Chapter 248: A Dining With A Heavenly Demon

The white-clad man was sitting right across from Zara with his signature flawless poise. He tilted his masked face lightly and gave a curt nod to Uhtred in acknowledgment.

Uhtred narrowed his eyes at him and looked at Zara, who only shrugged in return. He then moved his gaze from his two human champion teammates at the table, up to the figure who sat on the grand throne — the Heavenly Demon.

He was the same as before. His immense might remained palpable, wrapped in the same easy, dangerous air. The only difference now was that he was no longer after Uhtred’s life.

Uhtred locked gazes with him. There was a clear curiosity in the Heavenly Demon’s eyes. He very obviously wanted to speak, but he also seemed somewhat distracted, as though something else was taking up his attention.

Is it the Pseudo-Domain thing? Uhtred looked away. He turned his attention to Zara while the Heavenly Demon remained preoccupied.

Leaning toward her, he asked in a low voice:

"What the hell is going on here? Why are you guys just sitting quietly like robots?"

"—There’s one more of you joining us," the Heavenly Demon’s voice boomed from his throne, answering the whisper he had easily overheard.

Just as he finished speaking, Uhtred felt a sudden surge of essence from the seat directly opposite him. The last person had arrived, and seeing how they appeared made him sense the workings of the Pseudo-Domain more clearly.

For a brief second, he felt the overlay of the same space he had just escaped. Except, this time, it was slightly different.

So he was facing all of us in separate Pseudo-Domains simultaneously?

Uhtred was both intrigued and alarmed by that fact. He still didn’t know how difficult a so-called "Pseudo-Domain" was to create, but he reckoned it likely wasn’t easy.

Seeing as the next realm after the Nascent Realm was the Awakened Realm, and he hadn’t even begun to touch upon anything related to "Domains," Uhtred figured it was likely pretty darn difficult.

But that was just one part of Uhtred’s alarm. The second was the sheer fact that the Heavenly Demon had them all here already.

It meant that at least four of the ten human champions within the scenario world had already found "anomalies" that led them all the way here.

Uhtred re-focused on the empty seat opposite him. And as the final arrival materialized fully, his brows shot up.

"White Raven...?" he and Zara muttered in unison, pleasantly surprised.

Uhtred had assumed it would be Diya — she was smart enough to deduce something was off with the Heavenly Demon’s order to carry him along to the next Floor.

However, now that he thought about it, making that deduction was only one part of the puzzle. Refusing to do it — and actually dying to unlock the sub-scenario — was another matter entirely.

Even King Alexei, with all his brawn and unyielding nature, hadn’t made it here. So Uhtred couldn’t help but be impressed by White Raven.

The dark-haired Norse woman looked startled to find herself suddenly dropped into a plush seat at a dinner table. Her gaze was still frantic; she had just "died" and come back to life, after all. But as her eyes finally settled on the other three human ascenders at the table — Uhtred, Zara, and Perfection — her panic lessened considerably.

Uhtred offered her a reassuring smile, just as the Heavenly Demon clapped loudly from his throne to command the room.

"I must say, I am impressed with you humans of..." he paused, as if reading off a personal System panel. "...planet Earth. Four out of ten champions breaking through my Pseudo-Domain is a number I haven’t seen in a very long time."

His eyes lingered on Perfection and Zara, most particularly.

Uhtred noticed it and filed the observation away, remaining silent as the Heavenly Demon continued to speak.

The Heavenly Demon flashed from his seat atop his grand throne down to the head of the dinner table. As he did, the expression on his face suddenly turned sour. It was as though his act of flashing forward had reminded him of how he failed to capture Uhtred within his Pseudo-Domain due to Uhtred’s weird movement art.

"Your methods were all... unique, I must say," he glanced at Uhtred this time, before then facing all four of them.

"But in any case, you are all here now. Unlike your other colleagues, you have gained the right to cross to the next Floor without my interference." The Heavenly Demon didn’t seem too happy telling them this, though.

"You have also gained the right to learn of this Heavenly Demon’s tale," he sighed, his expression still as though he were being forced to do this.

"The Heavenly Demon’s Tale of Er-Alith?" White Raven muttered, and the Heavenly Demon nodded.

He cleared his throat to begin telling his tale, but before that, he waved a hand, and a delicious banquet appeared before all of them seated at the dinner table.

"Eat while I tell you my story. The food is also a perk of reaching here. It is very beneficial for you."

Uhtred had immediately intended to pass on the food — he didn’t know what kind of things it could have been laced with — but after hearing that it would provide benefits, and seeing the Heavenly Demon dig in too, he hesitantly decided to try it.

Zara, White Raven, and Perfection also did the same.

Uhtred glanced up at Perfection in particular. He was curious to see how the flawless man was going to eat through that mask of his.

He has to remove it, right?

To his surprise, Perfection didn’t bother taking off the mask. A seamless gap appeared, allowing him to eat with ease.

For some reason, Uhtred was somewhat pissed. He turned his gaze back to his own food and took a bite of what looked to be some sort of beast meat.

It was pleasantly delicious — but more importantly, a warm sensation of essence flowed into his body as the meat slid down his throat.

What kind of meat is this?! This is nearly equivalent to cultivating with at least five Essence Crystals at once!