Myriad Devils-Chapter 156: A light chuckle

By the time Anon arrived at the end of the path, what he saw was similar to the end of the previous tunnel. The wall blocking his path was impenetrable, containing endless earth behind it. Anon did not feel inclined to test whether this wall of earth could resist his fist either.

However, what leaned against the wall caught Anon’s eye. It was some skeletal remains which earned a focused observation from him.

Approaching the remains, Anon observed in silence, subconsciously picturing the middle-aged man he had seen in his mind before.

Hmm?

’For there to be remnant souls in these mind swallowing abysses in the first place, there must’ve been humans. However, one can attribute them to being the humans living here prior to the great rebirth.’ Anon pondered thoughtfully.

’No, before the great rebirth, that kind of scene with the original body of the remnant soul would be unlikely. Meaning, this skeletal remains must be the body of that remnant soul.’

’In this corrupted environment, for even a skeleton to be preserved somewhat, it means that this person also died somewhat recently.’

’But how can that be? If he was betrayed, it also means that there was at least one other person in this place with him. The mind swallowing abyss is nowhere close to the Victorious Fighting Country either, so these persons are unlikely to be part of the Victorious Fighting Army.’

So what did that mean?

’Is it possible that there are actually humans living in the lost lands? Father always said that the six bastions of humanity are the last remaining humans in the world.’

’And father, who is the human lord, has full authority over earth. This is his realm, so he would know if there’re humans outside the Victorious Fighting Country, and their location.’ Anon squinted his eyes, deep in thought.

Tsk!

’Wracking my brain over useless thoughts will only hurt my head. Even if there’re other humans in the lost land, what would I do with such information?.’ Anon sighed and assessed the corpse once more.

Whether it was due to the passage of time, there was nothing remaining besides his skeletal remains.

Sigh...

Looking at the skeletal remains, he couldn’t help but think to himself, ’Why can’t I stumble across some heaven-defying treasure or something?’

His eyes were filled with disappointment.

.....

As he stepped outside of the tunnel and into the abyss’s second layer, Anon stood in silence, pinching his chin in thought.

’I know I said I’ll be cautious, however these remnant souls really aren’t special. On the other hand, I’m not sure how powerful the wraiths in the third layer of the abyss are.’ Anon pondered.

A cold light flashed in his eyes as he thought, ’To boot, if that guy was killed recently, there’s a possibility that there are living beings in the lower layers.’

’There might even be some in this second layer.’ Anon mused.

If it were simply remnant souls and wraiths, he could take things slowly. In fact, he could spend as much time as he liked.

However, if there were truly humans living in the lost lands, that changed everything.

For him, who was neither strong enough to dominate the lands, nor weak enough to be treated as a slave, running into a land’s indigenous people wasn’t ideal.

They would almost instantly perceive that he wasn’t from their lands.

Did they even know there were other humans?

And if they did, how did they think about these humans?

Were they angered by these humans who were powerful yet abandoned them?

Anon didn’t wish to test his luck, nor did he wish to retreat from the mind swallowing abyss.

Importantly, Seth was in another abyss, so even if he retreated, there was no guarantee that he would be able to reunite with the latter.

Instead of appearing in the open, staying in the mind swallowing abyss might actually be the safer of the two options.

And descending its layers would also assist improving himself.

Anon quickly made up his mind.

’The third layer it is!’ He inwardly proclaimed.

He suddenly grasped downwards, pulling at the empty void. Space obeyed his command, propelling him downwards.

As his body plummeted, he quickly descended into the third layer. The air almost immediately grew thicker, and the darkness almost appeared to solidify.

Anon felt breathing was more difficult than before. He could hear faint whispers and in the distance were despairing screams.

A dark, unrecognizable blur, brushed past Anon as he approached a cavity on the abyss’s wall.

’The malevolent energy contained in this third layer is really on another level. What did the souls here undergo to end up in such a state prior to death?’ Anon shook his head.

To Anon, him dying would only be his own fault.

It meant that he was simply too weak to change his preordained fate.

If such a reality were to come to fruition, then he would not have any lingering attachments to this world.

Naturally, he’d do anything to live, but if there was nothing that could be done, then what was there to overthink?

That would only give his murderer even more satisfaction whilst making him appear even more pitiful than he already was.

There was no benefit to clinging onto life even after death.

’I’d have to face dead mother draped in disappointment, but at that time, who could help it? Anyway, didn’t dead mother fall because she was too weak? Then it would just be a matter of, like mother, like son.’ Anon chuckled.

With such thoughts, Anon stepped into the cavity.

The world was so dark that before stepping into a cavity, it was incredibly difficult to see the inside from afar.

However, his gaze was powerful.

Upon stepping into the tunnel, he could immediately discern the inside. And what he saw was something he couldn’t have predicted.

The space within was similar to the others in the sense that it was like a tunnel some hand lengths apart in width, and a few humans tall, however what he saw was utterly disturbing...

By the entrance of the cavity, on Anon’s right side there was the corpse of a young child leaning against the wall. Half of the corpse had already rotted and a sea of maggots squirmed on the wall, ground, its corpse, and under its rotted flesh.

Anon gazed over the child, silently observing for some time.

"As the young lord of humanity, if any foreign race dared to do this to you, I would rest at nothing to exterminate that species." Anon muttered under his breath.

As for the current state of the child... he had very little to say.

On earth, all was fair.

Dying to another earthling just showed the child’s lack of ability, and there was no need for a useless person in an organization.

Even if it was a beast that ate a child, the same concept applied.

Whether it be beasts or humans, they were all earthling creatures at the end of the day, all technically falling under his jurisdiction.

Walking past the boy’s corpse, Anon did not look back. After taking three steps, another corpse leaned against the wall on his left side.

This time, it was a young girl that didn’t appear much older than the first corpse. Similar to the young boy, half of this corpse was also rotted.

Anon took two more steps and saw another corpse on his right side. Once more, it was of a little child.

Then another step saw a corpse on his left side. Finally, his gold eyes lit up as the scene before him truly opened his views.

The tunnel was suddenly lit up by a dim light.

Anon saw that after the corpse on his left, there were over a dozen more corpses leaning against both walls, creating an aisle forged from corpses.

At the end of the aisle, what he saw was a creature in spectral form.

Its figure was covered in a dark green hue, however unlike remnant souls, it had both an upper and complete lower body.

It hopped onto the ceiling before crawling toward Anon.

By the time it arrived above him, its head twisted unnaturally as it looked at the golden eyed youth.

The features of the creature were more distinct than any remnant soul Anon had seen before.

Its facial expressions weren’t constantly changing. Instead, it had such a freaky grin on its face that it stretched from one ear to the next.

Anon actually felt a chill in the depths of his heart as he saw the creature’s eyes lit up once meeting his.

Then, it simply lunged at him.

In the moment before the two made contact, Anon felt a desire to retreat, however his will was strong, and his thoughts did not waver.

With the possibility of the native humans of this land, he needed to take a some risks to improve the speed at which he initially desired to strengthen his soul and will.

At the same time, the creature plunged into the depths of his heart, immediately causing a sudden wave of emotions to wash over his soul.

A strange tingling sensation coursed through his body, causing him to unconsciously quiver in response.

’Huh?’

Anon frowned.

Besides the sensations that occurred directly after the wraith plunged into his body, there was no overwhelming emotions like with the remnant souls.

His mind wasn’t instantly assaulted by forceful desires and foreign emotions either.

’I feel completely normal.’ Anon mused.

Then, he glanced at the surroundings. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His eyes landed on the rotten corpses of children on either side.

Heh...

Seeing these corpses, Anon couldn’t help but release a light chuckle.

He did not even realize when, but there was a grin on his face that was so wide, it stretched from one ear to the other!