Nefas
Leylin remembered the relevant information.
Immediately, he looked at his surroundings. Sure enough, the tourists who had departed the car had solemn expressions, an aura on their bodies that clearly indicated that they were not to be messed with. Some of them had even covered up their faces.
Those were the slaves and coolies who had been transporting objects underground. They would size up the batch of tourists from time to time, and their docile gazes concealed a malicious bloodthirst. It was as if they were waiting for the tourists to reveal a slight opening, for them to rip them apart and devour them like wolves.
‘A chaotic region where strength rules all! A place that reeks of sin! Nefas is the city of sins indeed.’ Leylin thought of the information mentioned by his A.I Chip previously, and along with Robin and the rest, subtly mixed in with the crowd.
Nefas City had no city guard to speak of, and there was obviously no entrance fee. As a result, there was a lot of human traffic, but none of it was particularly good. Of course, anyone who was forced to come here did not exactly have a stellar character.
”Rascal, what are you looking at?” An extremely muscular man who was close to two metres tall gazed at a youngster with an unfriendly expression.
”Oh! Sorry! Sorry!” The youngster had eyes that were triangular in shape. His mouth opened and he started to smile apologetically, at the same time nodding his head and bowing.
Just as he had bowed down in his apology, a cold glint emerged in the youngster’s eyes. He violently whipped out a black dagger and stabbed the strong man in the stomach.
”You!” The strong man’s face registered rage as he was caught off-guard. Still, a thin layer of defense formed on his body.
That strong man was actually a Grand Knight that could incite life force! A defence made of life force was very useful at mitigating the damage from clubs and the like. Even for sharp blows, it greatly reduced the strength.
*Whoosh!* The strong man’s eyes shone ominously as he decided on how to torture the youngster to death. But instantly, the ominous glint in his eyes, disappeared, replaced instead by terror.
The defense he was so proud of, a Grand Knight’s defense, was cut apart like paper by the black dagger.
The black dagger repeatedly, as if following a trajectory, stabbed the strong man’s stomach before violently pushing it in.
”You…” The strong man’s foamed at his mouth and he collapsed. He struggled in pain on the ground, and one could faintly see the ruptured organs and intestines through the wound.
With that type of injury, unless a Magus were to help, the man would completely not have a chance of survival.
The youngster kept his dagger, and swiftly squeezed out of the crowd before disappearing around a corner.
”What a pity. The strong man was at the very least a knight! If they were to fight properly, even 10 dwarves would not have been able to win against him!”
“What pity? That dwarf’s weapon was something that, at the very least, was leaked out of the Magus world. With something like that against him, even a Grand Knight would suffer if he was not careful!”
The pedestrians on both sides did not panic at all, and were instead rejoicing at the misfortune of the strong man who had collapsed in the middle. There were even a few people who exchanged glances before moving toward the direction in which the dwarf had escaped.
After a long time, a batch of patrolling soldiers arrived, serving well their roles as cleaners and corpse-collectors.
‘The object the dwarf was holding on to was a dagger with a weak spell attached to it. Even though it had not reached the rank of a low-ranked magic equipment, that alone is not too bad…’ Leylin saw the scene unfolding before him and shook his head internally.
He had seen such a situation occur about four to five times ever since he entered Nefas City. There was simply nobody watching over this place.
The pathways of the city were paved with knife shavings and hammer splints. There were even bloodstains that could not be washed off, having long since turned a brownish-black.
In general, this was an extremely chaotic criminal town. Robbery, murder, rape and lewd behavior could be seen everywhere. Shady businesses were being conducted in the corners, and there was a faint aura being emitted that caused even Leylin to be uncomfortable.
Thankfully, Leylin and the rest were under disguise as mercenaries, and had a strong aura. They were also equipped with weapons, and looked like they were not to be trifled with, which had removed many inconveniences.
However, even so, there were still a few people who did not know better and lusted after the beauty of Kesha and a few other female Warlocks. They would often unscrupulously block the path ahead, and make certain requests of Leylin and the rest.
Of course, they had all become corpses, carrying their regrets to their deathbeds.
”Robin, the aura from the shadows is making me extremely uncomfortable.” Leylin leaned in to say as he sped up.
“Very keen perception!” Robin wore a black cloak that only revealed his eyes. ”That’s right, these depraved fellows are performing summoning rituals and offering sacrifices!”
“Huh?” Leylin’s pupils enlarged; he would not think of that answer in a million years.
Similar to their interdimensional exploration through the astral gate, powerful individuals would occasionally unload some of their keepsakes or spiritual force particles in the Nefas City through other planes from time to time. They would even tempt intellectual beings in order to obtain higher strength!
In summary, it was a constant cycle of travelling through respective passageways of designated places and the Nefas City while collecting depraved souls and stuff like that.
The most famous were the plane that held demons. Legend has it that there were many such locations, both on the south coast and in the central continent.
Robin smiled and began to explain, “You know, the more degenerate and sinful places are, the more attractive they are to demons. The sacrifice of spirit and flesh in these environments brings them, even more, delight, leading to their duplicates, or even original bodies, descending.
“Nefas City’s Governor is the mighty demon hunter. Lord Cyril, the Morning Star Magus!” Whenever a demon’s duplicate descends, he immediately captures it, and either conducts his own research on it or sells it. Apparently, they sell like hotcakes!”
Leylin was somewhat speechless after hearing all of that.
Lord Cyril acted like the biggest bait of the entirety of Nefas City, and attracted many different demons to take the hook.
Whenever these demons were offered tributes, and sent duplicates or even descended themselves, Cyril would immediately seize them. To think about it, these demons must have a lot of grievances.
”Well… Is this mighty hunter not afraid of the descent of demons of a higher power?” Leylin voiced out his worries.
A city like that with demon worshippers in every corner was literally an active volcano! Was that Morning Star Magus not afraid that by using himself as a bait he would attract troubles?
”Don’t worry. This hunter has a very thorough knowledge of demons, and many formidable demons are not his adversaries! Moreover…”
Robin shot a glance at a corner not far away, “The plane of the demons is nothing! Plenty of Magi have been eyeing it. If not for the crafty behaviours of the demons, in that they would rather abandon their duplicates than to leave any tracks, we would have chased after them long ago, and completely taken over their plane!”
”Furthermore, they are struggling whilst at death’s door. According to our predictions, that hunter is the Magus closest to finding the plane of those demons! He might even have already found it!”
This rendered Leylin speechless. Robin demonstrated to him the confidence every Magus of the central continent had. That ambition and aspiration were cultivated after having overcome countless planes.
Such a state could only be seen in the ancient times, but the Big War had ended the golden period of ancient Magi. Now, with interdimensional travel being resumed, the central continent had recovered part of the glory of the ancients!
‘Perhaps, only this mental state that’s full of ambition and enterprise can push the Magus world to greater heights!’ Leylin sighed internally, and his spirit grew even more indomitable.
This was the best period! All the resources, knowledge, and meditation techniques were available to him, and there were numerous planes and strange realms outside that were waiting to be explored and conquered!
‘I need to advance to the Morning Star realm quickly!’ In Leylin’s heart, the thirst was becoming stronger. He hoped to be able to leave a legacy, or even take the lead in the rejuvenation of the Magus world!
Even though he had done similar work in Twilight Zone, that was at a small scale. Where was the broad stage for the work to be done?
”The Forgotten Land is just after Nefas City! The elemental leakage effect is very intense there, and I’m afraid there’s only less than 1 percent of the elemental concentration of the central continent remaining. We can only depend on potions and the essence of magic crystals to replenish our spiritual force and power. Everyone, please take note. If you need to, please swiftly refill your spiritual force here…” Robin pointed out softly.
“Also, don’t go too far in Nefas City, and don’t deliberately cause trouble! After all, there’s still a Morning Star Magus here. This particular demon hunter is famous even amongst Morning Star Magi...”
Leylin, along with the other Warlocks, nodded in agreement.
The Ouroboros Clan was considered a large-scale force in the central continent, but did not dominate the entire continent. They did not rank all that highly, either.
Before they had set off, Robin had explained some taboos to Leylin.
First, the few rank 6 Emperors were a force not to be reckoned with, and for those at the Radiant Moon realm, they had to avoid getting into trouble with them as much as possible.
The remaining forces fundamentally were of the same rank as the Ouroboros Clan, and hence there was nothing to be afraid of. As long as their reasons were justified, they could take actions if they wished to! Warlocks surpassed Magi of the same rank.
Even though all the Warlocks had declared that their spiritual forces were plentiful and their magical powers were full, Robin still decided to reside in Nefas City for a night before entering the actual Forgotten Land.
As a result, Leylin and the rest found a clean hotel to reside in after which the Warlocks either meditated, shopped or bought some necessities.