Time goes back to just before the sun is about to go down.
Oliver took the dark horse out of the inn where he was entrusted, and saw that the man's face was bored. The black-furred Pope probably didn't cause any troubles worthy of attention.
The dark horse snorted a few times, rubbed Oliver's head desperately with his long face, and rubbed Oliver's brown hair like a bird's nest. It glances up warily at Nemo after a couple of rubs - Nemo politely distances itself from it, and decides to work towards "seem friendlier".
"According to the Pope - ahem, I mean the Pope of the Rudd Church - Lord Quinn, Dylan and Mr. Cross should go directly to the central church, Hatfield is not far from here, we can gather at the central church ."
As Nemo spoke, he picked up a fresh carrot and carefully handed it to the horse, trying to save Oliver from the sticky horse. Mr. Demon King even gently used a cleansing spell to remove the mud on it.
The dark horse glanced critically at the seductive carrot and stretched its ears forward. After a while, it finally decided to temporarily abandon Oliver's head and start chewing radishes.
"Well, I don't think Mr. Dylan will slip away at this critical time." Oliver combed his tangled hair with his fingers.
"Abyss..." Nemo picked up another carrot, smacking his lips. "This time we may have to stay in it for a long time. According to the biographies, even a simple shallow exploration will take at least half a month. The premise is that the equipment and magic circle in the abyss are all normal."
No one knows how big the abyss is, and people don't know much more about it than the bottom of the deep ocean. The only thing they knew was that the space under the ground called the "Abyss" was definitely wider than the ocean on the surface.
For thousands of years, or even earlier, the various races on the surface gradually explored downwards, carefully accumulating and maintaining a relatively safe passage. Every hundred years, whether or not an expedition takes place, the surface races meticulously check the access.
The abyss is strange and dangerous. If the large teleportation formations cannot be stabilized—let alone the crusade against the Demon King, 90% of the warriors will not even be able to survive to the bottom of the abyss.
In principle, large teleportation formations are only allowed to be used by expeditionary forces on the surface. However, due to the stable surrounding environment of the large teleportation array and proper protection measures, it is much safer. Many adventurers will build their own teleportation arrays nearby, and even develop supply points close to small villages and towns.
The races on the surface took good care of this road leading to the ground, but now it has a problem.
The tension among the various races on the surface is not without reason—except for the special abyss church, even if the races, countries, and religions do not look at each other in peacetime, their interests in the abyss expedition are still highly consistent.
Right now, the Church of the Abyss is severely damaged, and it is impossible to have the energy to make such a big move. It only means one thing - there is an organized force in the abyss that is trying to thwart the expedition.
This is an unprecedented event.
Of course, the expeditionary troops of the past would be attacked by demons in the abyss, but 80% of them were out of hunger, curiosity or boredom of the demons. Demons move freely and loosely, except for groups that are accustomed to collective action, and will not cooperate.
No higher-level demon has ever expressed grievance at the killing of the Demon King, let alone deliberately obstructing the expedition.
The demon king who climbed to the surface and lost his memory, the "another demon king" at the bottom of the abyss, the teleportation array that was destroyed by man - this time the reconnaissance team is nominally investigating and repairing the teleportation array, but in fact everyone understands that this is more like a An attempt to dust off the outer layers of the mystery.
Extremely dangerous and full of unknowns.
However, this danger is not enough to scare the Demon King and the Brave. Nemo is more worried about another thing.
Just like what he told Oliver - now that he knows that he is the devil for the time being, he doesn't want to be dragged to the bottom of the abyss by the so-called "law" as soon as he steps into the abyss, and he will never be able to come out again.
They need to figure this out ASAP. Fortunately, they have a solution they can try.
"While 'visiting' Della Lane, I took note of the available spatial coordinates." Nemo tore off the loop of the short ponytail and tied his hair again. "But that's all in the public area, Pandora is deeper underground, I can feel it—Oli?!"
The Demon King, who had been immersed in his thoughts, raised his voice in an instant.
After the horse chewed the carrots, it began to chew Oliver's hair deeply. This time, the head of the tumbleweed was determined to resist. He pushed the horse's face away with his right hand and supported the wall with his left hand.
Then the left hand went straight through the wall.
Oliver was shocked to release his hand from the horse's face, which caused his left hand to get stuck in the wall instantly. Nemo had just tied the messy hair behind his head when he saw Oliver carefully pulling his left hand.
Oliver pulled out for a while, realizing that it was a bit inappropriate to add a large hole in the wall of a nearby house. So he stretched his arms and tried to pinch the horse's ears.
His left hand was instantly free.
"… its magic can affect you." Nemo was stunned for a few seconds, then pointed it out firmly.
"It's not fair, I myself can't walk through walls." Oliver murmured, he rubbed the horse's ears in shock, trying to communicate with the dark horse.
"It's okay, I'm not drooling like a spider dog, balance... But speaking of this, Ollie, I have an idea."
"Um?"
Five hours later.
Oliver just thought they were stupid for infiltrating this time. But on the other hand, they may become the horror legend of the mercenary guild.
As night fell, the knight in black armor rode a black horse, and the helmet made of the skull of the earth dragon covered his face. The ink-colored cloak swayed with the movements of the horses, and the hem of the worn-out fabric rolled with gray-black mist.
The horses moved forward in the empty corridor, and the black knight was like a ghost, and the horses and people went directly through the solid and thick walls covered with magic circles. And the wall that could resist both abyss spells and surface spells remained silent, without any reaction.
A poor man in a research uniform at the mercenary guild headquarters was being dragged by the knight, also advancing through the wall.
He was extremely pale, as if he was shouting, but everything was silent—no hooves, no screams, no scuffing of fabrics, no clattering of objects.
The two researchers who stayed on the vigil had their mouths wide open and their pancakes snapped to the floor.
"Then… what is that? Shall we inform the ground—"
"But the guard walls don't respond! It's an illusion, definitely an illusion... Did you see that? The guy being dragged was wearing an old uniform that wasn't used thirty years ago. It could be some kind of, yes, A flash of the past..."
"I'd better inform the above."
"What do you say? There was a knight who suddenly appeared underground for some reason, disappeared directly through the guard wall full of defensive circles, and dragged a person who could not appear now? Friends, where did they disappear? It's easy to open. In case there's nothing after trying to open it, this month's research funding will be... you know."
"But we clearly detected traces of abyss spells in the hall..."
"I can't tell if there are any traces left. You know it's the hall, and I don't know how many people from the three religions and nine classes have come here during the day. If something goes wrong, it's also because the guards and the array managers outside didn't do their jobs well. Well, let's take a look, and if that phantom reappears, we'll notify the above."
The two "phantoms" behind the guard wall breathed a sigh of relief.
"I stumbled over the wall and almost let go, Delarion's old uniform is too long." Nemo patted his chest to make sure the horsehair string on his wrist was still there.
"I got stuck on the wall three times." Oliver, still on his horse, sounded a little dazed. "He really doesn't like you, Nemo. He's still sad about his mane."
"…Tell it, I can go back and bake it some horse snacks. The craftsmanship is guaranteed. I have sold it to adventurers in Roadmark Town before, and the sales are very good."
The dark horse stared at him solemnly for a moment, then turned his head away.
"Let's go on. That wall has two blows, and all the mufflers have failed." Oliver pulled the reins and jumped off his horse. "It might take a while to get out."
In front of them is their destination. Without any information or explanation, the two of them could feel the real power.
The lights in the underground hall were empty, no researcher was active, and the magic lights around it did not go out, but dimmed slightly. In the center of the hall is a huge black cube. It was covered with magic circles and runes, and the bright red radiance flowed along the lines, a bit like the radiance of the blood circle used by Dellalain before.
The surroundings were extremely quiet, except for the dull voices that overlapped in the black-haired cube—
Pandora's heartbeat.
The two recognize this breath, and once upon a time, this breath meant pure death to them. But now they can tell more from it—desperation, pain, and cry for help.
"She is very weak. At the time of the black seal test... She should have been brought back here by force when she collapsed on the way, and has not fully recovered until now." Nemo stepped forward and put one hand on the rough black cube outer wall. He couldn't determine the material for a while, but felt that the tentacles were smooth and cold.
Oliver was silent, and the dark horse seemed to sense that the atmosphere was not right, so he stopped making noise and stood quietly on the side.
The weaponized superior demon was completely bound just like the Nightmare Leopard in the Silent Church. People took advantage of many spells and fixed them in the gap between the abyss and the surface.
It can neither come to the surface nor return to the abyss.
Like a person whose torso was swallowed by a swamp, but could not die.
Pandora's situation is even worse - at least the leopard Colestoro doesn't need to worry all the time, worrying about which part of his body is cut off by space magic, and then rudely comes back.
To make matters worse, she would be killed as an adult, and people couldn't control an adult superior demon. She is still alive now, which means that Pandoratel's long infancy is not over yet.
A lonely cub.
A child weeping in darkness and loneliness.
Ironically, Nemo twitched the corners of his mouth. People always think that the cry of a child can change everything, but the underground halls come and go, and no one listens to her voice.
"Are you ready, Ollie?" Nemo whispered.
"Um."
Oliver didn't say much, he made a gesture, the gray mist turned into the shape of a chain, and wrapped directly around Nemo's waist. Another part of the gray fog rose into the air, temporarily isolating the entire underground hall.
Nemo put his other hand on the huge black cage and closed his eyes.
The shimmering light flowing on the surface of the black cube instantly went out, and the thick and solid material instantly turned into fly ash. The imprisoned demon appeared—she no longer looked like a scarlet tornado of mist, but a dense, thick liquid in the cage. Nemo didn't dare to imagine that if all these liquids were dispersed into mist...
Pandora was floating in midair.
The liquid that originally maintained the shape of the cube began to stretch, and a hazy mist rose from the surface. The demon's body flows like mercury, and countless liquid limbs spread out, dancing incessantly, like a dark red ephemera blooming in bright light.
It was an inorganic, creepy dance.
[The beauty of the abyss, the devil dancer.]
Nemo stared intently at the scene in front of him, and suddenly understood the meaning of the gray parrot's descriptions during the black badge test.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long.
Finally realizing that he had regained some of his freedom, the young Pandora was mad. The scarlet tornado steamed up from the surface of the liquid and swept across the solemn and luxurious decoration in the hall, and it was about to—
"Quiet!" Nemo exclaimed.
The Demon King's aura is very effective. The moment she sensed Nemo's breath, Pandora quickly shrunk herself into a ball and obediently fell back to the ground, but the scarlet mist on the surface of her body still floated dishonestly.
"I'll send you back to the abyss next." Nemo removed the shadow shield in front of him and glanced at the half-ruined hall.
Pandora's reaction was intense.
She spread out all her limbs and grabbed every protruding part of the hall in an instant, with a fierce posture that she didn't want to leave. The liquid limbs tensed up straight, like an oversized sea urchin.
Nemo didn't think she was nostalgic here.
"Listen, little girl." Nemo stretched out a hand to the alien demon filling the space, "If you choose to take revenge now, you may be able to destroy this place. But your strength will be exhausted, and they will eventually catch stay with you."
Pandoratel didn't intend to move.
"I don't want to hinder your revenge." Nemo sighed fiercely. "Yes, I haven't experienced your nightmare, and I don't have the right to decide for you whether to forgive those people. But... Please listen to me."
"I will send you back to the abyss, you can find your kin, and recover from your injuries. This time you can rest as long as you want, and you can go wherever you want. If after that, you still want to revenge-"
Nemo paused for a moment.
"You might find a way to make a pact with humans and find a way to get back to the surface. And then, depending on your revenge... I might be your friend, a bystander, or your enemy. At least Now, now I beg you, let me take you home."
Pandora slowly retracted his limbs and shrunk into a ball again. She seemed to be thinking.
[You guarantee? Guarantee I still have a chance?]
The demon was still in a trance, and she didn't seem to be able to recover from the discovery of "freedom again".
[I promise.]
Finally receiving a ray of thought, Nemo breathed a sigh of relief.
Colestoro, who had dealt with the Silent Church, this time Nemo has become a lot more proficient. Quickly draw the magic circle learned from the Abyss Church, and add some improvements—
The ground cracked, and the entrance to the abyss reappeared.
Pandoratel paused for a few seconds, and though she had no eyes, Nemo always felt like she was looking at the hall last.
Then she rushed towards the crack firmly, towards the remnant at the other end of the abyss.
"It's now!" Nemo cried, and slid down the chasm. After the superior demon returned, the crack began to slowly close.
At the moment of passing through the rift, Nemo's vision turned to complete darkness. He desperately recited "I am the Demon King" in his mind, and by the way, he mixed the memory fragments he got from Ulysses back to the lantern, but nothing unexpected appeared - a sense of pulling, a sense of heaviness, nothing.
Nemo sighed in relief, looked up at the crack that was about to close completely, and tugged at the gray fog chain that bound his waist.
Oliver, who got the signal, quickly retracted the chain, probably because he was afraid that his lover would be left in the abyss by the closed crack. His speed was terrifyingly fast - Nemo was pulled back by him like a fish and hit Oliver's chest directly. The impact caused the two to fall to the ground together, sliding nearly ten meters on the floor.
"No problem." Nemo propped up and patted Oliver's cheek under him. "We can safely prepare."
Oliver lay on his back on his black cloak, his face turning suspiciously red under the skeleton helmet.
"Nimo, I have two things to tell you."
"uh-huh."
"First, the impact just now... my protective shield fluctuated, and it is estimated that the alarm outside has already sounded. Second, you, your clothes were burnt to nothing by the abyss, can you still restore it?... Uh , do you want me to lend you my cloak?"
"… "