Muriel, who he thought was dead, suddenly moved. Her weak, trembling hand landed on her own chest and exploded with divine power, healing herself to the bare minimum before she heaved her body upright.
Rex quickly leaned in and supported her as he exclaimed, "Your Eminence! You're alive! Oh, Strict Order and Goodness! Thank you!"
"Under God's grace, the sword missed my heart by inches..."
The lie became a believable miracle when adorned with the mention of God, and Rex didn't notice anything strange or suspicious. In fact, she hadn't dodged death because her body was already deceased.
But it did do some damage, so I better visit a sacred place soon. That was when Rex conveniently changed the subject.
"Your Eminence, I must tell you something. While trying to fulfill his duty protecting you, Sir Clovis was... The mage knight, um... Sir Clovis has..."
"He passed away."
Muriel ended Rex's sentence for him succinctly. Her tone made it feel more like she was avoiding wasting time over being considerate.
Though strange, Rex didn't think much of it and moved onto the next topic. "And... the mage knight took the Sacred Place Establishment."
"He did? Did he take anything else?"
"No, that's it."
"I see..."
A shadow came over Muriel's eyes as she lost herself in thought, then quietly murmured, "Did you see the mage knight'sâ No, Never mind."
That was when an unnerving sound filled the area, interrupting their conversation. The wailing of ghosts began to seep out of the ground of the courtyard that had been transformed by the mage knight into a graveyard. Senedict, Muriel, and Rex froze in case another black magic spell had been activated. Fortunately, someone had sense enough to make a quick judgment at the sounds of distress coming from beneath the earth.
"Hurry up and dig! People are still alive down there!"
Cardinal Cartelaya, who had avoided the disaster by remaining inside the building while it unfolded, summoned the holy knights and ordered them to dig. She had been absolutely right, for there were survivors who were suffering under the weight of the soil, the wailing and moaning that filled the courtyard being their last struggles for survival.
"We must hurry before they suffocate!"
At that moment, dirt exploded out of one corner of the courtyard, revealing two aura masters who had dug themselves free.
"It's done, Marchioness Lecandro. You can come out now."
"You're truly incredible, Your Grace."
"Ahem. I happen to be a good digger. It comes from years of training."
Grand Duke Heathfenrir and Marchioness Lecandro pulled off the arms of skeletons that were stuck on their body and tossed them away, brushing dirt off their clothes as they assessed the situation around them.
They were about to join the rescue mission when Pope Senedict approached. With a somber voice, she said, "Grand Duke Heathfenrir and Marchioness Lecandro... I'm very glad you're both safe."
"What happened to the mage knight?"
"It seemed that his objective was to obtain the Sacred Place Establishment artifact. He grabbed it, then opened a gate and disappeared."
"He opened a gate? So he's a demon, not a human?"
"I'm not entirely sure..." the Pope admitted.
Marchioness Lecandro looked up into the night sky and noticed that the three moons were still there.
Seeing this, Grand Duke Heathfenrir pulled out another citizen from the ground and remarked, "The disaster isn't over yet."
"There is something the mage knight said before he left."
It was Rex, the muscular man with a buzz cut, who stepped in to deliver an important message, which instantly granted him the attention of everyone around.
"Go to the Litennial Plains and wait for me. A Demon Lord will emerge from there."
"He advised that a Demon Lord will appear at the Litennial Plains."
Upon hearing this information, Muriel, Grand Duke Heathfenrir, and Marchioness Lecandro all frowned, while only Pope Senedict quietly lowered her eyes.
"I guess this will be a Demon Lord's dungeon burst, although I'm not sure which Demon Lord it's going to be."
The others agreed in silence to Marchioness Lecandro's assessment. This was truly a disaster. The capitals of the Holy Kingdom of Elfenheim and the Ragneif Republic of Magic had already been nearly destroyed when the SS-class dungeon burst occurred, so nothing could be worse right now than the appearance of a Demon Lord. Dungeon bursts also had the ability to amplify the power of the dungeon master, so the Demon Lord was bound to be even stronger than inside the dungeon.
That's when Grand Duke Heathfenrir solemnly remarked, "The future of the Continent of Serentra depends on this. We must gather all forces at the Litennial Plains."
It was time to get ready for a Demon Lord subjugation.
â
The system map showed that the location I was at was called: the Sacred Tomb of Chaos. This name was as arrogant as it could be because it dared to compare Chaos and Evil to a god. The outer facade of the building was supposed to be like a mix between a pyramid and a tower, so it was definitely a suitable-looking structure for the Abyssal Dunes, made of a sea of sand.
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering advises that they prefer tall, sharp buildings over pyramid structures.â
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering is disappointed that the structure is only 200 meters tall.â
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering says one thing they like is how hellfire and hell freeze were used to control the temperature of the interior.â
â¬The Critic for Balance asks why they're the only one who's excited.â
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World tells the other gods to stop chatting and begin analyzing the structure of the building inside.â
Agnes and I also had our own discussion as we walked through the dark hallway.
"The interior looks like any other castle, except that it's really dark because there are no windows," Agnes said.
"You're right. It's dark and gloomy, as would be expected from a demon Castle."
The Sacred Tomb of Chaos didn't exist in the original story, so all of my senses were heightened as I took each step. It seemed the inside of the tomb was completely empty so I didn't run into any demons during the long path I'd walked. That didn't mean that we didn't need to keep an eye out for guards.
Ahhh... When I looked to my right, the wall suddenly wavered as it released a sound that reminded me of the wailing of a spirit. Indeed, a demonic structure was different, for the walls, ceiling, and floor regularly rippled like muddy water, featuring faces atop their murky depths.
"There's another one."
Whack.
I drove my fist into the face as soon as it appeared. It vanished and the wall returned to its original solid form.
"Hmm... I don't think this is human-faced wood," Agnes said.
"It seems..." I cautiously assessed the tower, taking into consideration the tradition of the Demon Realm and Karpeios' personal taste. "These are demons and humans who were sacrificed during the construction of the building. I think their souls were bound to the structure so that they could be used as guards to protect the tower."
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World advises that your assumption is correct.â
Even humans have a long history of sacrificing people when building large-scale structures such as castle walls, embankments, or bridges by burying them inside, hoping this would strengthen the structures. If humans were capable of such cruelty, then it was a given practice for demons.
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering advises that it's called human pillars.â
I decided to move on from this depressing topic and focused on the destination, which was still far out of reach. The stairs didn't connect in one straight line, so I had to go from one end of the floor to the other end several times in order to move upward. Grumbling about how inconveniently the building had been constructed, I walked and walked to reach the next set of stairs, when a problem arose.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
I'd reached a dead end, even though I followed the map perfectly. Confused, I was looking around when I noticed a decorative object that was hanging on the connecting edge between the ceiling and the wall that formed the sudden dead end.
It was a bronze relief of a cat that was wearing a pharaoh's hat, which remarked, "What has four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and three legs at night?" It seemed to think that it was a sphinx.
Surprised, Agnes remarked, "Huh? I think you need to solve the riddle for the door to open. Something that has different numbers of legs throughout the day... It sounds like a demonic creature, doesn't it? Hmm... What could it be?"
Thankfully, this was the perfect kind question for a transmigrator. I immediately replied, "Humans."
"Correct! Meow!"
Rattle...
The stone door that was disguised as a wall slid open. After that, the same sort of riddles continued. Some of the questions were philosophical.
"What consumes mortals, rusts a king's crown and the longsword of a hero, and crumbles a gigantic stone mountain into sand?"
"Time."
"Correct! Meow!"
Others were just stupid.
"Who is the greatest Demon Lord?"
"Karpeios..."
"Correct! Meow!"
And others were clearly designed to flatter Reed.
"Who is the great and magnificent figure who will eventually destroy the human world?"
"The Primordial Chaos..."
"Correct! Meow!"
Meanwhile, Agnes shouted with frustration, "Ugh, this freaking cat. I would've destroyed it if it wasn't so cute."
The deeper we went, the more ridiculous the questions became. And while it was nice that I didn't need to think very hard about the answer, as they were all made to praise Karpeios and Reed, the process was still mentally exhausting.
"I think we're a third of the way there now..."
Why couldn't they have made the way to the top simply one long staircase?
I was determined to give a good beating to the demon that designed this place if I ever found them.
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering hopes you understand what a great building the Skyscraper of Suffering is.â
It was the best... But have you finally completed floors 299 and 300?
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering says they don't need to hurry because you already graduated.â
That was when I noticed another dead end fitted with the bronze bust of a sphinx.
Will it be about Karpeios or Reed this time? I grudgingly approached the cat and waited for its question, but what it asked was different from what I had anticipated.
"What is the dignified, true name of the revered Primordial Chaos?"
"..."
This is a different kind of psychological attack. I was hesitating, when the cat's eyes glistened.
"Countdown, five seconds! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meeeow! Meeeeeow!"
"Tesilid Argente..."
"Correct! Meow!"
The stone door ground against the sides as it slid open again, but what I saw on the other side was different from what I'd seen until now.
"Wow."
"Wow."
This time, it was a bright, open space that greeted us.