Book 2: Chapter 431
Things were getting messed up.
“Things are going well!”
The words of Pale, who was still pretending to not know anything, were the exact opposite of Lukas thoughts.
…No. Was this real? Was Pale really acting like this right now? He wasn’t sure.
Meanwhile, the demon turned around and said,
[Follow me.]
Then, without waiting for a response, it stomped away.
How could he get around this?
Should he say that something suddenly came up? Or that he forgot something? Lukas shook his head. That wouldn’t work. If he was alone, perhaps he could have made an excuse, but Pale was currently by his side. It would be awkward if he were to forcibly come up with an excuse. If he reacted recklessly, her lowered suspicion might rise up once again.
…The way out had already disappeared when he received the dowsing rod from Lesha.
‘Do I have no choice but to meet her?’
Sedi Trowman.
…What would happen then?
Sedi would definitely recognise him. Right. Of course she would recognise him. Then, would she be happy? Or sad?
Either that or…
[Sedi? Who’s that?]
[Sedi, Sedi Trowman?]
[Trowman… A, a daughter?!]
The ‘Lukases’ rarely had a group panic like this.
[I don’t believe it. This guy is a traitor!]
[No. Wait, it’s too early to jump to conclusions. There’s a possibility that it’s something different…]
[Hang on… Sedi Trowman is not related by blood.]
[She’s an adopted daughter!]
[Then isn’t it safe?]
When the voices erupted all at once, it was no different from waking up to a hangover. Lukas’ head pounded as he was forced to listen to their drivel.
None of them knew about Sedi. But their strange voices made his head ache.
None of them knew about Sedi. This was natural. Lukas’ relationship with Sedi had been made in a different universe when he was an Absolute.
The Lukases from the parallel words, an almost infinite number of Lukases…
They all had their own talents, personalities, traits, and above all, possibilities, but none of them had reached the level of Absolute. They couldn’t have done so in the first place. In other words, only the Great Mage Lukas had been able to become an Absolute.
“Are you not going?”
Pale’s voice tickled his ear. It felt like this because she’d gotten close to him and whispered into his ear. Flinching slightly, he looked into her eyes. Eyes resembling a deep blue sea looked back at him.
“We’re going to miss it.”
Then, without warning, she grabbed Lukas by the wrist and began to lead Lukas. Lukas tried to calm the goosebumps that threatened to rise up on his arm.
Pale laughed, but it was unclear if she noticed or not.
“Let’s hurry.”
* * *
The cave didn’t go downwards. At least, that was what Lukas’ senses told him.
But at some point, he realised that he could see a city through a black hole from a slanted perspective.
‘…’
No. The view wasn’t slanted. Instead, he was standing at an angle. Perhaps, from the perspective of the beings in the city, Lukas was sticking to the wall.
[Welcome to Demonsio.]
The demon said as it proceeded to walk into the hole. Suddenly, the demon’s size doubled and its wings unfurled.
[Get on.]
On its back? Before Lukas could ask, Pale got on first.
“Wow! It’s more comfortable than I thought! But it smells kinda musty. Do you ever wash?”
[…]
A flash of displeasure went across the demon’s face.
Lukas quickly followed Pale onto the demon’s back.
The demon closed its half opened mouth and flapped its wings vigorously.
Taht.
As soon as he stepped into the hole, the slanted view of the city returned to normal.
“—”
Then Lukas,
Realised that this place was not so small to simply be called a ‘territory’.
‘It’s huge.’
He shuddered slightly at the sheer enormity of the territory.
He hadn’t realised it when he was standing at the hole, but now that he was standing on the demon’s back, he did.
It was hard to imagine. But the space beneath the cave was as big as a world.
Although it was just his assumption, he believed the space stretched for thousands of kilometres. The thing that was particularly surprising was the depth. Lukas couldn’t imagine how deep the ground of this space was. Perhaps looking up at the ceiling of this space from the ground was no different from looking up at the sky outside.
What was more amazing were the buildings that had been built in this space.
They were towers that started from the bottom of the cave and stretched up to the ceiling. They looked as if they were supporting the sky which proved that each tower was at least several hundred kilometres tall. There were countless spaces along the length of the towers that protruded like bumps or leaves.
And buildings were built in the particularly large spaces. Those places were large enough to be called cities or towns.
…A territory.
This place wasn’t so small to call it that. Its size was comparable to a world. It was impossible to guess where it ended or how many beings lived here.
‘Flower Mountain isn’t this big.’
Of course, the same could be said for the Underground City that Michael had.
“This place is incredibly vast.”
After hearing Lukas’ words, the corners of the lips of the demon, who was flapping its wings beneath him, curled slightly.
[It seems this is your first time visiting the territory of one of the Twelve Void Lords.]
“That’s right, but I heard that Flower Mountain isn’t as large as this place.”
He answered this way because he was mindful of Pale. Although it was a bit overused already, he could still say he’d heard about it from Michael. Of course, Pale didn’t seem to care about his conversation and seemed more interested in looking around at Demonsio in open mouthed wonder.
[Flower Mountain is special. The only way they select a new Void Lord is by having a challenger fight the current Void Lord and win. But each time that happens, the territory is smashed or wiped out. In particular, the Sect Leader Everlasting Plum Sword Yang In-hyun and his predecessor, the Sword God Dang Mu-gi were among the top five of the strongest Void Lords in the history of Flower Mountain. Naturally, the aftermath of their fight was unprecedented.]
“…”
[Because of that battle, the territory which was called Murim in the past, gradually became smaller and smaller to the point that it was just called Flower Mountain.]
That’s right.
Although he still had a few questions, he still understood. Now that he thought about it, the Dump Site, the territory controlled by the Corpse Ghost, should also be a territory, but it was much larger than Demonsio.
[The Lord is over there.]
The demon pointed to the tower in the middle of this space. There weren’t any space protrusions on this tower, and it seemed to be thicker than the other towers with a surface so dark in colour that it reminded him of the abyss.
The end of it, that was to say, the part that touched the ceiling took the form of a castle in a ridiculous way. At first glance, it looked like a royal castle that had been pierced by a spear.
‘…that place.’
The demon’s flying speed was very fast. Even though the distance to the castle wasn’t very close, they were able to arrive in less than an hour.
“Ugh. Motion sickness.”
The castle’s entrance.
Pale got off first with a nauseous expression. She staggered a few times as if she was going to keel over, but Lukas, who came down after her, didn’t make any attempt to support her.
In the meantime, the demon, whose size had reduced once again, slowly landed.
[I will remind you to be mindful of what you say and do from here. The other Apostles are not as generous as I am.]
“…Apostles?”
It was then.
The castle gates opened and someone appeared. They were completely covered by a black robe, but from their physique, they appeared to be a man.
[That…]
While the demon showed a bewildered expression, the man approached them without hesitation. As the man grew closer, they realised that his entire face was covered in bandages, so it was impossible to tell what he looked like.
“Lofiken, let me guide them from here.”
The moment he spoke, Lukas’ eyebrows soared.
[…why are you here?]
“Can’t I be here?”
[…]
“It’s a joke, relax. It is the Lord’s command. I was asked to be their guide.”
[The Lord…]
The demon, Lofiken, looked at the man with an incomprehensible expression for a while before sighing with a resigned expression.
[In that case, I have no choice but to obey.]
“Thank you. You worked hard to get them here.”
[…]
Lofiken didn’t respond to those words and instead turned to look at Lukas.
[It seems this is where my role ends. You can just follow that man from now on. Then I’ll take my leave.]
Then, he unfurled his wings and flew away without hesitation.
With a ‘heh’, Pale watched him leave and waved her hand at his back a few times.
“When you get home make sure you wash up and get some sleep!”
Eventually, after Lofiken’s figure had completely disappeared, the bandaged man looked at Pale and said.
“It’s been a while.”
“Huh?”
“How long has it been since you last came to Demonsio?”
Pale’s head tilted 45 degrees.
“Do you know me?”
“Of course I know you. You are the woman who gave me many first time experiences.”
“Oh my.”
Pale quickly hid behind Lukas and poked her head out around his shoulder.
“Uncle, I think that person is a pervert.”
“You still act foolishly.”
“Ah, well I don’t know anyone like you.”
“Really? Well putting that aside.”
The man smiled and continued.
“Why don’t you take a look around? Relax and refresh yourself.”
“Why so suddenly?”
“I think it would be good for your memory.”
After saying that, he gestured to the distant landscape below the castle.
“For example, there is a mountain of food in one of those towns that you might like.”
“Umm. I don’t feel like it.”
“Then consider me asking for a favour. There is something I want to talk about with that friend.”
As he said that, the man gestured to Lukas.
Then he shook his head.
“But if you stay here, I think I might make a mistake.”
“A mistake… like what?”
“Something like talking about the first time we met. Or perhaps I’d explain the pale hunger.”
“…”
Pale’s eyes curved into crescent moons. While it could certainly be called an eye smile, there was a faint eeriness in her slightly exposed eyes that seemed to reveal her true feelings.
“Is that so? It would be better for you to watch your mouth, I think I told you that before.”
“My memory is a bit faint, but I think that might have been the case. But I’m quite dense, so it’s hard for me to understand things that were only said to me once or twice.”
Lukas had never seen anyone act this rudely to Pale before. And it was clear that her identity wasn’t unknown to this man.
The words ‘pale hunger’ were closely related to Pale’s essence.
His palms became damp. This was proof of how nervous he was. Was it because he knew who this man was? Or was it because of Pale’s strong grip on his shoulder?
“Kiki. It seems you’ve become more sly since I last saw you.”
“Thanks to you.”
“Kikiki.”
Pale’s eerie expression disappeared. And she returned to her usual bubbly attitude as she said.
“Fine. I’ll go take a walk for a while.”
She glanced at Lukas and smiled.
“But if you talk any nonsense, I’ll kill you. Completely.”
The killing intent contained in her words was not light.
Nevertheless, the man didn’t seem surprised and instead nodded his head.
“I’ll bear that in mind.”
“Mhmm. Then, where should I go~”
As she murmured to herself, Pale left. To be precise, she threw herself down from the castle. Her falling body was soon swallowed up by the darkness, becoming a dot that could barely be seen. She was probably headed to one of the countless cities or towns down there.
“…”
“…”
And Lukas was left alone with the man.
“Are you alright?”
“…am I alright?”
Lukas’ voice shook slightly.
He looked at the man and asked.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“It’s just. You look exhausted.”
As soon as he heard those words, Lukas felt like crying for some reason. He wanted to open his mouth and say something, but his voice didn’t come out. Instead, all that seemed to want to leak out was a sob or a broken word.
This, too, was something that only happened because of the multiple Lukases.
So Lukas decided to ignore the words that the voices were screaming in his head.
And instead, he said a name.
“Kasajin.”
“Right.”
Kasajin slowly undid the bandages wrapped around his face and smiled.
“Long time no see, Lukas.”