Volume 8 Chapter 14 The Sealed Underworld
I woke up late and left the village with Ice, being dragged along by Mudi and the others.
About a few kilometers away, there was a road. It was a wide, unpaved road that could be called a country highway.
It stretched straight into the fog. "That's it," Mudi said.
"That fog is blocking us. I went around to check, but this whole area, about a few dozen kilometers, is covered in this fog."
"Did you check the sky?"
"Go try it yourself."
At Mudi's urging, I jumped up with gravity magic and flew high up into the sky, then fell into the fog.
Fog. It was fog no matter how far I went or how far I fell. I tried to interfere with it with my Sahasrara Chakra, but it was elusive.
I reversed the direction of gravity and was out of the fog in a second. I floated in the air, staring at the fog for a moment, but then said, "No good. I can't do anything about it" and dropped down with my gravity weakened.
I landed in the snow. "Welcome back," Mudi said. "How was it?" Philia asked.
I shook my head.
"I think the ground is the same as the sky. I kept falling towards the fog for a few minutes but couldn't get through it. I was able to get back to where I started in a second. My Chakra is useless too."
"Even Wade-kun and Mudi-san can't do anything about it... It's such advanced sorcery..."
"Advanced... Advanced, huh? Wade, what do you think?"
Mudi muttered something ambiguous to Ice, who looked serious. Then, after he asked me, I observed with my Ajna Chakra.
Sorcery. A chaotic and distorted imitation of a miracle of the gods, much more than magic. Its structure, where only the appearance is taken care of and the contents are completely ignored, can be seen with my second eye, the Ajna Chakra.
"...When you say advanced, I don't think that's quite it. This way of speaking may be hard to understand, but it's... ugly."
"Wade, you're starting to say it too. That's right. This sorcery is so poorly made that it's disgusting to look at. But that's why it's hard to deal with. It's not just ordinary sorcery."
"Yeah, I know what you mean, Mudi. It's like a tangled thread that's hard to unravel. The Sahasrara Chakra, the second brain chakra, can't even touch it, and even if it could, I don't want to touch it."
"Don't want to touch it, huh, Wade-kun?"
"Yeah, Ice. I can see a future that's only going to get worse."
Ice tilts her head, and I nod in agreement.
We have the skills and methods, but it's like trying to grasp a thousand threads at once. The best way is to eliminate the sorcerer and destroy the sorcery from its roots.
Anyway, if the reason we can't head to the Demon King's castle is because of this fog, then we have to clear it up. But since we can't get a direct hit, we have to investigate and solve the problem.
"Mudi, didn't you come from outside? What was it like back then?"
I ask, but Mudi's reaction isn't very promising.
"Huh? Well, the fog was thick, but it was just normal. I didn't notice anything back then."
"So, what's going on... We need to investigate the surrounding area, but it's too wide... Ugh."
With magic, we can track the flow of magic power from the Ajna Chakra. But this sorcery is all messed up. There's too much excess magic power, and we can't follow it.
...After seeing the sorcery, I think magic is beautiful. The flow of magic power is so elegant and efficient. But sorcery is twisted and ugly because it avoids that elegance.
"By the way...?"
Ice asks Philia behind me.
"How far is it from here to the Demon King's castle...?"
"Hmm, about a month by horse carriage."
Far.
So, I'm grumbling with a double meaning, and Philia calls out to me, "Hey, Wade-chan."
"If we don't have any ideas, why don't we go look for the others? Especially Clay-kun and Sur-san, they're probably worried about us."
"Huh? Well, it's not like we have a choice, and going to look for them is a good idea. But why are Clay and Sur a special case?"
I ask, and Philia laughs, "Hahaha."
"Because those two are currently at the lord devil's castle in this area, right?"
"Seriously!?"
I widen my eyes and turn to Philia. Philia is chuckling with amusement. When I check with Ajna Chakra, it's true: there's a castle-like building near Clay and Sur.
"No way!"
"Philia, when did you find out about this?"
Mudi asks calmly. Philia replies while squirming in her heavy armor.
"Just now~♡ They tried to shut me down using my own specialty: fog. That made me mad! So I filled the inside of this fog barrier with 'my fog'."
"Oh, that's why,."
As they talk, I recall Alkei, the 'God of the Incense Box' that I fought before.
But there's no smell, my vision isn't blurry, and most importantly, the scale is completely different from Alkei's 'Incense Box'.
"...Mudi, what's going on?"
"Huh? Ask her directly. I don't know the details of Philia's incomprehensible magic either."
"Philia?"
"A maiden's secret~."
Philia doesn't seem like she's going to answer. I exchange glances with Ice and wryly smile.
"Then, should we use this?"
Mudi takes out something like an accessory from his pocket. It's a staff-like object with an ice crystal at the tip.
"What's that? A necklace?"
"I took it from Queen Hell's knights a long time ago, when she was still a child. It's called a badge. Basically, it's for identifying yourself."
"So that means."
Mudi smirks as I gasp.
"Yes. With this, we're officially part of the Demon King's army. It'll be easy to sneak in and investigate."
"Mudi, you have a lot of stuff, just like Alex..."
"Stop it! It'd be bad if Alex-san heard that. That guy has spies everywhere, you know?"
Mudi shakes his head, his face pale. Ah, so he's still scared of Alex.
Well, I'm also scared of him in a different way.
"Okay. Then, let's go and meet up with Clay and them... huh?"
"Hah. How arrogant can you be..."
In the middle of our conversation, we all sensed the approaching hostility. Hidden in the snow and watching us intently were magic beasts, or rather... Demons?
While the others were still unaware, I unleashed my Ajna Chakra, my second eye, to eavesdrop on their voices.
'Stranded travelers? They're barely armed. Two guys and a girl out of the 4, also one's impossible to tell with all that armor. Still, they're tiny.'
'Girls are useless in battle. We're all guys, ten of us. Our armor might be uncomfortable, but if we catch them off guard, we can kill them all and take their stuff.'
'Hehe... girls are just targets. We killed the last one we met because she was annoying. If she was from a nearby village, we would've killed her multiple times.'
'Alright, let's attack quickly. We're all starving. We can't afford to die of hunger again.'
Their conversation is filled with brutal intentions, without any hesitation or moral values. They're even worse than bandits.
I curl my lip in disgust.
"Did you hear their conversation, Mudi?"
"Yeah, I did. They're heartless bastards who wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone."
"Exactly. Let's take care of them."
"Yeah. Let's take care of them."
I give a sharp glance, and Mudi gives a wicked grin.
"First come, first served."
I say 'Brahma = Atman' and use my gravity magic and physical strength, along with my second heart, the Anahata Chakra, to dash out in an instant. At the same time, Mudi disappears from beside me.
I fly through the air like an arrow, swinging my Durandal sword. Below me, the bandits are confused and disoriented from our sudden disappearance. I target them and swing my sword.
"First of all, two people."
The upper bodies of two demons fall off. A massive amount of blood splatters everywhere. Eight demons are left.
I glance back and see that Mudi has touched one of the demons, which is now inflating like a balloon and then explodes. Three demons die from the blast, just like yesterday's demon bomb.
"Hey Mudi, your moral compass is broken! You're acting just like a demon"
I scold Mudi while using my sword to take down three more demons. They don't even have time to react before they die.
"Ah!? I'm going to torment those bastards thoroughly"
Mudi says while quickly approaching the last demon, grabbing his head with his hand, and activating his Sahasrara Chakra. The demon's head is crushed like an aluminum can.
With that, all the demons are defeated. It didn't even take two seconds. I turn to Mudi, looking disappointed.
"So, you're going to act like a demon too?"
"Ha! You're stupid. When you're in hell, you might as well follow the demons' lead and see how far it takes you. It's actually pretty funny?"
"Funny? You..."
Mudi bursts into laughter, and I let out a sigh.
Philia watches our conversation with a knowing expression, shaking her head and saying, 'Boys will always be boys, no matter what age they are...'
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