"We’re here."

The flames swayed, lighting up yet another set of doors.

The doors were still that old and rustic, carved with traces of time. But the weight they’d been given from the moment they were born hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Looking at this door, Ariel’s expression also gradually turned grave.

"Behind this door is that ancient relic."

An placed both hands on the door. The strange beasts sketched across it stared at this uninvited guest as, with a boom, she pushed open the heavy doors as if lifting nothing at all. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

A cold wind swept up dust. Ariel also placed her hand on the hilt of the Skyfire greatsword.

But as the doors opened, the entire space—aside from that gust of cold wind—held nothing.

This was the top of the tower. On all four sides were enormous floor-to-ceiling stone windows, and through those windows you could easily look out over all of Gutongs Castle.

The Abyss sky was still dim. Those high towers that reached into the clouds were like the silhouettes of monsters, savage claws and teeth interwoven across the whole city. And in the space before them, awe-inspiring patterns were drawn across a dignified dome. Yet beneath that ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ dome that looked as if forged from gold, there was nothing at all.

"Where is it?"

Ariel rubbed her eyes. She even used the Delusion-Breaking Eye, but there was still nothing here.

"Where’s the ancient relic?"

"Isn’t that it?"

An pointed overhead.

"You mean... those patterns?"

Ariel froze for a long while before she realized that what An was pointing to wasn’t any tangible object at all—only the strange patterns on the dome.

Those patterns didn’t seem to depict anything. There was no clear outline of a form, no detailed textual description. Ariel couldn’t even find any words or metaphors to describe them.

It wasn’t even abstract art—because people couldn’t abstract something beyond their own cognition. Even with the greatest abstract painter, you could still see the shadow of real objects in their work.

But this pattern had no real object at all, and Ariel couldn’t sense the slightest aura from it.

"It feels... different from the ancient relics I’ve run into before...?"

"Of course it’s different. It’s not even the same level."

"Level... ancient relics have levels too?"

"Is that hard to understand? They’re all called ancient relics, but in that era, they were still made by people. And if they were made by people, there are differences."

An stepped forward to the very center of the tower’s top platform. She raised her head and looked up at those patterns. Deep in her gray eyes, it was as if the same profound colors as those patterns were gradually being painted in.

Then all of those colors were swallowed by blood-red.

An’s eyes became identical to the demonfolk’s—scarlet pupils!

"Should I say... long time no see?"

An lifted her hand and murmured softly,

"No. I guess I can’t say that anymore, because I... am no longer me."

Bzz!

Ariel suddenly heard a piercing buzz!

The sound was so vast and so sharp that she instinctively covered her ears, yet the buzzing didn’t weaken in the slightest.

It was like it was being poured directly into her soul!

At the same time, a furious wind howled, as if all the airflow in the entire world was gathering here. It was so strong that Ariel had to set her stance and steady her center of gravity, or she would be blown away.

"What’s going on? This is such a huge commotion!"

Ariel’s face paled in alarm. No wonder it was the ancient relic that kept the whole city running—its very appearance was this frightening?

But then the buzzing and the gale vanished just as suddenly, like some switch had been flipped—so abrupt it was jarring.

Ariel lifted her head in a daze and saw the patterns on the dome brighten little by little, then peel away from the mottled stone surface all on their own.

It was like a mass of chaotic lines, constantly leaping and flowing.

Yet as it gradually descended, those lines gradually became orderly. Spinning and flashing, it resembled that legendary snake everyone knew—its head joined to its tail—forming a perfect circle.

It was only a circle, but the moment it appeared, Ariel’s breathing still quickened.

She could clearly feel some terrifying rule roaming across that circle built from simple lines. That indescribable, profound aura made it impossible for her to look away—yet she still had to, because after only a brief stare, her eyes already felt violently stabbed with pain!

"Ancient Relic: Myriad-Age Cycle."

The circle called Myriad-Age Cycle drifted down lightly, landing not far in front of An. Unlike Ariel, An could look at it as she pleased.

"As expected of that one’s work. So much time has passed, time has flown, seas have turned to fields—yet only you are undying."

Bzz.

Myriad-Age Cycle trembled lightly, as if responding to An.

"That one?"

Ariel rubbed her eyes, taking a long while to recover.

"Who’s that one? The maker of this ancient relic? Also, is this really just an ancient relic? It’s insanely fierce."

"Some things, Miss Ariel, are better that you don’t know too much about right now."

An spoke softly.

"...Fine."

Ariel pouted.

Miss An was good in every way—pretty, dignified, and every movement carried a full elegance—but this habit of acting like a riddle-maker was really unbearable.

"But speaking of which... we got this thing way too easily, didn’t we?"

Ariel looked left and right.

When An invited her to come find this ancient relic that supported all of Gutongs Castle’s operation, Ariel had originally thought it would be a very dangerous mission.

Something that important—if you used your knees to think about it—should have a powerhouse guarding it.

But all the way here, they had only run into Gowilt and another flayer?

Even if the demonfolk were short on manpower, it still shouldn’t be like this.

"Of course it shouldn’t."

An turned her head, looking at Ariel—no, she was looking at a place not far from Ariel.

"Be careful, Miss Ariel. He’s actually been here the whole time."

"What?"

Ariel froze again.

What “he”? What “been here the whole time”?

Wasn’t it only Miss An and her here—

No!!

Her vision was fine.

Her hearing was fine.

Her sense of smell was fine.

Even her perception was fine.

But under the kind of life-and-death intuition honed over countless battles, Ariel instinctively swung the Skyfire greatsword horizontally in front of her in that instant.

Clang—

That ear-splitting sound stirred up a gale again!

But unlike the phenomenon triggered by the ancient relic just now, within this surging airflow, Ariel finally sensed a trace of killing intent that carried the smell of blood!

"Shit!"

Almost at the exact instant Ariel realized it, a vast, overwhelming force slammed into her. Ariel felt like a mountain had crashed into her body. The flames that hadn’t even had time to fully burst from the Skyfire greatsword were like a candle in a storm—flickering precariously a few times before they could only die out weakly.

Ariel grit her teeth and bled that force off to the side. She twisted her body with agility, finally avoiding a direct head-on collision.

But because of that, she had to roll several times across the ground. Dust smeared her small face, and she looked incomparably bedraggled.

"Fuck, a sneak attack—are you not ashamed?!"

In the space where the gale had been flowing, the air pressure suddenly dropped like dark clouds pressing down. Ariel dug five fingers into the ground and glared in the direction the attack had come from, her sharp, sword-like brows jerking up.

"If you’ve got the guts, show yourself and fight me one-on-one, bastard!"

"..."

Screee—

Metal scraped, sparks bursting.

A tall figure clad in silver armor answered Ariel’s invitation, dragging a long spear thick with vicious intent as he slowly walked out from the shadows of the space.

It was armor completely different from anything Ariel had ever seen among the demonfolk—there was none of the ragged, broke feeling ordinary demonfolk ought to have. The sheen on the silver armor was bright as new, as if it had just come out of the furnace.

Even the magical power flowing across it gave Ariel a different “smell.”

"Human magi-tech armor?"

Ariel’s eyes narrowed. She couldn’t understand why the demonfolk would have a magi-tech item that only the continent’s top alchemists could produce.

Wasn’t it said you basically couldn’t find magi-tech materials in the Abyss?

This thing was clearly new. It didn’t look like something seized from the battlefield.

...And aside from all that, the most important point was that this demonman seemed to have been there all along, yet from the moment Ariel entered this space, she hadn’t sensed his existence at all.

"This is kind of a problem..."

Ariel tightened her grip on the Skyfire greatsword with fingers that were slightly numb.

"Miss An—what do we do?"

"Sorry."

An only glanced at that demonman once before her attention returned to what was in front of her.

"Can you buy me three minutes?"

"Only three minutes?"

Ariel, who’d just been thinking it might be troublesome, instantly brightened, her mouth twisting into a grin.

"I thought I’d have to risk my life again, but if it’s just three minutes, for me that’s basically easy—"

Boom!

Before she could finish, along with a whooshing sound that nearly pierced her eardrums, Ariel’s vision blurred.

She didn’t even see the other side’s motion clearly. She still only managed, by instinct, to bring the Skyfire greatsword up in front of her.

"Puh—ha..."

But this time, the feeling was completely different from before. That horrifying power jumped several levels again. Her small body was knocked flying like a sandbag, sent straight back.

At the same time, blood and qi surged in her chest. She couldn’t help coughing up a mouthful of blood. She’d clearly taken a serious injury from that single strike.

What the hell?

Only now did Ariel force her vision to turn, and she saw the spear the silent armored demonman had swung.

Could it be that his first strike just now hadn’t even used a weapon?

Not using a weapon and still suppressing her.

Using a weapon and knocking her flying in one hit.

What kind of monster was this?

That magi-tech armor blocked Ariel’s perception, making it impossible for her to clearly determine his rank, but she could still guess he was in the same place as the demon generals she’d encountered before—at Fifth Tier.

He couldn’t be a Crowned One, because if he were a Crowned One, he wouldn’t even need to thrust a spear.

But even so, he was completely different from the demonfolk enemies Ariel had faced before. For the first time since coming to the Abyss, she felt a pressure so urgent it tightened her throat.

"I take back what I said... cough, cough... Looks like this time, I really did run into a tough bastard."

Ariel struggled up from the ground and decided to switch to a smarter style of fighting.

"With strength like this, you shouldn’t be some nobody among the demonfolk. So what—before we have a fair and just one-on-one, you’re not even going to tell me your name?"

Inside the helmet, scarlet light flashed.

As if moved by Ariel’s seriousness and courage, after a moment of silence, a muffled voice finally sounded from within the armor.

It was an answer that made a person’s mood sink even heavier.

"First Demon General, Zagu."