Chapter 196. Resolution

Meanwhile, the Flint Expedition was in a state of emergency as they tried to rescue Ferda.

There was no time to leisurely search the rooms for magic artifacts.

As the expedition leader, Erika returned to the entrance hall they had designated as their base and began directing the other adventurers.

"Did anyone find anything?"

The adventurers answered her question.

"The left side seemed to have been used as living quarters, so there wasn't anything noteworthy."

"The right side had quite a few magic artifacts, but none of them seemed related..."

Both the left and right sides had turned up nothing.

The only group remaining was the front team, the one she had led herself.

"Damn it, of all things, why did he have to trigger a trap like that..."

"What can you do..."

She couldn't exactly call him reckless.

Things like this happened all the time in an adventurer's life, and even seasoned adventurers had withdrawn before it.

They desperately searched for clues using the Eastern characters they had hurriedly learned, but everything they found was useless.

The only thing they had managed to decipher was that the library Ferda had entered was called the Nourishment Chamber, while the room beneath it was called the Yin-Yang Chamber.

Just from the names, it sounds like a place for cultivation...

The problem was why such a training chamber would seal itself automatically.

Surely Ferda wouldn't place restrictions on himself in a place this insane just because he wanted to train?

"...No, is that actually possible?"

He was such an absurdly unpredictable person that, somehow, it didn't seem entirely impossible.

Regardless, Erika could only hope he returned safely.

"Captain Eri!"

Some adventurers came running from the front, shouting excitedly.

"I think we found something!"

Her heart skipped a beat.

Suppressing her expectations as much as possible, she calmly examined what they had brought.

The very first page was a blueprint.

The blueprint of Gyeonghui Palace itself.

"Where did you find this?!"

"I think we entered the Palace Master's room. We were opening every book we could find there, and this one showed up!"

"Well, since the Palace Master oversaw everything, it makes sense it would be there."

Maps were the eyes of adventurers, and this one was practically a divine eye that saw through everything.

Erika rapidly flipped through the book, searching for the sections on the Nourishment Chamber and the Yin-Yang Chamber.

"Here it is. Since ancient times, Gyeonghui Palace borrowed the power of love, and to nurture that love, it considered cultivating emotions in the Nourishment Chamber to be of great importance."

"They use love to cast magic?"

"What is this, some children's hero story? Is that even possible?"

"Why not? Don't people with a Red Circle use their emotions to operate their Circles?"

"It's always the ones who know just enough to be dangerous. Tsk."

"Quiet down. I'm translating."

Suppressing those about to argue, Erika continued reading.

"Sometimes, even when a man and a woman have feelings for each other, they... blah blah... such actions go against the founding Palace Master's ideals. Establishment of the Yin-Yang Chamber... Oh, I think I found it."

"So how do they get out?"

"It says the chamber automatically opens again within twelve hours."

"Twelve hours?"

"Then that's cutting it pretty close, isn't it?"

"Considering the return trip, yes. Let's keep reading... Ah, there's more. A faster way to get out is... Huh?"

Erika frowned.

"Wait a second... Is this word... maybe I'm translating it wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

"I mean... this is... it can't be... but..."

She pressed against her brow with a troubled expression.

She translated it again and again, but the meaning remained perfectly clear.

"...You can't leave unless you share affection?"

"...What?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"If it's affection..."

"I think... that's what it means..."

If they were talking about the kind of affection adults shared, what else could it mean?

Everyone understood.

No one dared to say it aloud.

"Wait a minute..."

The embarrassment lasted only a moment.

"Then for them to get out of that room safely, the Armored Knight and Regent Ferda would have to..."

"...Share love, wouldn't they?"

A suit of armor standing nearly two meters tall.

And Ferda, a comparatively slender man.

No one could picture it.

"So... to share that... love..."

"Ahem!"

"Quiet!"

No, if they actually tried to imagine it, only horrifying and disgusting images came to mind.

But there was something even more painful.

Someone had to tell them.

Just as the group had finally begun to bond through comradeship...

An intense battle of nerves began.

Remaining perfectly composed, Erika singled someone out.

"...Mr. Rizera?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"How about you tell them?"

"M-Me?!"

"You could go over there and tell them that if they... um... share some affection... and get it over with quickly..."

"I-I... wait... M-Me?!"

Erika calmly explained the task.

Rizera simply stood there with both hands clasped together, repeating her words in disbelief.

Ferda already had a fiancée.

He simply couldn't bring himself to say something like that to him.

And no one else wanted to, either.

"Huh?"

Looking around, Virgil suddenly noticed something.

"T-There...! That's the Armored Knight!"

"...What?"

"No way."

No one believed him.

If they had escaped by smashing the door down, the entire building should have shaken violently.

Buried alive was a real possibility at that depth.

Even in such desperate circumstances, Ferda would never have allowed such a reckless plan.

Then who exactly was the Armored Knight approaching them?

But moments later, everyone confirmed what the archer had seen.

The Armored Knight really was coming.

The knight carried an exhausted Ferda on their back while holding the books Ferda had collected, wrapped neatly in a cloth bundle.

Noticing them, the Armored Knight awkwardly raised a hand in greeting.

Their return did not bring relief.

It sent chills down everyone's spine. 1

***

"Mmm..."

Ferda awoke on the Armored Knight's back.

The armor pressing against his body was uncomfortable, but he couldn't exactly ask to be put down.

My body won't move properly...

The overwhelming exhaustion left him with no choice.

My body feels completely ruined.

Ferda carefully examined his condition.

Within his Dantian, he could clearly feel a heavy sensation that had never been there before.

The Shadow Circle has reached the second stage.

Something created not by his own will, but forced upon him.

It continued trying to consume him.

It had been a situation where death was all but inevitable.

Yet somehow, he had survived.

I've reached the Fifth Circle.

The realm known as a Master Mage, a level that ordinary geniuses could never attain no matter how desperately they struggled.

I completed two Circles in a single day...

It was so absurd that no one would believe it.

Even Ferda himself, back when he had reached the Eighth Circle, would have asked how such a thing was even possible.

Of course, his answer was already decided.

Eleanor.

Though she had been nothing more than an illusion, thanks to her help, Ferda had managed to suppress the Shadow Circle.

He quietly lay on the Armored Knight's back with his eyes open.

Walking beside him, Erika glanced over and jumped in surprise.

"Oh? You're awake."

"Yes."

She wore an unusually troubled expression.

"Captain Eri, did you rescue us?"

"..."

"Captain Eri?"

"I asked if you rescued us."

Hearing that, Erika cautiously looked around before asking,

"You... don't remember what happened?"

"I don't. I wasn't exactly conscious."

"We were trying to rescue you... but it seemed the Armored Knight found some other method."

"Surely you didn't break through the wall or..."

"It wasn't that."

"I see."

"Well... something was broken..."

"...?"

"It's nothing."

Erika closed her mouth.

She looked like someone who had suffered an attack from Trauma itself.

Why is everyone acting like this?

He couldn't understand it at all.

Looking around, everyone else gave him similar reactions.

Some looked at him with sympathy.

Some looked at him as though they had witnessed a terrifying existence.

Others simply looked relieved that, whatever had happened, he was alive.

Watching those expressions, Ferda became convinced of one thing.

Looks like they went through quite an ordeal while I was unconscious.

Deciding that was good enough, he changed the subject.

"How much longer until we arrive?"

"About another hour. If everything goes well... this expedition might finish in... twenty-two hours..."

Erika's voice trailed off.

The Armored Knight suddenly stopped walking.

Everyone else stopped as well.

Ferda turned toward Erika.

She silently gave the signal to halt.

"What is it?"

Her eyes were fixed on something.

She was always vigilant in the Land of Demons.

But this was different.

This was the expression of someone who had encountered a true powerhouse.

"Please set me down."

The Armored Knight nodded.

Carefully lowering him, Ferda managed to stand on his own two feet.

He had almost no strength left, but he could at least remain standing.

Then he saw what Erika was staring at.

And he immediately understood why she looked that way.

"You are..."

A black robe that perfectly matched the black-and-gray wasteland.

Skin so pale that it seemed to glow against it.

That stark contrast created a strange sense of unease.

And that unease became wariness.

Curved Demon.

One of Godwin's Seven Calamities.

The last remaining Noblesse Class member of the Demon Race.

"A pleasure to meet you, members of the expedition, and Captain Eri. We've met before, haven't we?"

"...Indeed."

Erika had not forgotten the humiliation he had inflicted upon her.

And the fact that he deliberately addressed her that way despite knowing she was an Iorga Spawn irritated her even more.

Excitement was poison to a mage.

Keeping herself calm, she asked,

"What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? Isn't it perfectly natural for a member of the Demon Race to be in the Land of Demons?"

Chuckling unpleasantly, he took a step forward.

"Who the hell are you? Get lost already!"

The aggressive Jonathan Sina raised his axe and moved forward.

Erika immediately blocked his path.

Her eyes said it all.

Not now.

Curved Demon applauded her decision.

"An excellent choice. I have no particular desire to shed blood today. I'd rather applaud your perseverance than become another trial for your exhausted group."

"Then kindly disappear."

"I'd love to. But first, I'd like to hear your opinion."

He smiled.

"My masterpiece."

Masterpiece.

Everyone knew exactly what he meant.

"Trauma belongs to you?"

"Trauma... Hmm. Not a bad name. Naming things has never really been my style. Thanks to you, I acquired a suitable one. From now on, I'll call it Trauma."

Erika frowned.

"It was nothing more than a crude trick. Did you really think something like that would work?"

"It will. You all possess 'excellent' mental strength capable of overcoming any trial. But what do you think will happen to ordinary humans?"

"Ordinary humans..."

She knew exactly what kind of illusion Trauma produced.

It forced people to relive the thing they regretted most.

The longer they remained exposed, the more that pain transformed into salvation.

Its purpose wasn't simply to make people suffer.

There's another objective.

He had already known they were coming to Gyeonghui Palace.

He had deliberately placed Trauma along the route they would take.

If he had intended to fight them, he could have simply waited inside Gyeonghui Palace.

But he didn't.

Why?

The Land of Demons was the final homeland of the Demon Race.

Dragon Spawn instinctively could not tolerate anyone desecrating that homeland.

Even if Curved Demon was an unusual individual, he was still one of the Dragon Spawn.

That instinct should still remain.

He had a purpose so absolute that even defiling his homeland no longer mattered.

"Judging by your expressions, Trauma seems to have become quite an excellent masterpiece. It still needs a bit of refinement, of course."

Curved Demon sneered while the adventurers stood ready for battle.

"We shall meet again."

Taking a step backward, he sliced vertically through the air.

A distorted, shimmering tear of chaotic colors spread where his finger moved.

Curved Demon threw himself into it.

"Oh, right."

Just as he stepped inside, he suddenly turned back as if remembering something.

"This is a small gift."

He spread the opening much wider with a single motion.

Far larger than the portal he intended to use himself.

The rift alone stretched over eight meters long.

Rumble...

Yet even that space proved insufficient.

Something struggled violently as it tore through reality itself.

Not surprising.

It stood over ten meters tall.

A colossal monster.

GROOOOOOOOAR!!

Its roar exploded outward as a shockwave.

The sound itself carved despair into every cell of their bodies.

"C-Captain Eri...!"

"W-What should we do?!"

They had pushed themselves without rest, hoping to finish everything within a single day.

Both body and mind were completely exhausted.

At this hopeless moment, everyone looked to Erika.

Just when everything seemed to be ending smoothly...

She had to make a decision.

If she revealed her true identity and fought, she could undoubtedly defeat that monster.

Her double life would be over.

But everyone would survive.

Just as she was about to decide...

Someone stepped forward before the group.

"Armored Knight?"

A giant clad in ordinary-looking armor.

While everyone else stood frozen, unable to take even a single step...

He alone walked forward without hesitation.

The person inside that armor had seen monsters like this more times than anyone.

So she wasn't afraid.

The only thing she feared...was losing those precious to her.

I can't hesitate here.

If no one else could bear this burden...

Then she would.

Valdrova made her decision.

Silently, she clenched her fist.

Craaack...

The gauntlet that nothing had ever been able to pierce screamed as though it were about to shatter.

Without hesitation...

I'll wipe it out in a single blow.

Just as her fist was about to strike the colossal monster—

Rumble...

A sudden clap of thunder shattered Valdrova's concentration.

The Land of Demons was a place where everything had died.

Thunder simply could not exist there.

An overwhelming flood of information crashed into Erika's mind.

Before she could make sense of it all, instinct screamed at her.

"Everyone, get down!"

At Erika's command, everyone threw themselves to the ground.

At that exact moment, something enormous fell directly in front of the colossal monster.

CRACKLE!!!

A colossal lightning strike illuminated the entire world in blinding white.

BOOOOOOM!!!

An immense weight crashed into the earth, unleashing a massive shockwave.

Those lying on the ground were lifted nearly two meters into the air.

"Cough, cough..."

"Is everyone alright?"

The aftershock had been tremendous.

But no one had died.

"What was that lightning?"

"Don't tell me... the Armored Knight has powers like that...?"

Even Valdrova herself simply stood there, looking just as bewildered.

Her power came from her fists.

Not from the heavens.

That lightning...

Valdrova felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

Someone as old as she was knew exactly what it meant.

There was only one being capable of summoning lightning of that magnitude.

Everyone slowly looked toward where the colossal monster had stood.

Amid the swirling gray-brown dust...

Another silhouette of similar size now stood in its place.

It revealed itself with a booming laugh.

"KUHAHAHAHAHA!! A tiny little minnow dares crawl around here?!"

It was the War Dragon, Storeus.