Chapter 170: Falling Into The Depths Of The Abyss [3]

After returning to the camp, Dante was healed by Elizabeth immediately.

He didn’t have physical injuries after his trait healed him automatically, but thanks to her Aspect, which was effective at easing the mind, he could endure the pain better now.

And yes, it meant that his pain hadn’t stopped yet, but it was still decreasing gradually.

At this rate, it might disappear in a day or two at most. For now, he could only tremble quietly around his “friends”.

However, he still didn’t reveal what happened to him. Obviously, he couldn’t just say he was in pain due to using a weapon of chaos to destroy a demonic relic that was related to the one he had, right?

The soldiers outside were left to their own theories without any explanation.

“What do you think happened to him? And what about the food supply?”

“I don’t know. He left daily despite the danger, and he always returned without a scratch, didn’t he? What changed this time?”

“Who knows. Maybe the giants finally found him or maybe that’s the mysterious black magic user. Seeing how his mind doesn’t seem right even after the healing, the black magic is likely the reason.”

“Just what is a user of black magic doing here? That’s ridiculous.”

“I wish I could kill all of them alongside the giants!”

As the soldiers discussed and made their own theories, the blame gradually went to either the giants or the mysterious black magic user.

They were literally insulting Dante for harming Dante when they blamed the black magic user.

Ironically, they were completely right.

After a few hours, Dante said farewell to Elizabeth and went to the commander to discuss something that could gain the interest of the higher-ups in the Holy Kingdom.

“You say they somehow opened a gate to the Abyss?!” The commander’s face was pale like a ghost as he looked at Dante with his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

Saying he was shocked would be an underestimation of what he currently felt.

The Abyssal gates were impossible to open by force. From what he had learned, those gates opened on their own under unknown conditions related to the Abyss itself, not through someone from this continent.

Saying that their enemies knew a method to open such gates was basically unbelievable! It was both dangerous and suspicious, and it raised a lot of questions.

“I’m… not sure.”

With his body still trembling, Dante spoke with a shaky voice: “It was in its initial stage, barely a small dot, and the giants were hiding under it and they were ready to commit suicide to keep any information about that gate hidden.”

“Everything says they either opened the gate themselves or had a way to know where a gate would open. In both cases…”

“Both cases could make everything they did until now make sense…” the commander completed Dante’s sentence and sighed, covering his face with both hands.

If it was the first case, it’d mean they were trying to open that gate secretly in a place that didn’t draw much attention.

While all the strong people were busy fighting on the western side of the kingdom, they were here creating dangers to the Holy Kingdom that would force them to separate their forces to block what would emerge from the gate.

Not to mention the possibility that they could be doing that in many other places. One gate was already too much, but more gates would be true hell.

As for the second case, it would be just as dangerous. If they had a method to find the gates before they could open and they were hiding under a newly opened one, that would mean they had something to get from those gates.

Maybe they could accelerate the opening process of the gates.

Maybe they could use the gate to their own advantage in a way that could change the whole war.

Maybe they could “expand” the gate after it was fully open. This too was extremely dangerous, as the size of an abyssal gate determined what could go through it.

There were many theories in the commander’s mind, and none of them was a good one.

In all cases, the giants would have a reason to eliminate the camps as quickly as possible.

With fewer camps to observe the area, the gate would have a higher chance of going unnoticed.

Attacking the camps aggressively would be suspicious, so they used the method of destroying the supplies, which wouldn’t have been possible without the portal relic.

“I think I’ll spend the whole night making a good report. I should show them how serious the situation is.” The commander said with a grim expression: “Thank you again. For everything you did… Thank you. I can see that you had to pay a price for this information… I can mention your efforts in saving everyone after everything is done.”

“I don’t need that. Thank you regardless.” Dante bowed slightly before returning to Elizabeth’s tent.

“I’m leaving now.” Dante said to Elizabeth and the others.

“Wait!” Elizabeth held his sleeve, his blind eyes looking at him with concern: “You aren’t looking good currently. Please, stay for a day and rest. I’ll keep taking care of you and use my spells continuously until you become better.”

“I don’t know what you have to do in the Northern Region, but I’m sure Fafnir can take care of it. Trust me, he can do anything if you just believe in him, and I’m sure he’s ready to do anything for your comfort! Just stay…”

Seeing no reaction from Dante, she realized that she couldn’t convince him.

She didn’t know why… but he had already made up his mind.

“Sorry… I have an important reason. Fafnir will take care of you and keep you safe, don’t worry.” Dante lowered his head in apology.

“I understand. Just stay safe and let yourself rest properly.” Elizabeth smiled and cast another spell on Dante, using all her remaining mana.

After that, she gave him a quick hug and stepped backward.

The next moment, an inky-black sphere covered his body completely, and what appeared instead was a little shadow that looked like an adorable plushie.

The shadow had the look of sadness and depression. Seeing how his master was acting, he felt like he failed him as his shadow.

Maybe there was something funny he could do to ease him, but he couldn’t think. That thought gave him the feeling of being a failure.

Elizabeth sighed and took him into her embrace like always, while Mira and Michael stayed with their silence.

¢¢¢

“I’m back…” Dante examined his surroundings the moment he appeared

He was now in a room with a table in front of him. The table contained many different types of food and flowers.

“My Lord, are you okay? Your shadow said you were sad and needed to rest. Do you want a massage? Should I get you more food?”

Behind him, Ruby looked even more concerned than Elizabeth… and her face was swollen.

Fafnir had decided earlier to get Ruby’s help to find something to help Dante.

And one of the things he tried was slapping Ruby several times, thinking that it could make him laugh.

Maybe if not for Dante’s current mental state, he’d have laughed.

“I… think I’m okay.” Dante responded plainly, and Ruby immediately knew he was lying.

She ignored what he said and started massaging his shoulders anyway.

’…I hate this.’

Dante sighed and took a cigarette from his ring.

He lit the cigarette quickly and brought it to his mouth, inhaling the herb into his lungs before exhaling the blue smoke.

Soon after, he finished it and moved to the second.

Without even realizing, he finished it and moved to the third.

The fourth.

The fifth.

His body kept trembling, and although it was mainly because of pain, there was also a second reason this time.

It was fear.

’What is going to happen? What could possibly be worse than that?’

Dante held his head and gritted his teeth, remembering Greed’s warning.

He said that the soul pain was only the start, that something worse was going to happen.

But how? Dante only destroyed a relic. Why would that be dangerous?

The soul pain was understandable, but everything else was not. Was there something special about the demonic relic?

’The pain is slowly going away. I… I’ll recover immediately. But what if the next thing wasn’t only pain?’

Dante was truly scared. Maybe Greed was lying, or maybe he was not.

And that was also why he left the Central Region instead of resting there. He didn’t want whatever was going to happen to affect Elizabeth or the others.

Of course, there was a second reason.

The abyssal gate.

There was something wrong about it. Dante didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that he might end up entering it if he stayed so close.

Greed had implied that Dante would eventually fall into the Abyss, whether he wanted that or not.

“Are you there?” Dante raised his voice and asked with a sliver of hope, ignoring Ruby’s confusion.

“My lord? Is—”

“I… I destroyed one. I did it! I did what you asked for!!”

“But I need your help now. Something is going to happen!”

“Please answer me!”

“…Please.”

Dante begged desperately, but the dark entity didn’t respond.

Maybe he was ignoring Dante on purpose.

Maybe he really wasn’t there.

But Dante had no way to know. He was completely clueless.

…Was that because Dante was at the capital of Morgana’s Duchy? Was the person who fought the dark entity earlier in this city?

Morgana got help from her father to deal with the dark entity. He could be somewhere here.

That would explain everything… but Dante hated it.

Why now of all times?

“…Why?”

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