novelraw Chapter 603: Beginning
Chapter 603: Beginning
Hearing the sounds coming from downstairs at this moment, Fisher froze slightly. Next, he quickly tidied up the clothes on his body, but the physical form behind him that had already begun twisting and deforming was difficult to restore to human appearance.
"Do you want me to help you, Fisher?"
Exactly at this moment, that tender voice appeared in his mind once again. Fisher froze slightly, similarly asking within his heart,
"Can you help me, Cupid?"
"I can... but..."
"But?"
"But Fisher has to say he loves me first."
Wait, according to Caleb Uz's explanation, shouldn't this Consciousness Abyss also be a part of himself? Could it be that he was just this narcissistic, causing his alienated consciousness to become so bizarre?
"Cupid, you aren't the real Helaire, you are merely..."
"Can't you say it?""Tap tap... tap..."
The urgent sound of Jasmine's footsteps came from the stairs. Fisher was forced to glance at the continuously alienating portion behind him. He didn't know if it was because he had just done it with Eliog, or if the Chaos that [recorded] Caleb Uz earlier was thriving further within his body, causing his control over his body to become increasingly fragile right now. He had no choice but to compromise with this illusory Cupid in his mind,
"Alright, I love Cupid the most."
"I love you the most too."
But fortunately, the words in his mind wouldn't be heard by others, so whether he said them or not actually didn't matter.
However, Fisher wasn't certain if this was a good sign. According to Caleb Uz's explanation, this Consciousness Abyss should inherently be a part of the power he obtained after finishing reading the Soul Completion Handbook. It was fine to ignore it, yet right now it seemingly possessed some means to manipulate that chaotic power...
Could it be the consequence of him conversing with it?
But if this were the case, Caleb Uz should have clearly written not to converse with it.
Cupid also kept her promise. The seemingly melting portion of Fisher's body behind him gradually solidified. Taking this opportunity, he stood up from the chair he was just on. Subconsciously, he wanted to put away the Soul Completion Handbook laid open on the desk, but upon glancing over, the desktop was completely empty; there was no trace of any Handbook whatsoever.
Beside him, even though Eliog was often competitive, she lacked interest in the Jasmine coming upstairs now. Or rather, she still harbored no hostility towards ladies other than Baimon, just as if the others had nothing to do with her.
Consequently, because she had just eaten and drunk her fill, her mood right now was rather decent. Watching Fisher stand up to tidy himself, she wasn't annoyed in the slightest, merely watching him adjust his clothes with a "gurgle gurgle" sound.
"Professor Fisher, I... I found the Base."
Not long after, the panting Jasmine came up from the staircase towards the end of the library. But the ventilation in this place was so good that the further in she walked, the heavier the warm scent of saltpeter became, as if something had burned inside. It made her involuntarily wave her hand to fan the air before her nose,
"Professor Fisher, you guys... what were you two doing here just now?"
Thank the Mother Goddess, the atmosphere when engaging in affairs with demons was starkly different from other races. Consequently, poor Jasmine didn't realize what had transpired here for a moment; she merely suddenly felt that Eliog's mood had gotten somewhat better.
Of course, as the saying goes, the most dangerous place is also the safest place. This logic applied equally to time as well.
Jasmine couldn't even imagine they would engage in that matter within the timeframe they were searching for the Base, so her train of thought didn't lean in that direction at all.
She was, after all, still inexperienced. Not seeing a bed, she thought there were no options, completely unaware that for a truly starved demon, anywhere could be a dining room.
"We were just researching, awooo."
"Researching?"
"Ah, researching tactics..."
Looking at the foolishly somewhat adorable Whale-kin before her, Eliog couldn't help but feel a bit more fondness towards her in her heart. Before Fisher could even speak up, she took the initiative to explain,
"We were just thinking about how to destroy the Base. But because we aren't clear on the Base's specific properties, we could only rely on Fisher's memories to make hypotheses, awooo... But now that you've already found the Base, things will be easier. Let's head down to take a look. By the way, where did that damn Baimon hide that thing?"
Fisher froze slightly. He then looked at Eliog beside him, who was yawning again and lying with a straight face and normal complexion. He quickly noticed that a small section at the tip of this fellow's tail was swaying slightly in a counter-clockwise direction...
Mm, only now did Fisher realize this was the little habit this demon cat had when lying.
"Ah, the Base is right... well, anyway, Professor Fisher, if you guys just come down and take a look with me, you'll know. They are already waiting beside it. I solved a mechanism before I opened it!"
Jasmine said proudly while taking a few steps back.
Both Eliog and Fisher were somewhat surprised, Eliog especially. She shot Fisher a glance, then looked at Jasmine, clicking her tongue,
"Feels like Baimon's home holds absolutely no secrets from you guys. One effortlessly deactivated her entrance restriction, and you, this little Whale-kin girl, even dug out the place she hides things..."
"Hehe, actually I just touched it and it opened... Furthermore, my name is Jasmine, Demon God Eliog."
Eliog nodded, because she had previously heard Fisher call the other party's name,
"I know, the first time I saw you was still in Saint-Nazareth... Actually, back then I felt like I had heard your name somewhere before, but it must have been an illusion. Let's go, awooo. Let's go see what's up with that Base..."
"..."
When Jasmine led Fisher and Eliog downstairs, they happen to see Cidi leaning against the doorway. He merely swept a glance at Eliog, gave a faint smile, and said nothing further.
The current Eliog was visibly refreshed and invigorated. He didn't even need to employ his abilities to size it up; only this little fool Jasmine, who had just outgrown her fledgling status, couldn't tell.
And the Lord of Death and Eimhart were currently standing before that "Giant Sleeping Portrait of Fisher." Only now, compared to before, a circular hole with smooth edges and roughly wide enough to fit a person had opened on the floor, though how it was done remained unknown.
That hole led straight underground. Even though they had just come down, they could feel the terrifying aura endlessly seeping out from that hole.
Eimhart narrowed his eyes and shot Fisher a glance, then flew back onto his shoulder with a face full of suspicion. He looked him up and down, shot a glance at Jasmine and Eliog, then leaned close to Fisher's ear and whispered,
"Real or fake, you had to do it even in such a short amount of time? You truly leave me staring dumbfounded!"
Indeed, Eimhart was familiar with Fisher, practically seeing through the situation from earlier at a glance. Even his tone trembled slightly,
"You're mad. This is Baimon's lair! Doing it with Jasmine in Eliog's Castle was one thing, but you actually dared to bring her to her home. Given your relationship with her, you're genuinely courageous. Aren't you afraid..."
"Are you afraid?"
"I..." Eimhart was suddenly stumped. Following that, his already red book cover grew even redder, to the point golden light from text began glowing from his mouth. "What am I afraid of? The one doing bad things is you, not me! I see you've stayed with Baimon for too long, genuinely treating her like a vegetarian. Just you wait!"
Although this fellow would usually verbally mention Helaire no matter what—even if he went outside and got drenched by rain, he'd probably suspect it was Helaire's fault—at this critical juncture, he didn't dare utter a single word.
At the thought of Helaire, Fisher's expression also paused slightly, but he quickly returned to normal. He looked at that wide open hole, and the crimson mist dispersing bit by bit from within.
This aura...
It indeed was that Base without a doubt.
"Previously, I felt that thing was right down here somewhere nearby, so I searched around here for quite a while. Until I discovered a hidden compartment behind a painting; the hidden compartment was what I used to open this hole."
Fisher furrowed his brows, then asked exactly which painting Jasmine was talking about just now. Jasmine turned back to look for it, but the result was the Lord of Death, who was standing quite far from the hole, bringing it over and handing it to him—Holland had also been scrutinizing this painting just now.
While handing it to Fisher, he added,
"Aside from a hidden compartment on the back, there's also an annotation left by Demon God Baimon, but I can't read this text."
"Annotation?"
Fisher first swept a glance at the Lord of Death, not knowing why he stood so far from that hole. After that, he looked at the painting in his hand, which depicted a scene he didn't understand at all.
Above, he saw a... statue of a person with a benevolent yet strange appearance?
That statue was entirely made of wood. One hand was raised vertically, forming an odd hand seal, while sitting cross-legged on a lotus flower. It was draped in an embroidered gold-purple robe, seemingly looking down at Fisher from above.
And above that statue, text from another world was drawn. That square, upright appearance... it seemed to be the text from where the Demi-Human Girl Con was from?
Written upon it was: "Buddha" (佛)
Fisher furrowed his brows, failing to comprehend the meaning behind this scene. Left with no choice, he turned it over. This painting was completely different from the other paintings Helaire left behind. It had no title; instead, it possessed a... hidden mechanism compartment left by magic, which seemingly was the hole storing the Base that the magic activated.
That magic wasn't demonic magic. Instead, it was humanity's most orthodox magic, yet the level of this magic was unfathomably profound. It shouldn't have been left by Helaire; otherwise, with Fisher's understanding of magic, it would be impossible for him not to sense this magic when they first entered.
And beneath that magic, Helaire personally penned a sentence using Angelic text, which was precisely the annotation the Lord of Death spoke of,
"You've finally come to retrieve your own thing."
"..."
It was because of the existence of the Translation Relic that Fisher could understand the text on it. Eimhart could as well, he just didn't dare look at even a single painting due to his fear of Helaire. Therefore, before he and Eliog came down, both Jasmine and the Lord of Death shouldn't have been able to read the meaning conveyed on it.
Fisher read the sentence above aloud, and Jasmine voiced her shock and doubt,
"Wait, Professor Fisher, was this Base originally your item?"
"...How could that be? It was formed using the entirety of the Phoenix Race because of the existence of the Spirit World Contamination. But I indeed had history with it previously. Or rather, Helaire hopes I'll take the Base away, so she wrote this sentence?"
Fisher flipped the painting over again and murmured,
"Furthermore, the front of this painting likely depicts a scene from the transferred persons' world. I don't recognize whatever is on this. Oh right, Demon God Cidi, do you recognize the text on this?"
He recalled Demon God Cidi, who was a close friend of the Demi-Human Girl Con, so he prepared to display this thing for Cidi to take a look at. The result was that he didn't even look at it, a helpless look appearing on his bewitching face, spreading his hands and saying,
"Kid, she used the Southern Continent language when making friends with me; she never taught me her own language. Previously, when she gave me that rune activating her secret treasure, I even asked about the rune's meaning, but she only smiled and didn't tell me... She never considered teaching me her language at all, and I'm guessing not a single person in this world knows how her language is written or spoken."
"..."
It indeed was like that. Ever since that group of transferred persons arrived in this world, they had been viewed as scourges by the Mythical Species. They were too busy running for their lives; how could they have the opportunity to impart their own language to the locals?
Wasn't this tantamount to telling everyone, "Haha, I'm precisely the transferred person you want to kill, quickly come catch me"?
Fisher had no leads. Beneath Jasmine's somewhat confused gaze, he could only temporarily set this painting down, preparing to step forward and look at that hole. At this time, however, the Lord of Death beside them suddenly spoke to him,
"Hold on, Fisher, don't step forward anymore. That thing will trigger the Chaos on us. Just now I felt my Death Completion Manual becoming more restless... I'm fine, but you... if I'm not mistaken, your Completion Handbook has already vanished and entered your body, right?"
"..."
Fisher stalled in place. Following that, he suddenly discovered that in a place unseen by others, his hand supporting the picture frame started mutating uncontrollably again, gradually beginning to turn into a fluid state.
He silently took a step back, hiding that hand supporting the picture frame by his side in passing.
Jasmine hadn't forgotten the reason Raphaela sent her here. She acutely perceived the new noun in the Lord of Death's words, "Completion Handbook."
Could that thing be the "path of taking a risk in desperation" Professor Fisher was pursuing?
"Professor Fisher, you..."
"Jasmine, Eliog. Holland and I are unable to approach that Base. Can you guys see if there's a way to extract that Base? Being able to control and utilize it is best; if worse comes to worst, destroying it is also viable..."
Jasmine swept a glance at Fisher's right hand bizarrely placed by his side yet still supporting the painting. She pursed her lips and was about to take a step forward, but Fisher's words abruptly came again, stopping her advance,
"Jasmine... as long as that Base escapes Helaire's control, those two Demon Gods will return to their sealed state. At that time, Raphaela's crisis can also be resolved. Don't forget what our goal of coming here is."
Jasmine pursed her lips, looking at Fisher before her, eventually choosing not to step forward.
Professor Fisher hadn't reached that stage yet. If she hurried up and helped him, perhaps both Professor Fisher and Raphaela could be safe in the end...
She hastily turned her head back to look at the unfathomable hole behind her. Eliog had already been crouching beside it observing for quite a while. At this juncture, her observation already yielded a conclusion,
"There's Baimon's life barrier down below. If that barrier can be destroyed, that Base should be able to be extracted. But Baimon's tier is very high; breaching it requires a certain amount of time, yet on our side..."
Eliog swept a glance at Jasmine, extending her own hand. Looking at Jasmine before her, she said,
"There is chaotic power within my body. You provide the pure Power of Lamastia on you. With our opposing forces, we should be able to speed up the progress."
"Huh huh, Lord Ramastia's power? Me?"
"Oh, didn't your family tell you? You don't think life force can be casually bestowed to others, do you?"
"My Blessing? So I just need to channel life force into it?"
"Who knows about you Whale-kin... Anyway, your power indeed belongs to Lamastia; doing it this way will definitely work."
Watching Eliog and Jasmine simultaneously reach out their hands aiming at the unfathomable hole, just about to start breaking the barrier Baimon left behind, an ominous premonition suddenly arose in Fisher's heart.
Sure enough, in the next second, Cidi leaning against the doorway behind them seemingly sensed something. With a bitter smile, he raised his hand to speak,
"Um, everyone, there's a piece of bad news, do you want to hear it?"
Fisher turned his head back, only to see the pink mist swirling in his eyes abruptly turn exceedingly bright. Bizarre runes were spinning, seemingly echoing something far away.
At the exact same time, the Gate of Knowledge also seemed to vibrate slightly, rattling the picture frames scattered on the floor uncontrollably.
Eliog's complexion shifted. She turned back to look outside and said,
"Impossible, that's the sound of a Portal activating, but we..."
Cidi smiled helplessly. Spreading his hands towards them, he said,
"So yeah, don't forget my relationship with my partner Barbatos just because I'm male. I forgot to remind you guys that Barbatos also knows the location of my Portal. Since he wants to open my Portal, it means your act of destroying their Portals was discovered by him..."
"Tch!"
Eliog stood up with a frown. Hurrying to stand before Cidi, she said to him earnestly,
"Cidi, deny them entry... In this lifetime, I haven't begged you for much; only for this matter must you help us out. Barbatos and Agreas are being manipulated by Baimon. Even if you help them, that beast Baimon won't set you free. This is a game of hers. You and we are merely pawns, you must..."
"Alright alright, I know. Don't be so serious, Eliog..."
As Cidi spoke, his peripheral vision landed on Fisher behind Eliog. Subsequently, he also smiled bewitchingly and said,
"You are my close friend, and your man is also the junior of another close friend of mine. I won't refuse to help you guys. I have already denied Barbatos entry. But you know that even in my true body I am no match for him, let alone now... I can only lock him outside the door for a very short period of time. Moreover, me rejecting him also lets him know I have awoken; he will be even more desperate to enter this place. You guys must hurry up~"
"...Thanks, Cidi."
Eliog reached out and punched Cidi's shoulder. Without looking back, she ran towards Jasmine and said to her,
"Hurry up, awooo. Use all your strength to quickly breach this barrier. Those two fellows whose true bodies have run out will arrive very soon. Our current state isn't even enough to fill the gaps in their teeth. I'm fine, but if you guys don't want to die, hurry up!"
"Oh! Okay!"
Hearing this, Jasmine also grew tense. She hastily closed her eyes, activating her own Blessing.
She hadn't used her own Curse for a very, very long time, to the point the power of the Curse was almost disappearing from her. The power Eliog spoke of also shouldn't be this portion.
While Jasmine and Eliog gave their all to breach Helaire's barrier, the complexion of Cidi leaning against the doorway also grew increasingly pallid. He seemed to be devoting all his strength to stop his husband from breaking down the door, but given his abilities, it was clearly extremely strenuous. The vibration of the entire Gate of Knowledge had also begun to grow increasingly distinct...
The Lord of Death beside them still maintained his lack of interest, because truthfully speaking, this matter had nothing to do with him.
And following the trembling of the entire Dynasty, the portrait of Fisher hanging directly above on the wall also began rapping against the wall surface, emitting crisp "clack clack clack" sounds one after another.
Much like a starting pistol primed and ready, signaling the beginning of certain matters.