Chapter 371: The Rift (3)

The scorpion chuckled. "Hehehe! What a welcoming thing to say. So, can you stretch your bones long or something like that?"

"No. It's a little different from that. I can't promise it'll work, but I'll try," I replied.

"Oh... even the attempt is appreciated!"

He sounded excited. Almost too excited. Perhaps he had his own motives for wanting me to touch that wall, but whatever he had planned, it wouldn't hurt me much. Even if pressing that wall triggered a deadly trap, it couldn't possibly be worse than being locked inside this bizarre iron cage with no sense of where or what I was. If I were ready to regress again, then I had nothing to fear.

The scorpion cackled gleefully. "Thank you! Thank you!"

The wall he indicated was about ten meters away. It was too far for Lord of Bones to reach, and every time I tried to move toward it, the bars shifted like a living thing, blocking my path.

I extended a pocket of subspace toward the wall. That would have to be my way out. However, the transparent, solidified space stretched barely five meters before collapsing in the middle.

I glanced at the scorpion. "Can you make your light any brighter?"

"Oh? Does that make it easier?"

His gleaming eyes flickered with curiosity. He was dying to see what I was doing.

I nodded lightly. "It might help me see the range more clearly."

"In that case, I'd be delighted!"

The glow at the tip of his tail brightened instantly.

"Good. I'll need to focus for a while. Stay quiet."

"Haha... I've been trapped here so long I've lost count of the days. I can wait a few more."

With the cavern brightened, it became easier to move. The subspace stopped trembling, steadier under my control.

A little farther...

I shut out every stray thought, redirecting all my senses into that invisible space, like pouring awareness through a narrow thread.

I already know how to do this...

This was an extension of what I'd once practiced with Isaac. There was no reason to falter now. I stared silently at the void and extended the subspace farther.

One step more.

My focus deepened. Sight and sound faded away. Whenever the extension wavered to one side, I balanced it on the other. When it stiffened, I loosened it.

I don't know how much time passed. However, the feedback grew more tangible, as if the muscles and bones were responding to motion.

[Inventory (Lv. ?) ...]

[Proficiency increasing ...]

Messages flashed in quick succession. Perhaps because the situation was dire, everything flowed remarkably smoothly.

[... Proficiency increased.]

[Special environment detected.]

[Inventory activation...]

[Penalty ignored.]

[Awakening maintained.]

Suddenly, the subspace struck the wall with force.

Thud!

KRRRMMM!

Clang! Clang!

BOOM!

A chorus of cold metallic notes filled the air. It sounded as though I'd pressed a hidden mechanism built deep behind the stone.

The scorpion's low laughter mingled with the mechanical cacophony. "Hehehe! Magnificent! That was fast! Astonishingly fast..."

"Fast?"

"Nothing, nothing at all... haha..."

Clank! Clank!

The scorpion's prison bars suddenly sank into the floor, vanishing like retracting blades.

BOOM! BOOM!

More small detonations echoed all around, as if magical locks were releasing one by one.

The scorpion scuttled forward. "Freedom! Hahaha! Thank you!"

The carapace that had covered his face split open like a shell, revealing his full visage. He straightened his back, and he reformed his limbs. He now resembled a bipedal creature.

"Kekeke..."

He waved a hand. The glow that had once been limited to his tail now shone faintly from his palms and feet as well.

Is this his true form? Have I just released something far more dangerous than I realized?

Fwoosh.

As he approached, the light radiating from him illuminated dozens of meters in every direction. Even so, the space remained shadowed above; the ceiling was lost in darkness. The cage that had confined me sat on a stone path barely ten meters wide.

"Well then, shall we step outside?"

His tone had changed again. He sounded polite but also oddly theatrical. He reached toward the bars.

Kak-clang.

The living iron that had restrained me moments ago went limp, collapsing onto the ground.

I stared blankly at the metal that had fallen so easily.

"You're not coming out?" the scorpion asked.

"Ah..."

I stepped forward, brushing a fallen bar. It didn't move; it was completely inert.

"So easily released... it feels almost suspicious."

He flicked his tail. "Now, now. I went through a great deal of trouble, you know. You shouldn't downplay my suffering. Things often seem simple once they're done."

He wasn't wrong.

"Fair point," I admitted with a nod.

I'd recklessly entered the Demon Realm and now, by sheer luck, I'd met the one who freed me from this strange prison. I felt a twinge of guilt for doubting him. He seemed genuinely friendly.

"Yes. I suppose meeting you was a stroke of luck. Thank you."

"Haha! Indeed it was. Indeed!"

He suddenly threw his arms around me and patted my back.

I croaked, "What are you..."

"An escape! A jailbreak! Sharing the joy of liberation is the proper response!"

"Well... I can't argue with that."

Awkwardly, I let him hold me for a moment before he released me.

"Shall we be off, then?"

Tap!

I followed behind him. A gust of air swept through the corridor, illuminating the darkness ahead with the glow from his body.

A vast passage stretched onward. It was ten meters wide, its ceiling vanishing into the dark heights above. It resembled the place where my cage had once stood.

Keeping my Detection skill active, I moved carefully through the area. No pressure plates, no arrow traps, no collapsing ceiling, no crumbling walls, no explosions—nothing. Even with my reduced level limiting my Detection range, the complete absence of danger felt almost... empty.

"This feels a little weak..." I mumbled.

"Hm? Weak, you say?" the scorpion asked.

"There aren't any traps at all along the escape route. Moloch, was it? For a so-called lord of this place, he seems oddly careless."

Tap.

He suddenly stopped walking. "Weak? Careless? Not at all. The master of this place is quite extraordinary. I'm just exceptionally good at finding safe paths. Do you really think you could have left that cage without me? You mustn't think of it that way."

"Well... I suppose..."

"There are very few beings in the Demon Realm who can claim a neutral zone like this, a place guaranteed to be severed from the Demon King's influence. Looking down on its master is quite a mistake."

He wasn't wrong. He must have been trapped here for an extremely long time. Dismissing the one who imprisoned him... might have felt, in a way, like dismissing himself.

"Fine. Once we get out of here... what happens then?" I asked.

"Who knows? A passage to the surface should appear," the scorpion replied.

"The surface?"

"Hehehe... That's right."

Half-convinced, half-doubtful, I kept following him. The tunnel, which had maintained a steady width until now, narrowed slowly.

"Mind your balance," the scorpion warned.

Below us was bottomless darkness. At first, the path was ten meters wide. Then it narrowed to seven, then three. The path grew so narrow we could no longer walk side by side.

"This is the place."

Up ahead stood an altar with horns jutting from its four corners. A large brazier filled with charcoal sat at its center.

"Hehehe... This is our exit."

The scorpion stepped forward, dipped his tail into the brazier, and stirred. Thick white smoke billowed upward.

"Now then..."

He picked up a handful of black wooden chips from a bowl nearby and scattered them into the coals. He repeated the motion three times at even intervals. Soon, the brazier overflowed with dense white smoke.

Pointing to the heart of that swirling haze, he said, "Put your head into the smoke. Let it soak you through. Then you can move on."

The scent of incense burst out, seeping into every corner of the passage. I took a step back.

"Oh? Hesitating, are we?"

I couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you say you'd tell me about Lindbrum?"

He didn't seem like the type to lie. If this really was a path back to the human world, I needed to pull everything I could about Lindbrum from him before we parted ways.

The scorpion nodded cheerfully when I voiced my concern. "Oh my. Don't worry. I'm going to the same place."

"The same... place?"

"Yes. To ease your mind though, I'll answer first." He grinned and continued, "There is a prophecy. A prophecy that the Demon Realm will be destroyed. No matter how you calculate it, the appointed time is nearly here, but who could possibly destroy the Demon Realm? The heavens fell long ago, reduced to a parasitic dimension. So we turn to the surface. Humans rule there now. However, humans can't enter this realm."

He then unleashed a stream of unfamiliar ideas. "That leaves only the forgotten beings. Among them, some can easily cross dimensions and wield Dragonflame Pressure, beings with extreme elemental opposition. Why do you think the Demon Kings want to go to the surface? They'll scour every last corner of the world if they have to in order to erase all traces of the dragons' lingering souls."

He ended with a strange, bubbling laugh.

Is any of this true?

My thoughts twisted together.

The Demon Kings know nothing about the Heroes? How ironic.

Driven out of their realm by a prophecy of destruction, they emerged in the human world, only to be slaughtered by Heroes because of it.

If I told them about the Heroes who brought down the Demon Kings, could I use that to save Gith-Za-Rai? If they knew what truly threatened them, would their hatred for her fade, even a little? I want to try, but... convincing them would be the problem.

Dragonkind would never resurrect.

If I tell the Demon Kings that human Heroes sealed in chambers within the imperial archives would be the ones to kill them, who would believe me?

Even Malphas would probably laugh in my face. My thoughts spiraled on and on.

The scorpion turned to me. "You've gone quiet. Now, put your head into the smoke. I'll finish the story once we're out."

"Uh..."

I wanted to hear the rest, so I had little choice but to play along. I leaned over the massive brazier and lowered my skull into the smoke. The incense rolled up from below, its intensity piercing even my dulled senses in an instant. The heavy fragrance tore through my mind, sweeping away every tangled thought.

Far away, a bell tolled.

Dinggg, dinggg...

Each toll scattered the remnants of my thoughts like dust.

Clatter.

My skeleton swayed.

Hehehehe...

Dinggg...

Through the laughter, a voice echoed from far away. "Can you hear the bell?"

"I can hear it..." I answered.

"Good. Very good. That's our landmark. Follow the sound of the bell!"

Strength flooded back into my bones. I felt lighter than before, as if a weight had been peeled away.

So we just have to follow the sound? It feels... right.

Fwoosh!

I surged forward, chasing after the scorpion. The corridor, which had narrowed to a knife's edge, widened and flattened again.

"Here! This way!" the scorpion exclaimed.

Mist crept across the ground. I could no longer see the scorpion, but his voice was enough to guide my steps. Somewhere ahead, a faint light seeped in, making it even easier to run.

The path went on and on. The slope was so gentle that I didn't notice it at first—it grew gradually steeper, but never enough to slow my pace. At some point, the scorpion's voice faded, yet there was only one road to follow. I walked, then walked some more.

Squelch.

As I continued upward, the slope leveled out again. Water began to pool underfoot.

Splish... splish...

It grew brighter. I pushed through ankle-deep water, parted the drifting mist, and stepped toward the light, then stopped dead.

I could only stand there, rooted to the spot.

Erast?

I'd never seen the colossal bell tower before. Scattered around were familiar buildings, new structures, and strange, elegant silhouettes. Regardless, there was no mistaking the skyline. It was Erast.

It really is Erast, isn't it?

I was about to scan every corner for confirmation when a human voice called from a distance. "Ah! You're here!"

I could never forget that voice.

"Rubia?"