Hard Carry Support

Chapter 153 - Toward the Ruins of Darkness (2)

An hour later, the train reached its destination.

After that, the group walked quite a lot while following the Duke. They reached a town that was somewhere between a countryside village and a city in size.

Just like every part of the world had its own unique characteristics, that town also has its unique atmosphere.

The fog was a darkish red compared to other places.

As the light of the pitch-black sun was added on top of it, it gave a dark and calm atmosphere like it was night.

"Are the Ruins of Darkness here?"

"Hmm... There are too few things for that to be the case."

Bahmir smirked after hearing Hyun and Ain's conversation.

"This is just a lighthouse. Did you think getting close to the Darkness would be so easy?"

Bahmir told them how to reach their destination.

That was just the first section of the road toward the Ruins of Darkness; they still had a long way to go.

"As I said, the land of Darkness is covered by fog. You guys will probably have to wait until it goes away."

"Fog...?"

"Yes. Even devils are afraid of Darkness’s fog. They say that, if you get swept away by it, it will even take away your soul. Well, although I'm not sure if you users have souls or not."

The fog over the village thickened and faded away in cycles of a month.

The fog was usually too thick on the way to the Ruins of Darkness, so you weren't able to go through.

If you were unlucky, you had to wait a month, but the Duke said that the road would be open the next day.

"This is as far as I will take you."

"From now on...?"

"Ha, did you think I would take you until the end? You should be grateful I brought you here."

Bahmir laughed and then said something more.

"Also, getting close to the Darkness has more meaning if you do it by yourselves."

In reality, the Duke kindly explaining things to them was a rare sight.

If he hadn't increased Bahmir’s interest rate, maybe he wouldn't have kept his promise, so Hyun didn't want anything else from him.

From then on, he would have to do things by himself.

Ssss.

When Bahmir was about to leave, a black figure rose from the ground.

"Hmm?"

A whitish form appeared.

A smile appeared on Bahmir's face after he realized its identity.

"Long time no see."

A skeleton made of blue light appeared in front of the group.

Although it was a skeleton, the atmosphere coming from it couldn't be compared to the trash mobs they'd seen until then.

It was only bones, but its features were well-defined. Not only that, but its clothes were more luxurious than the ones that a Lich, the highest-ranking skeleton, wore.

Scothanatos... It was the name of the person in charge of administering those lands.

'Duke...?'

The moment Hyun saw the skeleton, his eyes shone.

He wasn't an NPC that appeared in Asra, but he'd seen his name in the Interloop.

He was described as 'One who serves the Dark.'

Based on that, he was probably the Duke closest to the Darkness.

'What's his ranking?'

Was it higher than Bahmir's?

When he was wondering that, Bahmir paid his respects to Scothanatos first.

Bahmir was the strongest Duke of the ones that had been humans before, but taking into consideration all of the Dukes from the different races that were part of the Abyss, he wasn't among the highest-ranked ones.

In the Ducal society, rank was absolute—that was also why Bahmir was so obsessed with the rank ceremony.

"I was wondering who it was, but it's Bahmir... The ones with you... are human?"

Scothanatos's voice sounded with cracks between the sentences, just as you'd expect from a skeleton.

"No, they're users...!"

Scothanatos looked at the group.

The Demonic Energy that flew out from his empty eye sockets made everyone feel chills.

"You guys have no right to get close to the Darkness... Go back."

"Ah, I brought them here."

Bahmir spoke before Scothanatos could do anything.

"They have the right. I promise it by my name."

"These weak... humans?"

"It turns out that humans and users are entirely different."

Tap tap tap-

The skeleton Duke spoke again while grinding his teeth.

"You aren't... giving them special treatment... because you... used to be a human... right?"

"I don't even remember the time when I used to be a human. I wouldn't put my name on the line just because of something like that."

"Okay... then... I'll look at them again."

Scothanatos's eye sockets shone again.

At first, he looked as if he were looking at prisoners, but his atmosphere lightened up after looking at Hyun and Louise.

Hyun was using the Blessing of Darkness, and Louise was probably the Darkness herself.

Scothanatos was called 'The one who serves the Dark,' so there was no way he'd look down on Louise.

"She's... a human... from the Heavens!"

His eyes shone scarily while he was looking at Ain.

Ain's cute appearance wasn't a factor that could increase the interest in the undead skeleton in front of them.

While Demonic Energy was about to explode from Scothanatos's body, Ain quickly said something.

"It's okay. After all, I can't refuse Hyun's orders."

'Wh-what is she saying?'

Hyun was anxious at what Ain said, but he soon realized she was talking about the control priority.

User, skill, «Assimilation», and control priority...

Ain explained it to the skeleton with numerous words, but Scothanatos was having a hard time believing it.

"«Assimilation»... Then, show me how you two become one."

"Hyun, you heard it, right?"

"Yes..."

Hyun didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He didn't want to use it in front of Bahmir because there was a chance he would find out that he'd used that with TarrTarr.

But thankfully, Bahmir didn’t realize.

"This Demonic Energy... I see...!"

Scothanatos understood Ain's words.

Just to make sure, he asked Hyun a question.

"It doesn't matter what you do... the girl won't be able to refuse...! Am I right?"

"While it's true... The way you put it is a bit..."

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

"Then... It doesn't matter."

Hyun was about to make some excuses, but after seeing that the situation was solved, he didn't say anything else.

"For the inhabitants of this town... humans... aren't welcome guests..."

The requisite and force issues had been solved, but there was still something more...

Luckily, it was something that Scothanatos could solve.

The skeleton Duke took out three potions and gave them to the group.

"Drink these..."

"What... are these?"

"They’re potions that will change your race for a bit. Do you know about vampires...? They're the beings that most resemble humans... so you won't have any difficulties in your daily lives."

"Can we return to normal...?"

"You'll be able to return to normal... anytime you wish."

Unlike werebeasts that existed in both forces, all vampires belonged to the Abyss.

If they remained as vampires after returning to the normal world, they would probably have issues living normal lives. After realizing that wouldn't happen, Hyun felt relieved.

[You've temporarily gotten closer to the Abyss!]

[Your race has temporarily changed to 'Vampire'!]

[You can now understand the language of devils!]

[You can dismiss this effect anytime you want!]

The moment Hyun drank the potion, he felt his body getting hotter.

He was able to check its effects by looking at Ain and Louise.

They had been given eyes that were red like rubies, slightly protruding fangs, and sharp claws on both hands.

He wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if he hadn't taken a closer look, but maybe from a devil’s point of view, it was different.

And there was one big difference...

He could now understand all the groans.

'The devils had a language?'

Hyun couldn't help but be shocked.

He wasn't surprised because their appearance had changed, but the voices he could hear around them... rather than wails and cries, it was a language.

Hyun couldn't talk for a while.

Although he'd played the previous game for eight years, he had never imagined that the devils had their own language.

"Ah! That ghost is looking at me...!"

Louise's eyes widened.

“Booo. Boo.” There was an actual meaning behind those cries.

"Hyun, the ghost talked to me! What should I do?"

"This is kind of interesting!"

Louise and Ain couldn't hide their surprise after hearing the devils speak.

It was the same for Hyun.

Until then, he'd believed that the cries made by the devils weren’t anything other than a means to frighten the opponent... but he just realized that wasn't the case.

"This..."

Hyun looked around.

The skeletons and ghosts were giving them a welcome.

A group of skeleton wolves was talking with each other while looking at the group. They were saying things like, “they're vampires we've never seen. Maybe they'll need a guide if they're going to the land of the Darkness. Won't they hire us?”

They could also hear the cries of the lizardmen coming from a distance.

Surprisingly, it seemed like the lizardmen operated shops—there were some selling skewers for 10 silver.

"Woah..."

From a certain point, Hyun glanced at his surroundings while smiling.

He felt similar to when he began playing Asra Online or started Asrian.

The Symmetrical World... It was something he couldn’t see on the surface. There wasn't a place like that in real life, of course, but there wasn’t even another place like it in Asrian.

For the first time in a very long time, Hyun felt excited.

* * *

The Duke was part of the Abyss.

It seemed like the Blessing of Darkness had an effect on Scothanatos.

Although he looked scary, he kindly answered Hyun's question.

"Ruins... It seems like you're talking about the sanctum...!"

"The sanctum?"

"Yes... That's what we call it here..."

The town’s name, Pitchblack Lighthouse...

It had two meanings:

The first meant that a sea of darkness surrounded it.

Not even the devils could walk around freely in the areas outside of the town where the fog was thick.

But the second meaning was that they served the Darkness.

According to Scothanatos's explanation, all of the devils around there served the Darkness.

Wishing for the Darkness to come again, they put fire on the altar that was in the middle of the town every day.

'It really looks like a town where people live.'

After hearing the explanation, Hyun understood what the place was...

It was a religious society.

They served the Darkness. It was similar to the Holy Kingdom in the sense that the city was built around faith.

The only difference was that the devils there prayed to the Abyss instead of the Heavens.

"Master Bahmir, it's about time we returned."

"Really? Time really flows fast here."

Bahmir raised his head after hearing Mablen's voice.

The fact that he'd guided them there was proof of his positive opinion of Hyun and Louise.

"Wait..."

Before he left, Hyun asked him something.

"Do you have to take the train to return?"

"Of course. Why would I spend so much time if I could open a portal?"

"No, I'm not talking about a portal."

Thanks to Rutia, Hyun knew that the two worlds were connected.

Everything on one side had a symmetrical equivalent on the other side—that's why it was called ‘The Symmetrical World’.

If that were true, the town should be connected to a place on the surface.

"Is there a way to go to the other side in one go?"

Bahmir understood what Hyun wanted to ask and smiled.

"The other side... Well, since both worlds are connected, there should be a place that leads there."

"As expected! Then...!"

At Bahmir's reply, Hyun's face brightened. But...

"But what if that other side is in the middle of space? Or what if it's in the middle of the sun? Going to the other side when you don't know where it will take you is like committing suicide."

Bahmir's reply was different from what Hyun expected.

"Not only that, but if the density of space isn't similar, you'll probably be torn apart. There's a chance that your body and head would end up in different places."

Bahmir said that the spatial density of the place was too distorted.

That meant that you couldn't move between both worlds inside that town.