novelraw Chapter 582: Dynasty
Chapter 582: Dynasty
"Those who enter the Sun Gate, are of Yin Nature."
Fisher chewed over the words Fischer read out. Subsequently, he raised his head to look at the two lines of text above that were still "Gate of Victory" in his eyes, as well as this gate leaf that was like a mirror surface,
"That is to say, is it possible this place actually corresponds to two gate leaves? My side here is the Sun Gate, your side over there is the Yin Gate, and we must swap before we can open the gate leaf?"
Fischer remained silent for a split second. Subsequently, she walked to the front of that gate leaf, lightly touching that gate leaf with her hand. But the result was still like falling onto a water surface; the physical entity of the gate leaf couldn't be touched at all.
She hastily shook her head and said,
"No good. I still can't open the gate on this side."
The Book Princess beside her pondered silently for a moment and said,
"Is it possible you need to go over to the Yin Gate, and then Fischer is at the Sun Gate over here, and then you both open it simultaneously to succeed?"
Eimhart hastily flew onto Fisher's shoulder, saying to him in a low voice,
"Are you certain you want to go over? What if this is a conspiracy of the Gate of Victory, and we get permanently locked inside the gate, what should we do?""Hehe, what a cowardly scoundrel. Although Fischer usually doesn't use her brain, at least her courage is commendable to come directly over for Baimon. Don't tell me your Fisher doesn't even have this bit of courage and trust?"
The Book Princess sneered, standing on Fischer's shoulder diametrically opposite to where Eimhart stood, mocking him like this.
Fisher rubbed Eimhart on his shoulder who still wanted to say something more. Subsequently, he turned his head to look at that gate leaf, saying,
"We're going over."
"Fisher..."
"Even if we don't go over, we're stuck here. I still have to fetch the Base, can't delay time."
"...Alright, I'll listen to you."
Fisher nodded his head. Subsequently, he gently reached his hand into that gate leaf. Under the gaze of the two behind whose everything was diametrically opposite to himself, he slowly sank into the other world within the Gate of Victory.
The process of entering was slow. Only after several seconds passed did he barely enter another intact cave that was identical to the location he stood in previously.
"? sgnileef drahc ym ekil s'ti woH... ereh ev'I ywh"
Eimhart muttered somewhat uncomfortably. But Fisher frowned, looking at him with a face full of confusion,
"What did you say?"
And Eimhart's expression was even more astonished. He hastily said,
"? gnihtyna leef t'nod uoy oD"
"...Don't speak first, there truly is a bit of something not quite right here."
Fisher narrowed his eyes. He took a deep breath, feeling this extremely bizarre aura around him. After a long, long time, he murmured,
"This is... Chaos."
Yes, here, he once again felt an extremely dense aura of Chaos. But it was different from all the feelings of Chaos he had seen previously.
This was a Chaos power possessing a nature he had never seen before, and extremely dense.
"! eromyna ti dnats t'nac I ,hA ! rood eht nepo hsup nac uoy fi ees dnah uoy ,kciuQ"
Eimhart was so uncomfortable he couldn't catch his breath. Even the words he spoke seemed as painful as being taken into his own throat and stomach from the outside. But Fisher was completely oblivious to anything being amiss; he couldn't feel anything.
But he still frowned and hastily looked towards the gate leaf, only to see that the gate leaf side was covered in a faint layer of mist anew, as if wanting to Isolate him from his previous world.
The silhouettes of Fischer and the Book Princess grew increasingly blurry on the gradually frosting gate leaf, swaying like reflections in water. Like some kind of silent mockery, also like some kind of profound guidance.
Did he fall for it?
Was he tricked by the Gate of Victory, played by it?
The book cover of Eimhart on his shoulder held back until it grew redder and redder, also gradually flashing dangerous golden light. Evidently, the environment here was even more agonizing than he imagined.
His inner heart also unknowingly grew anxious. A kind of restlessness and urgency erupted in an instant, uncontrollably driving away the calmness within his inner heart bit by bit.
He hastily arrived before the gate, reaching out to press down on the gate leaf. This time it no longer sank into it like falling onto a water surface. But the gate leaf still remained completely unmoving, like the hardest wall in this world, waiting for a formidable enemy like a True God to challenge it.
". eromyna ti dnats t'nac I ,rehsiF"
"..."
Fisher didn't pacify Eimhart on his shoulder who was growing weaker and weaker, unable to even stand stably. He merely reached out to embrace him into his bosom. Subsequently, he violently raised his head to look at the two lines of text on the gate leaf that should originally have been written as "Gate of Victory".
Sure enough, just as Fischer saw previously, the text above also changed once again.
This time, the two lines of text written above were,
"Fifth Sea"
"Yin Nature"
Sea?
Sea again?
Doubt suddenly burst forth in Fisher's mind. But closely following, that bizarre second line of text abruptly burst forth with inspiration within his mind.
Perhaps, he didn't fall for it. His direction was correct, it was just the Gate of Victory making him mistakenly believe he fell for it.
Remember the trick to entering the gate leaf was to "defeat the invincible".
But on the inner side of the gate leaf, or rather within this strange Yin-Yang Sea or whatever, everything is inverted. Therefore, actually the true trick wasn't "defeat the invincible", but "the victor has no need to fight"!
The moment this thought appeared, his expression suddenly became somewhat abstract.
Subsequently, he tentatively embraced Eimhart in his bosom, reaching out anew to place his hand on the gate. But this time, he didn't push the gate again, but pulled the gate.
The gate leaf was still extremely heavy, making him doubt if he was pulling a mountain rather than a gate leaf.
"Creak... creak..."
But right when he was doubting his life, the gate leaf before his eyes miraculously produced an uncontrollable trembling. Little by little, Fisher pulled it out, creating traces of friction against the ground.
The gate leaf slowly unfolded, revealing an extremely profound space before Fisher, as if leading to another scorching world.
The dense aura of the Authority of Death was something Fisher couldn't be more familiar with, as if forming an invisible, untouchable black veil carrying high temperatures rushing towards his face, enveloping him within it.
His body uncontrollably retreated backward into the gate leaf. Very quickly, he was submerged by the darkness within, disappearing on the spot.
The gate leaf behind rumbled, directly shutting. Leaving only the hot air escaping from the crack of the door lingering within the mountain cave, unwilling to leave.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
"Jibber jabber!"
"Pipi peng!"
"Haruru!"
"Fisher!! Ahhhh!"
After entering the dimness of the gate leaf, the profound space within completely went vertical, no longer capable of providing a surface for humans to walk. Fisher and Eimhart then continuously fell downwards.
From below continuously transmitted a dense scent of saltpeter and formless heat waves, accompanied by some kind of roaring sounds like small animals entering Fisher's ears.
Eimhart's words beside finally reverted to normal from being inverted. But the uncomfortable feeling from previously made him momentary fail to react, spinning continuously in midair like a top, screaming as he fell downwards.
Within Fisher's peripheral vision, amidst that continuously accelerating fall, the darkness and profoundness before his eyes was broken through by light bit by bit. Spreading out from the center of the darkness, gradually revealing an incomparably expansive space below, completely filled by boiling magma and tiny creatures swaying long tails looking upwards like monkeys.
"Squeak squeak!"
That group of bizarre creatures as short as dwarves and slender as monkeys just stood on the black reefs within the magma ocean like that. Watching helplessly as the one person and one book slid down from above. They were originally extremely curious, but after sensing the terrifying aura of Fisher's Mythical Rank, they consecutively scurry around in fright, struggling to swim away in the magma, leaving the place Fisher might land.
"Rumble!"
Along with a massive sound, the Demon Dynasty that had always only had the chirping of Little Demons and the boiling sound of magma for thousands of years finally welcomed a guest it had never met before.
Within the black smoke dust completely filled with the smell of saltpeter, Fisher grabbed the dizzy Eimhart beside him with one hand, while scrutinizing the surrounding environment.
"This place is... the Demon Dynasty?"
Yet he saw amidst the extremely expansive, gigantic cave that seemed like the distance between heaven and earth, the radiance of surging magma reflected everywhere from the ground, reflecting sparkling traces upon the black stone walls. But upon closer inspection, that wasn't a generation principle like water, but because upon that magma, floated an incredibly dense array of terrifying-aura'd infinity symbols [∞], like a formless cage binding the magma in place.
And upon the magma sea where a glance couldn't see the end, wide black reefs, either scattered or connected to each other, became isolated islands and archipelagos. Under the scorching dim environment, Fisher also saw many, many vaguely indistinct traces of massive architecture and civilization.
Many of those architectures were either built against the mountains, or hung upside down on the stone walls, or stood solitarily on the isolated island reefs. Seemingly the places where some powerful existences resided.
And among the architectures there were also many, many delicate architectures. Within them lived many red, blue, and black-skinned Little Demons of varying colors bound by chains, carefully hiding and looking at Fisher.
"Fisher... blegh... I really want to vomit..."
Right when Fisher was scrutinizing the surrounding environment, Eimhart in his hand could no longer endure and weakly tumbled down, falling onto the adjacent reef, beginning to vomit out golden characters from his mouth one by one.
"Just now we entered the gate. That was an inverted space formed by Chaos power, therefore the Rules forming you began to rupture, thus it would be very uncomfortable. It should be a bit better now, we have already arrived at the Demon Dynasty."
"It's not because of this reason... I previously... have been to this place... This is exactly where I met Baimon... Although I already can't remember what happened at that time... but I will still be very uncomfortable..."
"Helaire..."
Yeah, as a member of the Demon Gods, Helaire should also have a palace she resided at here. It's just that this place was the area behind the Gate of Victory, whereas she was behind the Gate of Knowledge. Just didn't know exactly how far it was from here.
Then could it be possible, the Base she stored to affect the Mother Goddess Seal was exactly within the palace she resided at?
Fisher twisted his head to scrutinize the surroundings once again. Yet he saw behind those black reefs, many, many Little Demons hiding without revealing their figures. Under the sweep of his gaze, those Little Demons lacking clear consciousness consecutively dodged his gaze instinctively, shrinking their heads like ostriches.
He ignored those Little Demons whose rank was similar to ordinary humans. Merely at this moment, a bit of doubt spawned from his inner heart.
Since he himself had already come in, then where exactly did Jasmine and Holland run off to?
Did they come in?
"Squeak squeak..."
Exactly as Fisher was scrutinizing the surroundings searching for the figures of his companions, a red-skinned Little Demon growing two small horns suddenly crawled running over reluctantly from the front.
That Little Demon's figure was petite like a monkey. There were no sexual characteristics on his body, seemingly not possessing any reproductive or excretory functions. Completely bare, appearing extremely bizarre. Only that mouth full of sharp teeth continuously transmitted unclear and blurry words.
He was extremely afraid, not even daring to shoot Fisher a single glance. He kept spinning around in circles in the surroundings. After hesitating for a long time, he finally ran towards Fisher, raising his hand aiming at him.
Fisher frowned. Yet he saw his hand that only possessed three fingers spread open slightly, revealing a dirty strip of cloth above it.
"For me?"
"Squeak squeak..."
"..."
Fisher reached out to receive that strip of cloth. The moment he picked up that strip of cloth, the Little Demon before his eyes seemed like having completed his task, hastily jumping away towards the side, fleeing to an unknown place to hide.
Fisher shot a glance at the direction that Little Demon fled to. After hesitating for a split second, he still unfolded that strip of cloth, revealing a line of crooked handwriting within it. It was written using ancient human writing, very similar to Kadu's current writing,
"Respected and powerful guest, I have perceived your descent. Regardless of what identity you possess, or for what purpose you came to the Dynasty, I implore you to proceed towards the black shack ahead for a chat. Perhaps we can both be of help to each other."
"An invitation from a bound prisoner, hoping you will not refuse."
Fisher crumpled that yellowed strip of cloth that didn't know how long it had been stored or where it was torn from. Subsequently, he tossed it towards the adjacent magma, allowing the high temperature to Completely Devour it in the blink of an eye.
He raised his head to look above, yet weirdly discovered the rock wall above was extremely intact, without any passageways or any cavities at all. He previously seemed exactly like sliding out of mid-air from somewhere.
Therefore, he probably also couldn't be certain if Jasmine and the others had passed through the Gate of Victory, nor did he know where they would enter the Demon Dynasty from...
And that house...
Fisher looked forward. Very quickly, at the end of this black reef he was standing on, he saw a huge round shadow. Seemingly the outline of a certain architecture hidden amongst the cover of rocks. And the black house mentioned on the strip of cloth was located not far in front of that massive architecture.
Compared to a house, that place looked more like a small shed built using rubble.
"..."
Hesitating for a split second, Fisher still brought Eimhart and lightly tapped the ground, leaping towards that small black house in the blink of an eye.
"Guest... guest... I'm over here..."
From far away, Fisher heard an aged and shriveled shout. He raised his eyes to look over, and saw a skinny human figure wrapped in white cloth strips entirely polluted by yellow grease stains leaning on a stone cane waving his hand at Fisher.
When Fisher stopped, he immediately walked forward excitedly yet limping. Sweeping a glance up and down at Fisher, the single eye revealed from within the cloth strip wrappings was filled with shock. Hesitating for a split second, he still used the ancient human language to ask,
"Are you... human or what..."
"I am human."
"...Aiyah, this is truly... beyond my expectations... How could a human... Ah, unless you borrowed that kind of power."
He was somewhat at a loss supporting his cane, Muttering to Himself like this.
Whereas Fisher placed Eimhart back on his shoulder anew, similarly sizing up this person before his eyes shriveled to the point of being like a skeleton,
"That kind of power,"
"You should know of it, just..."
That human figure carefully, cowering like a mouse, shot a glance at the surrounding magma, as if deeply afraid the words he was about to speak next would be heard by some terrifying thing,
"...Just Chaos."
"..."
Fisher Neither Agreed Nor Disagreed, not continuing this topic anymore. Instead, he shot a glance at that extremely dilapidated small black house behind him. Inside were piled up tools made of who knew what. Fisher even vaguely saw the remains of some arthropod creatures carrying thick green liquid. That thing was currently placed on his dining table, serving as a kind of food.
Within the entire small house permeated an indescribable stench, roughly identical to the smell on this human figure's body, both so decayed, like a stone inside a latrine.
"What kind of person are you, what did you call me over for?"
"Oh... I..."
His slender fingers wrapped in white cloth rubbed his head. Seeming like conducting the difficult process called "thinking",
"Sorry, I have truly stayed here for far too long, too long. Some things... I am called Solomon, yes... If my perception wasn't wrong, within your bosom is exactly the 'Dynasty Scroll' I wrote."
Fisher froze slightly. Subsequently, he took out the guide scroll he obtained from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook. And when the Solomon before his eyes saw this scroll, an Unbelievable look filled his eyes,
"Yes, yes, it's exactly it, but... how is this possible? My son should have already burned it, right before my eyes, without even leaving a speck of ash."
Solomon, Fisher was a bit familiar with this name. Under Eimhart's eyes beside also widened a bit. Looking at the skinny old man before his eyes similarly filled with shock,
"Wait, what did you say? You are Solomon? That king from the Central Empire era several thousand years ago?"
Fisher also suddenly recalled. This king was famous in history for his worship of demons. During his reign, he built quite a few things beneficial to the demons' activities, such as brothels and wine pools.
Oh, the grandson among the grandfather, son, and grandson trio enchanted by Demon God Cidi was exactly the King Solomon before his eyes. The ending of this story concluded with "grandfather died of illness, father died in battle, grandson ascended the throne". It was just a pity the Demon God Cidi back then no longer showed up anymore.
But perhaps exactly because the Demon God Cidi who bewitched him left too deep an impression on this king of the human Central Empire, it resulted in him becoming so obsessively infatuated with the scholarship of demons.
Legend has it, he relied on the power of demons to build the Central Empire into an Absolutely Unprecedented powerful nation, never losing in foreign wars. Yet in his late years, he perished in an internal rebellion.
Solomon's son betrayed him, locking him alive within the royal palace and burning him to death, thereby usurping the throne.
This was another historical story of "a kind father and filial son". But Fisher didn't care about any of these. He cared more about why this king who should have been burned to death would appear in the Demon Dynasty, and why he would call himself over.
"Ah, yes, it's me..."
He hung his head somewhat shamefully. Concurrently, imperceptibly using that cane he was supporting himself with to block his face that was originally already wrapped by cloth strips. Yet he still couldn't block Eimhart's further pressing questions,
"Why would you be here? All the books record that you were burned alive to death by your son."
"...Ah, yes, but before I died I signed a pact with Baal. I promised, to exchange serving as his slave day and night after my death for my empire's might while I lived. Before I was burned to death, Baal snatched away my death, concurrently sending me to here, the Demon Dynasty... Hehe, you must know, this name was even a name I gave this damned place while I was reigning. Right, guest, how could you possess my destroyed scroll, and furthermore looking so new, like it was never damaged before."
He still inevitably looked towards the scroll in Fisher's hand, but Fisher had no way to answer him.
Fisher gave it from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook. He didn't even know this thing belonged to King Solomon, let alone how it was stored.
Fisher didn't answer this doubt of his, merely continuing to get straight to the point,
"What did you call me over for?"
"Oh, oh, it's like this... Although Baal signed a pact with me to make me serve as his slave and servant, but actually, they merely wanted to curse my bloodline through me, a former king of the empire. This way, my son who didn't believe in demons, his future generations for generations to come would all become providers of Food for the demons, going so far as spreading to the entire empire, until it perished one day..."
Eimhart opened his mouth wide, unable to help but murmur,
"Ha, no wonder your descendants were either cripples or lunatics, so it turned out to be because of the demons."
The son who usurped King Solomon's throne died young. Subsequently, all the descendants of his son turned into various bizarre monsters and freak demons. His grandson fell in love with his birth mother and blood sister. His great-grandson was a pervert who liked eating raw human meat and sadism. His great-great-grandson was another homosexual, who also liked dancing naked in public...
Historians termed this period as "The Sudden Decline", the starting point of the once flourishing Central Empire's final descent towards decline.
Of course, legends say exactly because King Solomon borrowed the power of the demons, therefore his descendants had to pay the price. And indeed the facts also appeared to be so.
Solomon sighed, nodding his head and saying,
"That's right, I also didn't expect it to be like this. Demon God Baal deceived me on the pact, or rather, this was originally a part of serving as his slave. And after my Central Empire perished, I entirely lost my usefulness, becoming livestock just like the Little Demons. And then further leading to them being collectively sealed by the great Mother Goddess, officially silencing the Demon Dynasty..."
Fisher interrupted Solomon's words and said,
"Let's cut to the chase, what did you call me over for?"
"Oh oh, it's like this. Originally because I lost my usefulness I devolved into livestock, but I was stripped of my death and couldn't die. So I could only wander everywhere within the Dynasty. Most Demon Gods didn't welcome a livestock without dignity like me, driving me away here and there. Only this Lord Demon God residing here didn't mind me taking temporary residence here. I am very grateful to her. During all these days she was sealed by the Mother Goddess, I've always been guarding her house as a watchdog. Even if I just acted as a watchdog, but even so, I still felt it was insufficient..."
As he spoke, he shot a glance filled with gratitude towards the majestic architecture right beside this black house. Subsequently, he used his cane to point at that architecture and said,
"Just not long ago... the not long ago I mentioned I also don't know how long it is, I have already lost the concept of Time. But it probably shouldn't be too much Time. I heard... there was a bit of commotion inside, like that Lord Demon God possessed consciousness and revived... I want to ask you to go in and confirm if she has broken free from the seal and possesses consciousness, and represent me to bring this thank-you letter as well as my final treasure to her as a token of gratitude..."
Solomon hesitated for a split second. Subsequently, he turned around and returned to that dilapidated black house, carefully bringing out a sparkling pink gemstone like a star. Along with it was a cleanly and neatly wrapped envelope beneath that gemstone.
Following closely, Solomon continued saying to Fisher,
"If she hasn't awakened, it doesn't matter either. Just place these two items inside... I am bound by the pact, unable to approach the residences of the Demon Gods acting as my masters. I can only rely on you for this matter. As a reward, I am willing to tell you all I know regarding the Demon Dynasty, a guest like you will certainly be interested."
Fisher hesitated for a moment, not immediately accepting the two items he handed over. But conversely turned his head to look towards the architecture he just mentioned.
Yet he saw that architecture wasn't considered too majestic. Although it could also be called a "palace" in the traditional sense, but contrasting the other architectures Fisher saw here earlier, this palace appeared extremely unsophisticated.
Furthermore, Fisher also noticed, this was the only palace he saw here equipped with fences.
"The Demon God you mentioned originally resided here?"
"Ah, that's right."
"But you obviously came to the Demon Dynasty before they were sealed. Could it be you have never seen this Demon God?"
"To speak frankly... no. The majority of the powerful Demon Gods among them I have seen, yet exclusively this Demon God..."
Solomon also looked towards this unsophisticated palace, speaking somewhat regretfully,
"Legend has it this Demon God is the Demon God in charge of war. Possibly because I wasn't proficient in this path, therefore I never obtained her response... Hehe, but in my impression, there has never been anyone who summoned her out either... Demon God Eliog, I also very much wish to gaze upon her greatness, it's just a pity..."
"..."
Fisher and Eimhart froze slightly simultaneously. And simultaneously turned their heads anew, looking towards this aged man skinny as a skeleton beside them.