Chapter 135: Outside Field Trip (8)

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“……Ah.”

Laysis’s eyes widened.

For a moment she had thought Carl had appeared behind her, but when she turned her head she saw a translucent wave reflecting a scene from elsewhere.

-KWAAAANG!

The entire fortress was engulfed in dark flames.

Had a fire broken out?

However, she widened her eyes at the sight of Carl standing within the inferno.

[Black flame, was it. It was a rare fire, and even I felt my skin tingle; I wondered if he had the talent of a Death Slayer.]

“…….”

Laysis, held down by the man, turned only her pupils to look into the scene inside the wave.

Carl was rampaging like a madman.

With each gesture of his hand, the fortress they had just passed through became wrapped in black flames and melted away.

She could not help but be drawn to the violent spectacle she had never before witnessed.

[Ah, that one seemed to value you rather highly; if he were human he would surely be blinded by riches, but is it not to say your worth exceeded them?]

“……!”

Startled by the man’s words, Laysis flinched and bit her lip hard.

She could not hide that her ears peeking through her hair had flushed red, but she was not so naive as to fail to suppress a heart flutter in a situation like this.

“Your…….”

[Hm?]

“What is your purpose?”

Laysis deduced that the identity of this pale man was the demigod Kailos.

He had been a name sealed by heroes after clashing over the Creator God’s seat, and was now known only from ancient texts.

‘Whether he was an impostor or not she did not know.’

The strange aura she felt from him told her he was not an ordinary person.

Or rather, was he a person at all?

‘Ugh.’

She struggled to escape from the man’s grip, but for some reason she could not move even a single finger.

Only her eyes could move and her mouth could open.

If she could move her hand she would have drawn her sword, but an invisible hand seemed to hold her entire body so she could not move.

[How presumptuous.]

The man narrowed his eyes and bowed his head to meet her gaze.

Laysis shivered at the expressionless, mechanical eyes and bit her lip tightly.

“……I am sorry for disturbing your rest; if I could apologize I wished to do so.”

[An apology, was it.]

At her words the man’s expression softened at once and he gave a faint smile.

[What did I appear like to your eyes?]

“…….”

Laysis quietly lifted her head and looked at the man.

White hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and a bare, muscular torso were before her.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to answer, the man tilted his head as if he had already pierced her thoughts.

[A male body, was it; was that his final appearance, then? That form was unfamiliar to me.]

Whoosh.

The man’s form began to change in an instant.

Silver-white hair that had emitted a faint light lengthened to her waist, and the formerly muscular body grew slender, shifting into a woman’s form.

Flutter.

She even donned a black dress and spun her body around.

Freed at last from the man’s hand, Laysis coughed and backed away.

“……Huh?”

But when she raised her head the sight before her made her eyelids tremble.

The naked male form was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a flawless, white-haired woman.

The woman reached out and gently stroked Laysis’s cheek while whispering softly.

[You said you would do anything as penance for disturbing my rest.]

“…….”

Laysis gritted her teeth.

Unlike before, she could move freely.

Her hand went to the sword at her waist as the woman approached, but she restrained it with superhuman patience and suppressed her hostility.

“What should I do?”

Her instinct told her the woman before her was a being beyond human.

Her head filled with the sense that she must not oppose or offend her recklessly.

‘Be careful.’

Whether the opponent was truly a demigod she did not know, but it was impossible to stop her with her own strength.

At least until Carl arrived……

[I wished for an avatar.]

“……An avatar?”

The woman lifted the hem of her dress slightly and gave a curt nod as if greeting.

[In this era my name would likely have already been forgotten; it would not exist even as a divinity, and the temple would not be permitted to speak that name.]

“…….”

[That cunning Creator would not have left me be; yet she too suffered greatly to seal me.]

“Damage?”

It was a mythic tale.

Even an ordinary person could not help but be intrigued by the woman’s words.

Laysis pricked up her ears and listened intently to the woman’s story.

[You knew that those called heroes came from another world, did you not?]

“I knew.”

The existence of beings from another world was already accepted.

Records said they had come to this world in many forms besides heroes.

Of course nothing had been officially declared; it had been a matter discussed only in academic theory.

[The Creator, as a last gambit before losing the seat of the Chief God, had summoned the beings of another world, which was my fatal mistake for thinking it trivial.]

The woman admitted it plainly and nodded.

[But that act had severely disrupted cause and effect; even though I was sealed, the Creator still failed to seize the Chief God’s seat, so that meant I too still had an opportunity.]

“…….”

If she still had an opportunity, did that mean she intended to start another war and plunge the continent into chaos?

Laysis hesitated and edged backward to put more distance between herself and the woman.

‘Become my avatar.’

Although she did not know exactly what an avatar was, it must have meant something like being a puppet that moved under the control of the demigod Kailos.

Laysis never intended to give up her body.

[So become my avatar. Spread my forgotten name across the continent once again and cry out to the Creator that this body has returned!]

Shaaah!

The woman’s hand reached out once more.

It was a gesture like before, as if to stroke her nape, but the feeling emanating from it was quite different this time.

That was why Laysis could no longer endure and drew her sword.

Clang!

A sharp arc of steel guarded before her.

Surging streams of mana formed a wall, and Laysis immediately assumed the initial stance of the Boundless Azure Sword Technique.

[Hm.]

The demigod Kailos looked at her boldness and gave a faint smile.

[That is how it should be.

A puppet that obeyed only this body’s commands was disqualified as an avatar.]

“Who said I would be your puppet.”

[Child, just now you said it with your own mouth.

That you would do anything if it was to apologize.]

“I never said I would become a puppet.”

[Your words contradicted themselves. But very well, pressing a servant into submission was also a way to establish divinity. Especially you, child…….]

Kailos’s blue eyes fixed directly on Laysis.

[Your vessel was vast. It seemed enough to contain divinity.]

“……!”

A chill ran down her spine.

Without hesitation, Laysis swung her sword.

Swoosh!

It was somewhat hasty, and just as sharp.

The forms of the Boundless Azure Sword Technique tore everything around her to pieces.

Sword energy burst out in streams, striking all directions, collapsing the altar and raising a cloud of dust.

Clatter-clatter!

Laysis immediately spun her body and pushed off the ground.

She did not know where this was, but she meant to buy time until Carl arrived.

‘Even if I cannot fight.’

She could at least run.

That was what she had always trained her stamina for without rest.

But just before she could reach the door—

[Where were you rushing off to?]

At her ear, a voice filled with laughter came, and at the same time a cold hand bound her entire body.

[There was plenty of time.

Child, I would slowly pass this body’s divinity to you.]

“…….”

Unable to even scream, Laysis’s consciousness sank into darkness.

Kwaaang!

The spire of the fortress collapsed.

Carl surveyed the surroundings with a sharp expression.

“…….”

Nothing.

He felt nothing at all.

Not Laysis’s presence, nor that of the being who had taken her.

‘Was the fortress not important?’

Even though he had burned it all to the ground, they had not appeared.

That must mean the fortress was nothing but a trick.

The real important place had to be elsewhere.

“…….”

Carl let out a breath and stood firmly in place with eyes closed.

He had already used the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

There was no longer any room to hold back.

Shaaah.

Together with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the aura of the Bright Heaven Divine Art spread and enveloped his body.

When he had reached the Single Pole of Primordial Unity, the gray aura of harmony spread outward and permeated the surroundings.

‘Who was the master of this fortress?’

A demon?

A monster?

Or some other being?

In any case, it was surely connected to the entire space.

If he could only find the slightest clue……

‘Found it.’

Carl’s eyes shot open.

Far away, from above, he felt the gaze of someone watching him.

Most likely they had been observing him through some form of magic.

He could not discern the type of magic, but what mattered was that it was connected to that place.

Shaaah!

The energy of the Primordial Unity Divine Art stretched outward, seeking the path linked to the magic.

Since it extended upward, he thought it must be somewhere beyond the ceiling, but the path connected to the magic pointed downward.

‘Below, further below, much further down.’

Then there must be a connected passage.

Carl immediately swept through the energy underground and discovered a passage descending beneath the fortress’s main hall.

Thud.

At once he kicked off the ground and rushed forward, reaching the main hall that had collapsed in demonic fire.

Clenching his fist lightly, he struck the floor, collapsing everything around him.

What appeared before him was a narrow passage leading downward.

Carl threw himself into it without hesitation.

Swoosh!

It was a deeper passage than the one he had entered through the hole in the gargoyle statue on the surface.

He even thought it might reach the end of Artenia itself.

But Carl did not stop; instead he increased his speed with the Heavy Descent technique and fell swiftly.

At last, when he reached the ground—

KWA-AAAAANG!!!

He landed with a tremendous shockwave.

It must have made the ground tremble all the way above.

But he paid it no mind and swept the area.

‘Laysis’s scent.’

The lingering fragrance of the lime perfume she often used remained scattered about.

Carl immediately followed the traces and soon discovered a large dome-shaped space.

‘A temple?’

No, it was far too shabby to be called that.

Carl narrowed his eyes, noticing that the fragments of rubble had only fallen recently.

Swoosh!

At once he followed the traces and found a familiar presence at the end.

“……Laysis!!!”

At the end of the dome, Laysis stood staring blankly into the air.

Carl, relieved, shouted her name as he rushed toward her.

Thud.

But at a certain point he stopped and widened his eyes.

“……Lady Laysis?”

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