Chapter 186: 186

Under the pressure coming from the city, Ivona could barely breathe. Michelle was in a somewhat better state.

That just showed how much more powerful Nyxaroth was when he was completely unaffected. But even he couldn’t detect the source of the pressure.

He wasn’t a beast specialized in detection; his power focused on sneaking and destruction. But his senses were still incredible because they always rose with his power.

He should have been able to sense the source of a pressure so weak compared to him.

Or was it because he was so powerful? Did his senses not pick up the source because his senses subconsciously deemed it insignificant?

Thinking about all that while still under the pressure, Michelle was getting more and more confused. And the fact that the pressure was getting stronger didn’t help her the least bit.

Michelle glanced at Ivona. She looked like she would faint at any moment. They needed to leave. But Michelle’s curiosity still wasn’t satisfied.

“Nyx, take Ivona to Cold Flame and Mare!” she suddenly said to Nyxaroth using the contract. Speaking normally was nearly impossible for her under the pressure.

Nyxaroth understood that Michelle wanted him to leave her there alone, and he was quite reluctant to do so. But she was his contract master, and the words of one’s contract master were absolute, so he had to obey.

A while later, Michelle was alone under the pressure, standing up slowly. With her hand on the city wall to support herself, she slowly walked along it until she got to the city gate. Just as she had expected, not a soul could be seen.

After entering the city through the gate, the pressure instantly increased by folds, and Michelle fell down, a small dent forming under her knees. Naturally, her knees didn’t go without damage. The sweet scent of blood instantly filled the air.

Michelle reacted quickly and coated her knees in ice to prevent further bleeding. Then, she tried to get up again, only to fail miserably. So it seemed her kneecaps were shattered by the fall.

But Michelle didn’t give up. Slowly, she laid down on the ground and turned over, so she was lying on her back. That way, the pressure wasn’t that terrible on her knees, and she could let her Spirit Soul Blood do the healing work.

For a long time, Michelle kept lying on the ground, feeling the pain in her knees slowly fade away. After about two hours, she decided it was time to proceed deeper into the city.

No longer caring that she shouldn’t use her spirit energy, she made herself a walking stick out of thick ice so she could support herself under the pressure.

She refused to fall down like that again. But still, in case she did, she coated her ankles, shins, knees, wrists, and elbows with ice to protect her bones and joints.

Getting up was probably the hardest under the pressure, but once Michelle was back on her feet, she was somehow able to slowly walk deeper into the city with the help of the walking stick.

What surprised her was that as she walked through the empty slums, the pressure didn’t increase a bit, even though Michelle was most probably getting closer to the source with every step.

A bad feeling rose within Michelle’s chest as she approached the border between the slums and the commoners’ area.

Gripping the ice stick tighter, Michelle walked out of the last slum street and instantly felt like a boulder had crashed against her shoulders, making her tremble under the pressure. For a while, she felt like she couldn’t take a step forward.

Her hands started slipping on the ice stick, so she formed an ice glove on her hand and froze it to the stick. Then, she took another step forward, even as her knees buckled beneath her.

The commoners’ area was much smaller than the slums, but Michelle took much longer to walk through it. She reached its border with the rich area only when the sun had set.

Just then, she felt a reaction in her contract with Nyxaroth. He was near the city, so she could feel him again.

Before Nyxaroth came, Michelle wanted to enter the rich area. So, relaxing her body as much as possible, she took a step forward.

Michelle didn’t even have the time to react when the ice glove got torn off the ice stick and she got pushed to the ground, ending up lying on her stomach, her face plastered into the ground.

The pain made her want to curse, but she couldn’t even open her mouth. She felt like she was being stomped on by a horde of elephants. Luckily, she was still able to use her spirit energy to protect herself.

Originally, Michelle wanted to get to the city center while only using her spirit energy to create supportive items for herself, but she realized that was an impossible feat.

So she let her spirit energy course through her whole body, which lifted some pressure off her. Then she got back to her feet.

Even with the spirit energy helping her, it still took her long to walk through the whole rich area. Nyxaroth had come in the middle of the night and just watched from above, and it took Michelle until dawn to get to the entrance of the noble area, where the two families resided. The area was blocked by a heavy gate.

Placing her palms on the gate, Michelle pushed it open and nearly fainted from the pressure that rushed out at her. But she managed not to fall by letting her spirit energy explode around her into a brilliant blue-black fire.

Still, the pressure made it impossible to take a single step forward, even with the support of the spirit energy.

So Michelle decided to add her soul energy to it. It didn’t help much with the pressure, but it increased her resistance to it.

So she was able to take the step into the noble area.

The pressure there nearly crushed all her bones into dust. But her soul energy was stronger, since it was basically void, so it started absorbing some of the pressure, giving Michelle some room for breathing.

That allowed her to walk towards the plaza in the center of the city.

But as if the pressure in the noble area wasn’t enough, stepping onto the plaza increased the pressure by folds. Michelle couldn’t withstand it since she wasn’t prepared and fell straight on her face, making her cringe.

Up above, Nyxaroth couldn’t help but chuckle. He had never seen his contracted master in such a disgraceful state. It was quite the refreshing sight.

Hearing Nyxaroth’s laugh, Michelle’s rage intensified. Along with it exploded the void within her, wrapping her in a black void which slowly pushed out the pressure.

Michelle would have definitely lashed out at Nyxaroth if she didn’t sense something in the middle of the plaza. Instantly, she retracted the black veil of void and locked her eyes on the place where she felt something.

Her eyes were bright red from anger and all, but her mind was clear, so she knew not to rush to the place. The plaza was a dangerous place.

Hidden in the city’s shadows, Noctis was quite uneasy. Since the moment the pressure appeared for the first time, he knew what it belonged to. It wasn’t something he could protect Michelle from. He could just hope it would take a liking to her.

But that was highly unlikely. The thing was left behind by the black god and had a terrible temper. It hadn’t appeared for centuries, but that didn’t mean people forgot the terror it had caused.

Only the fools in the lower realm were unaware of its presence and dared to build a city atop its lair. Or maybe they knew and decided to make it sacrificial grounds. Whichever was the case, Michelle was in danger.

Not only Noctis, but Nyxaroth was quite on edge too. At first, he couldn’t sense the source of the pressure, but flying above the center of the plaza, he finally understood what was going on.

Under the city was a creature which had suffered a fate similar to himself. It was sealed away for centuries by the same man who sealed him in Michelle’s sealing book. And it was enraged. Or hungry.

One worse than the other.

Michelle understood the situation was dire. She didn’t know what was going on, but she could feel danger coming from the middle of the plaza. Danger so great, she had never felt something similar before.

All her cells were screaming at her to get away.

But something in the back of her mind was keeping her in place. Something about the pressure felt familiar.

She couldn’t leave until she found out what it was. It was reckless and dangerous, but she was willing to risk it.

With slight hesitation, Michelle took a step towards the center. When nothing happened, she took another step. And when even then the place remained calm, she took a few more steps, stopping a meter away from the fountain in the center of the plaza.

She could feel it. Something was under the fountain, observing her.

There was no way to know when the thing would come out, but Michelle wasn’t scared. Deep within, she felt she had to see the thing.

So she took the last step forward and placed her hand on the side of the fountain, expecting something to happen.

But only the deafening silence of the city was her answer.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep