2024-01-23 21:11:51Incarnate ^8001 leapt in potent fright at the call of a boisterous voice whose source was imperceptible!
He almost fell into the pit, only managing to stifle his sway through memories of precise body control from his past life!His breath hastened.His hearts' rates hastened.'What... what was that?!' he thought with his cheeks turning light pink."You have gazed upon me before, little bold soul. Follow my shadow and gaze upon me once more."At once, the Incarnate recognized who... what was talking to him.The shadow he just heard mention of, was the shadow casting itself onto the depression from the statue – fuelled by the mysterious light that spawned without an expected source from the sky.For a moment, the Incarnate made to obey, to cast his gaze on the statue once again, but he stopped himself at the last fraction of time.'No, no, no! I can't!' he thought, not even giving himself time to comprehend just how he could understand the language the statue spoke."You will not look at me? How dare you?!"The boisterous voice came again, a little louder.Incarnate ^8001 began to sweat profusely.The statue was speaking to him, and it now seemed angry.What was he to do now?He thought to do nothing.During the very few moments in his life when he had met the King, the Queen, or their spawn, he had found that when having committed folly that enraged them, the worst thing you could do was continue to talk back.Higher-ranked soldiers kept their traps shut, and he had learned to follow suit.The same was best for this situation, he judged."I see. How stubborn. Very much like Alabas and his offspring," the statue said, a hint of mockery spilling from its voice. "Very well, answer my question at least, little bold soul. Why do you pity these gullible fools?"The Incarnate gulped.He didn't think there was much room for silence now. The unsubtle way in which the statue had almost convinced him to look at it confirmed to him that gazing upon it meant defeat.What about conversing though?"Speak! Let us converse!" the statue said once more, rattling the Hollow Demonling's bones a little.The Incarnate answered, though while dreading what might happen."I...I only pitied the soldiers," he said succinctly.There was a pause.Then a furious laughter erupted, startling the Incarnate."Hahahaha! You relate to them, don't you? You must have also been a fool who died for nothing in your past life, with no profundity whatsoever. To think the Bahathraden welcomes someone like you?"Incarnate ^8001 remained silent, weathering through the ridicule.His sights had been set on the ground the entire time, but he had seen none of the sand sitting around his feet because of his anxiety.'Should I just continue to stand here?' he thought before scrambling his intent. The enemy seemed capable of reading his mind, somehow.After a stretch of mirth, the statue spoke again."None who have passed here – and those are few and far between – have ever shown pity to these fools. That is also to say the few that have managed to pass by me weren't normal men in their lifetimes," it said before sneering. "Most of them all fell prey to what comes after me. Unfortunately, I am yet to see why a feather like you thinks he deserves to make the world tilt on its side!"Incarnate ^8001 realized belatedly that the sand around him hurriedly began to feed into the pit, carrying him into it!"No!" he cried as he fell, forced to panic even more when he saw that under the sand this whole time, there were thousands more skeletons which he scraped and knocked against as he tumbled!The situation seemed treacherous, but the Hollow Demonling did not allow himself to fall into despair. Not yet!He realized that his fumbling sight almost fell upon the statue once again, and he gritted his teeth, grabbing a piece of cloth ripped from a fallen worshipper, and tying it around his eyes.The fabric was loose, allowing him to see the things before him to some degree, which appealed to what he intended. It wasn't much, but it was something.Incarnate ^8001 desperately clawed at the sand, kicking against much of it in order to attain some semblance of balance."Just take a look, little bold soul. You will not escape this place if you don't! Let me put your frail will and wiry soul to rest! Yours will not take a moment to devour, not like your fellows who still cling on to their bones!"The Hollow Demonling felt hopelessness surge.What was he to do?When he thought he had made some progress against the tide of sand, a mass of it pounded against him, flinging him towards the mass of skeletons in the midst of the pit!Soon, he was buried among them.Incarnate ^8001 struggled intensely but to no avail.There seemed to be no hope.He had no opportunity for breath. No prospect for reward.He was now going to die amongst those he pitied.'What kind of fate is this?!' he screamed in his mind."YOURS!" the statue screamed from above, its voice muffled.The Incarnate kept clawing at the sand, but he soon felt suffocating despair.It was over.His choice was foolish.Perhaps he shouldn't have faced the statue head after all.Perhaps he should have chosen the path to becoming a Handsome Prince.Yet...Right when the Hollow Demonling surrendered to a dire fate, he felt something hard grip him by the arm, and pull him with immense strength. For a brief moment, the Incarnate was no longer trampled under mounds of sand.Before he could see what had pulled him, he heard a sorrowful voice speak in his ear and was blinded by the glowing tablet at the same time."Thank you for mourning us, however little, for our foolishness..."[Maestus, the King's Right Hand channels the dwindling remnants of his will into you][You have received Enchanted Equipment ×1]
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Arlosse snorted.“Now’s the right time?” he said, but his thoughts were busy with everything else that the young human warrior had said.A great human Emperor?The mention of another authority figure spurred Arlosse’s mind. This place, the entirety of the ten Floors he was supposed to go through, was called Bahathraden, the Compound Demesne of Fallen Authorities. Did it mean that the nature of each Floor would revolve around an authority figure? A King, a Queen, an Emperor, a Lord, a Prince and whatnot?That seemed to be the theme.But this Triayt the Unbecoming was long dead. Did that mean Arlosse didn’t have to interact with the authority in focus within the Floor? Was he, perhaps, meant to grapple with the ideals left behind by Triayt? The story the young warrior had shared so far, was livid with Triayt’s ideals. The bastard had actually informed the demons about this relic, the Last Shard, which he had hidden away to ‘deliver the world’. What did that even mean?But then…‘I’m a d
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Chapter 35: Boorish Frenzy!
The blaring sound of the horn, so mighty it caused the ground to tremble, came to a sudden halt, puzzling Arlosse.What was that sound?Why was the abomination beside him along with the other demons getting so excited because of it?What was the shroud of crimson the Hollow Demonling was seeing, brimming around each and every one of them?Why was he untarnished by this energy?Arlosse didn’t know what to think. Even the mount he and the caterpillar-mantis were riding was coated in this curious energy, and, though it might have been a mistake, the Demonling felt the galloping beast’s muscles toughen up.Eager and curious, Arlosse sought the source of the blaring noise that had prompted everything. With quite some difficulty, he turned and surveyed the battlefield. It took him a few moments, but soon, he spotted it. It indeed was a horn, as far as he could see – a gigantic horn whose details he could hardly see.The horn was far, far away, roughly four kilometers south; its location was
Chapter 34: Meaning of The War
“What did you have to kill many of our own for, you fool?!”“Uhh…” Arlosse murmured, unsure how he was to answer this question if it even required him to give a lengthy explanation.Besides being stunned by the question, the Incarnate was also taken aback by the appearance of his fellow demon.Back in his old days, Arlosse wouldn’t have pegged himself as someone who had any right to judge another individual’s appearance. He didn’t have that luxury and wasn’t exactly a handsome model of a man himself.However, today… right now…Long story short, the poison green half-mantis, half-caterpillar creature packed before him, dressed in leather armor and shawl that somehow fit it perfectly well… was atrociously hideous!It had a thick, black chitinous layer on its back that extended to its small head, which was decorated by dark, beady eyes and sharp mandibles that clacked when it spoke.“Well? How are you going to explain this to the Generals? And come to think of it… How come I’ve never see
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When it happened, it took a great portion of the wide battlefield by storm.There had been no prelude – no surge of Spirit Essence, marking its advent known.When Arlosse opened the Hermetic Vault, he didn’t hesitate to send out one of the Immaterial Slashes he had stored from his exchange with King Alabas, the Flying Reaper Sword.To maximize damage, ensuring that he caught the largest body count possible, which would immediately free him from the crowd of assailants, he had the disembodied slash materialize an inch from him, its lethal edge lateral.A loud noise, not too dissimilar to a vicious boom rolled out across the battlefield.Because of the sheer speed the Immaterial Slash charged forth with, it butchered nearly fifty bodies directly in front of the Hollow Demonling at once, creating a sound akin to an explosion. Those who had been struck barely registered that their lives were forfeit, but the attack itself neither waited nor cared.It traveled far and wide, culling human,
Chapter 32: In the Thick
[You have arrived on the SECOND FLOOR, the Crucible of Twin-faced Hope]As the Host Guide announced the strange name of the new Floor, Arlosse hardly registered it in his head. His mind was a bit preoccupied trying to reconcile that he was back in a place like this, the home of death, its emissaries and victims, all of whom raged senselessly – recklessly – as though possessed by devils.Blood spilled every which way the Incarnate looked.Bones crunched under the feet of whinnying horses and tamed, canine beasts he didn’t recognise.Flesh squelched, torn open for all to see the unsightly beauty it hid.The scorching orange sun above, merciless and uncompromising, seemed determined to make all the thousands of corpses lying about look as insignificant, shameful and irrelevant as possible by arousing the stink within them, summoning flies and starved critters in the dry, rocky desert.Human men and women with assortments of armour roared, their steel clashing against that of enemies whil
