Oliver, disguised as the Knight of Silence, and Nemo. Things went smoothly along the way as they didn’t encounter anyone else. Occasionally they ran into a few wandering demon worshipers, but after seeing the “Knight of Silence” among them, they would lower their heads, speed up their steps and quickly leave.

However, Virgil, who usually joked and was talkative, remained silent the entire time. In the gradually dark passage, he lit a weird white torch, but he didn’t look back at Nemo and the Knight of Silence once as he walked with his head buried in his hands.

Virgil’s momentum changed. Nemo recalled it for a long time before he found a similar feeling in his memory. It was an old aura that was very inconsistent with Duran Virgil’s appearance.

Quiet and gloomy.

He took them to the end of a narrow dead end, bit his fingertips, and smeared a weird and complicated blood array on the stone wall. With the completion of the array, the bloodstains were sucked into the stone bricks. After the last touch of red disappeared, the wall slid away silently, and a strong smell of staleness blew on their faces, as if they were sniffing mold.

White firelight illuminated the things behind the wall; a circular space about twenty square meters with rough stone steps that didn’t have guardrails hanging across. Unknown reddish-brown water stains flowed on the stone steps, creating a slippery and precarious scene.

Virgil pursed his lips and nodded at Nemo with a complicated gaze that scraped across his face, as if to determine whether Nemo still wanted to move forward. Nemo answered him with action as he followed him without hesitation.

The stone wall closed automatically behind them, and the entire space became darker in an instant. Virgil threw his torch into the middle of the space. It stretched out several slender feet, like a ghost spider, grasping the side of the spiral stone steps as it slowly descended, matching their speed.

Nemo didn’t dare communicate with Oliver secretly. Their footsteps echoed harshly in the silence; every breath was like a hurricane, and every drop of water was like an explosion. The downward stone steps seemed endless, as if they led into the Abyss. How unnecessary, he thought. They could use a flying array. He didn’t even mind drawing one on everyone’s soles. It would be much quicker to jump directly into the hole in the middle than to advance using the steps.

As a demon warlock, Virgil must have thought of this, yet he continued walking down the steps as if it was the only possibility. Their client was turning everything into a rather odd ritual. What exactly was he planning?

“How much longer?” Nemo hesitated for a moment before he spoke. His voice echoed repeatedly in the narrow space.

“Half an hour.”

“We’ve been walking for a while now.” Nemo cleared his throat. “There’s no teleportation array in this church. Are you sure we can escape smoothly?” Although this wasn’t a problem for him, who could split space, he had to make sure Virgil wasn’t lying from the start.

“You and your captain are lovers, right?” Virgil didn’t answer his question, but instead threw back the question at him.

This question was so straightforward and unexpected that it made Oliver’s steps a bit heavier and caused the armor to make a loud clatter.

“Yes,” Nemo responded clearly, “but this has nothing to do with the current situation.”

“As I said, I will send you out no matter what,” Virgil said. There was no disdain or disgust in his tone; quite the opposite, it sounded sincere. “Trust me, I’ll be able to do it.”

Nemo doubted this. In terms of magic strength, Virgil wasn’t strong. As a demon warlock, he was about a grade away from Hagen. He himself should be the type who wins from skills and experience, but he didn’t have the strength to wield spatial magic.

However, Nemo could only remain silent for now.

Just when Nemo wondered if they would really walk into the Abyss like this, Virgil stopped. The spiral stone steps eventually ended and plunged into a reddish-brown sewage. Virgil stepped out first. The water wasn’t deep, just past his calves.

Nemo struggled inwardly for a few seconds as he held back the urge to cast a spell before he stepped directly into the sewage. The sticky and cold sewage went straight into his boots, causing him to feel an unpleasant and greasy touch that wrapped around his toes. Thankfully, it didn’t have a strong smell; the rotten smell was unique, like something after a while of aging.

The torchlight stretched out from his slender feet and staggered in front of them. After advancing for about ten minutes, Virgil took out a thick chain and directly hit the first platform they encountered.

“We may need to fight next, so I’ll go first.” Virgil climbed up the iron cable skillfully, half kneeling on the high platform. “…The opponent is not strong, and you also have a Knight of Silence on your side, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Isn’t it unwise to split up?” Nemo immediately asked.

“I’ll leave the torch with you. When I’m done there, it will take you to me,” Virgil sighed. “There’s a strong guard at the entrance and I’m very familiar with it. You don’t need to fight Mr. Light. It’s dangerous for you to be by my side.”

“Okay.” Nemo swallowed silently. “Then you go first.”

Virgil gave him a somewhat difficult smile and left the high platform, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

“He probably wants to hide his strength,” Oliver finally got the chance to speak. He took off his helmet and took a deep breath. “God, the field of vision of this thing is too narrow. I almost tripped over myself at least eight times.”

“Don’t be nervous. I’ll follow you.” Nemo breathed a sigh of relief. He ignored the chain and jumped directly onto the platform. He then took off his boots and began dumping all the sewage out of them. “It’s a good thing to be separated. At least we can talk now.”

“Yes. Speaking of which, I thought he planned to steal research materials on erosion spells.” Oliver jumped onto the high platform with the same ease, and the torch climbed up tremblingly at the same time. “…But now it seems that he’s not lying.”

“I care too,” Nemo murmured. “Mr. Virgil didn’t seem to be lying just now. He really doesn’t have any intention of dragging me down.”

“What do you think is in the catacombs?” Oliver’s emerald eyes gleamed under the light of the torch.

“According to the records of the Abyssal Church, the catacomb has two floors.” Nemo didn’t intend to hide the knowledge he had gained from him. “We should be on the upper level right now, which is theoretically used to store the bones of believers. There’ll be a miasma in a bit. Do you need my help?”

“I can hold on… But Nemo…” Oliver switched to holding his helmet in his left hand and drew out his Rest in Peace; it was inserted into the rough-fine hilt of the Knight of Silence armor. At first glance, there was nothing wrong with it. “Can you feel the presence of other superior demons? There seems to be a very powerful one sleeping here.”

Good question. Nemo scratched his nose. “Yes.”

“Can you feel where it is?”

“…Don’t you want to ask if the body is still a human that’s possessed by its flesh?”

“Is this a question that needs to be confirmed?” Oliver’s voice suddenly became a bit dry. “Shouldn’t it be…”

“Its body is half rotten. The Church of Silence is supported by its bones. This is the part I can feel,” Nemo also replied dryly. “Furthermore, its body is in the lower layer of the catacombs, which is recorded in the Abyssal Church literature.”

It took Oliver a full three minutes to digest this fact. The expression on his face changed for a while before finally fixating on blankness.

“Nemo…”

He knows. Nemo took a sharp inhale. He thought he knew what Ollie wanted to ask—how did he detect the demon, or how he was able to pry into the literature of the Abyssal Church. If Ollie really wanted to know the truthful answer, he might be able to tell him now…

“Should we increase the price?” Oliver said nervously. “Although Mr. Virgil is a good person, this situation is too much.”

“…” Nemo was silent for a few seconds. He wanted to take advantage of the situation to explain his conjecture, but now the atmosphere was lost. “Probably,” he replied blankly. “Don’t you have any other feelings?”

“Not really,” Oliver said abruptly, shaking his head and frowning. “No, I do have a question.”

It’s coming. It’s coming. Nemo mustered up his courage once again…

“Won’t it hurt?”

“…Huh?” Nemo didn’t react for a moment.

“It’s a bit unnatural.” Oliver weighed the helmet in his hand. “I got some information here. The Abyssal Church has been trying to awaken this demon so that it can become an important part of their might, but according to you, they built their important main church directly on its bones… Then I can only imagine what will happen once they awaken this demon.”

“It’s quite rude to build a house on someone else’s half-rotten body, right? It sounds like it’ll be pretty painful, so will it really cooperate with them when it awakens?”

“Yes, but I think I can explain.” Nemo tried hard to find the words in his head. “When they found it, its body was sleeping.”

“Then what?”

“They held a grand sacrifice and got ‘acquiescence’,” Nemo sighed. “Well, unilaterally determined ‘acquiescence’. After all, they decided that this demon was full of hatred for the surface, and it was already experiencing enough pain that it wouldn’t care if there was only a little more.”

“……”

“It was forcibly dragged up by the ‘Gatekeepers’ more than 700 years ago. Do you remember Pandorater from the Black Chapter’s test, Ollie?”

“Of course.”

“At that time, there should be a group of people studying the weaponization of superior demons.” During the test, the desperate plea for help from the baby demon came to his mind, and it felt as if a piece of lead had suddenly dropped into his stomach. “This should be… the product of a failed experiment. It barely managed to save its life, but…”

It was also relatively weak and docile. There was only one key difference between it and Pandorater. This mountain nightmare leopard was already an adult.

The Gatekeepers forcibly pulled part of its body to the surface, but they were unable to completely destroy its will, and they didn’t know the method of sending a superior demon back, so they had to destroy it. In other words, they unilaterally identified it for ‘elimination’. The vitality of a superior demon had always been strong, and the part that was pulled out of the surface didn’t have its heart, so it survived and could only be counted as “alive” for the time being.

Those who had to die in despair instead survive.

“In short, no matter how weak it is, much of its body was exposed outside… Just like the original Pandorater, its magic will be stronger than most of the superior demons on the surface.” Nemo didn’t want to discuss this topic. “You should know about Aurorae. It’s normal for Aurorae to keep an eye on it.”

“They decided that it will take revenge,” Oliver thought for a moment, “so the Abyssal Church thinks it will ‘absolutely ’ cooperate with them. But something’s still wrong. Even if they manage to stop Aurorae—”

Hagen said so not long ago.

Was the new moon sacrifice really just a simple killing to “pay tribute to the Demon King”?

It was too unnatural. More than 700 years had passed. Even if Nemo didn’t know the specifics at the beginning, in any case, a sleeping mountain nightmare leopard couldn’t last so long on its own. There had to be an external factor forcing it to hang on, in order to wait for its revenge after it “wakes up”.

Judging from Duran Virgil’s performance, he wasn’t the type who was looking forward to chaos in the world.

An exorcist who was very good at erosion spells…

“Ollie,” Nemo said softly as he looked at the soft white light from the torch. He realized for the first time that it looked dazzling. “I think… I know what Mr. Virgil’s purpose is, and he really won’t ‘take’ anything.”

“…He probably went to kill it.”

---

The author has something to say:

Nemo, who was very bad at climbing a city wall at the beginning, can now directly fly up.

————————

Gloomy catacombs.

Virgil: Let’s split up.

Nemo: … (If this is a horror story, we’re doomed.)

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 107: Waiting to Die

“More important things?” Nemo’s attention quickly shifted. Since Oliver followed him, it meant that it wasn’t a matter that could be procrastinated. For the time being, after this day’s experience, he couldn’t imagine what more serious thing could happen.

“Mr. Virgil is good at mind control, but we all know he can’t control you.” Oliver stretched out his left hand, which was covered in metal armor, and awkwardly straightened the armor around his neck. “Our side… Um, we got some information. He’s especially good at erosion spells. If he finds out you have the strength of a demon warlock or higher, I don’t know if he’ll try to exorcise you.”

“I just met Dylan and Mr. Cross in the nave, and they didn’t say anything about it,” Nemo said, pulling the mask to the right side of his head.

“Actually, I tried to inform them, but… Their luck seems to be pretty bad. They’ve been in constant battle, and the magic interference to call them is too high. It’s safer for me to come in person than to wait,” Oliver poured out the words like he was spilling the beans. “Don’t worry. Ann’s also providing support outside. I gave her a communication crystal that can receive messages. Those disposable crystals can still be used—what are you laughing at?”

“No,” Nemo couldn’t stop himself from smiling. I thought one of these explanations would be ‘I wanted to see you’.”

Oliver suddenly choked. His face flushed suspiciously. He was silent for a few seconds, then silently buckled his helmet back on his head.

“…But this is indeed a problem.” Nemo changed the subject empathetically. “If this happens, I can’t deliberately let him control me.”

“That’s right,” Oliver said. “The way he behaves is completely different from the rumors. You have to be careful. And you need to move faster because Au—”

“Aurorae is coming, and the Church of Silence will be sealed soon,” Nemo took over smoothly. “If necessary, I’ll try my best to suggest it to Mr. Virgil to act in advance.”

Oliver’s stiff chuckle came from his helmet. “Well, let me guess. Dylan and Mr. Cross should be looking for the human sacrifices, right?”

“That’s right, captain,” Nemo said, his voice lighter.

“I should let you be my vice-captain.”

“There are only five of us! ……So what are you going to do now, Ollie?” Miraculously, Nemo found he was quite calm.

“I haven’t thought about it yet. It’s imperative to solve the potential danger of mind control.” Oliver’s equally brisk voice came from the armor. “Well, let me think about it… Have you found Bagelmaurus? We can add ‘uncontrollable’ to one of its talents.”

“Yes, but it’s following Mr. Cross.” Nemo scratched his hair. “After all, you can’t use the communication crystal, but at least Bagelmaurus can always find me… Ah.” He suddenly stopped scratching his hair.

“Do you have an idea?”

“You can go with me, Ollie.” Nemo reached out and tapped the metal armor on Oliver’s chest lightly, avoiding the dangerous thorns. “But I may have to wrong you.”

Duran Virgil was making final preparations.

He unfolded a tool bag. The badly worn buffalo skin emitted a faint smell of blood. Inside was a whole row of brushes, each of which was well maintained, and the wooden brush holder had a warm luster. Virgil brushed the pens with his fingertips, as if he was counting silently.

After he retracted his hand, he was in a daze for a while. He then carefully took out a delicate crystal bottle from his pocket and put it together with the brushes. They were neatly arranged and dim in color, inexplicably like a funeral procession.

This day had finally arrived.

The relaxation and depression that the goal was about to be achieved rushed into his throat, but there wasn’t any emotion related to joy in the mixed feelings. Truthfully, Duran Virgil didn’t care about the incoming Aurorae, but he wanted to take care of things before the place was completely sealed. To say the least, even if the Church of Silence was sealed up, he believed that, with his own understanding of this place, it would be easy enough to save a demon worshiper in the chaos.

Virgil raised his hand. He saw the cocoons full of eyes, and the smell of death that would never be washed away lingered between his fingers.

He knew what his reputation was, and he had no intention of accepting it. Duran Virgil had never been a silent hero who “guards the people”. These hands had indeed ended countless troublesome demons, and even several “compatriots” who were also demon warlocks, but that wasn’t out of any virtue, and he knew this very well.

The root was just a very selfish and cold wish.

He puffed up his chest and sucked in as much air into his lungs as hard as he could, as if he had never really breathed before. He stared at the brushes and “paints” on the wooden platform. They were once his last warmth, which he had turned into weapons of murder with his own hands. The tall man lowered his head and slowly rolled up the leather bag, moving softly and carefully.

There was only one last step left.

However, Virgil’s “last step” brought him a lot of surprises. The seemingly honest demon worshiper came back soon after sunset, which was what he expected, but Virgil never thought…

“Are you…?” Virgil held his brush and looked at the person behind him. A Knight of Silence was following the handsome black-haired young man step by step, who hung his head slightly and was dressed as a believer of the Abyssal Church. It was just that he didn’t wear his mask seriously, while he held the black staff firmly in his hand.

The bone ball at the top of the staff floated with his movements.

“Mr. Virgil. My disguise was discovered by a Knight of Silence, so I had to mind control him,” Nemo’s voice wasn’t loud, and his speech was vague and brief. “As for bringing him back… I think he should be of some use to your plans.”

Knights of Silence were usually demon worshipers, but after swearing loyalty to the Bishop of the Abyss, they could gain dangerous spells and transform their physical body. Strength was an important indicator of the success of mind control. Although the Knights of Silence weren’t as powerful as a real demon warlock, they would never be controlled by an ordinary demon worshiper.

There could only be one answer. Virgil had a bad hunch—if that staff was a mind control weapon…

It wasn’t impossible. Virgil’s mind was spinning. No matter how inconspicuous the strength of a single person was, this Black Chapter team was snake-level. Besides, his teammates also mentioned that his staff wasn’t ordinary.

“It’s really useful,” Virgil said, in a deep voice. “…But are you sure he won’t break away from your control?”

“No,” Nemo looked at the floating bone ball. “I’ve controlled something stronger than him, and it hasn’t failed.”

“I see.”

“Although it’s not a good weapon, it…” Nemo weighed the staff in his hand and his tone became a little stiff, “has seventeen mind drain arrays, five exploration runes, and eleven control immunity arrays. Will this convince you? You must have done extensive research on abyssal magic if you are familiar with the Church of Silence.”

Vergil thought, judging from his stiff tone, that the demon worshiper seemed to be a little unhappy. He roughly estimated the attributes provided, and the design seemed intentional. From his many years of experience, although this kind of ratio was extremely rare, it was feasible. Light shouldn’t be talking nonsense. After all, it took a frighteningly large number of calculations to design a reasonable array to make it a suitable weapon.

Unless the other party knew his strength in advance, it would’ve taken at least a month to complete the calculation adaptations for the weapon designer rather than just a single day.

Things were getting troublesome. If this thing was in Light’s hands, he wasn’t sure if he could successfully control him. There were also the exploration runes. Once he failed to mind control him, Light would immediately find out. Rather than trying to get rid of the staff… It was better not to offend this demon worshiper before reaching his destination. 

“I understand.” Virgil’s expression calmed down, and he nodded. “I believe you.”

The demon worshiper took out a klebator salamander’s heart from the bag at his waist and slowly stuffed it into his mouth. The Knight of Silence behind him shook slightly, and a roll of black smoke on the edge of his cloak made a trembling mark in the air.

“The information on my side is almost the same.” Virgil pinned the rolled belt of items around his waist. “I’m afraid we have to act tonight, Mr. Light.”

“Isn’t the defense at night tighter?”

“It happened suddenly. By sunrise tomorrow, it’s estimated that martial law will be imposed here,” Virgil sighed with melancholy. “It can only be tonight. I can talk to you slowly about the details on the road… To be honest, things will be much easier with an obedient Knight of Silence. I have to thank you.”

“…Nn.” Nemo responded.

“Let’s go. When we get there, you can contact your team captain.”

“Don’t you need to prepare something?”

“No need.” Virgil reluctantly tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I’m all ready.”

He did make all the preparations, just like many years ago. Was it hundreds of years ago? Virgil couldn’t remember.

He was also dressed like this back then. He was alone, with a large bag on his back, and his whole body was covered with traces of paint. The easel and the drawing board were tied to his backpack, and the brushes and paints were hung on his wide belt. It was just that those packages were not full of murderous drugs and materials; rather, they were filled with dried food.

At that time, although he was tall, he was abnormally thin, and his fingers could detect the obvious depression in his cheeks. There was no smell of other people’s blood on his body; only his own. Roscoe’s forest was vast and beautiful. It was a suitable place to die quietly—especially for a person who was being corroded by the toxins from the Abyss.

The memory was too early. He may not be as free and lax as he remembered, but he was determined to refuse to die without dignity on a hospital bed.

Time flew by so fast. Virgil grinned at the old stone bricks on the soles of his feet. When he first came “here”, there wasn’t even a shadow of the Church of Silence. There was only a huge, slowly decaying skeleton.

And a single person.

Even if all other memories faded, only this one would not blur or disappear. At that time, he probably had just fixed the easel into the soil, or he might have sat on a tree stump and looked at the weird skeleton, calculating its proportions with a brush. A voice came from the tree, cold and unhappy. The pronunciation was weird and wasn’t normal…

“Human,” a strange young man leaning on a tree said. “What are you doing?”

“Painting.” He raised his head and replied obediently, deciding not to care about any special pleasantries.

“What else?”

“Waiting to die,” he continued to answer. “What about you?”

“…Me too.”

---

The author has something to say:

Virgil: I don’t think you know my abilities.

(Really know)

Virgil: It shouldn’t be calculated on the spot.

(Really calculated)

Virgil: Light’s tone is a little stiff. He should be unhappy.

(Really nervous)

Oliver, who was watching, wanted to laugh hysterically, but as a Knight of Silence he couldn’t make a sound. It was really hard.

---

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