993: Entrance to Hell

「It is time for today’s atonement. We go together, Fannabelta.」

Fannabelta! I’m sure of it now! That’s the name of Intelligence Weapon belonging to Trismegistus!

Fran noticed it too.

「!」

Trismegistus stared at the silvery-white falchion in his hand… Fannabelta.

「That’s…」

Surely someone at Trismegistus’ level would have noticed Fran’s gaze. However, the golden dragonkin didn’t seem to show any interest in her, simply walking away without saying anything further.

I think he was just completely uninterested rather than ignoring her on purpose. Maybe Fran’s lack of hostility played a role too, but he simply didn’t care enough to express it in words.

Despite Fran’s intense gaze on his back, Trismegistus walked with ease. Each step caused the tail from the hem of his robe to swap back and forth.

Certainly very graceful movements.

「C-Can we hurry up, please!」

「If you wish to hurry, then do so yourself, brother of the priestess. I shall not stop you.」

「My name is Frederick.」

「You will have to become stronger if you wish for me to remember your name.」

Trismegistus retorted with a straight face, without so much as a slight smile. It seems he really didn’t care for remembering the names of anyone too weak.

「Kuh!」

Frederick’s face contorted with the impatience clearly visible.

「…Should we go on ahead?」

「No, it’s too dangerous.」

「?」

「The area under this castle contains more antidemons than any other place on the continent. Going in alone is equivalent to suicide.」

Though impatient, Frederick did not attempt to rush ahead. He knew about the ridiculously powerful antidemon swarms blocking our way to the Core Room.

And they were so powerful that even the current Frederick said it would be impossible to make it through alone.

It seems his parents brought him here once, back when he was still young and his elements had yet to be formed.

That’s apparently a rite of passage all dragonkin warriors go through. The purpose was to make them experience great fear at an early age, so few things will frighten them later in life.

The safest way to make it through such a place would be to make use of Trismegistus. As long as we followed behind him, we didn’t need to endanger ourselves.

Meanwhile, the uninterested Trismegistus didn’t even ask us to fight alongside him. His stance was more like “follow me if you want”.

Him inviting us to come along with him was actually extremely irregular. All thanks to the presence of Izario, one of the few people Trismegistus recognized.

After we finished listening to the explanation of the castle’s underground area, Trismegistus arrived at a large hall at the back of the castle. A huge dome made of gray stone with little ornamentation, over 100 meters in diameter.

The rough appearance of the dome stood out from the splendor we saw on our way here. This was clearly no ordinary dance hall.

Immediately after entering the dome, both Fran and Urushi flinched and froze. But that was to be expected.

A huge, gray thing was sticking out through the floor from the center of the room. There can be no doubt. This was the Abyss Eater’s main body that we saw earlier outside the castle.

The Abyss Eater took up the bigger half of the dome. Even from this close up, it looked exactly like a huge tree.

However, the abnormal mana it radiated confirmed that this was no ordinary lifeform. If we take the aura of an antidemon and make it hundreds of times denser and more aggressive, maybe we would get something similar.

Aggressive? Perhaps it would be more correct to say “starving”. It’s said the Abyss Eater can’t move on its own, but its intention to consume, to devour us, was displayed clearly in this aura.

I can see how this being is the origin of those gluttonous antidemons.

As Fran stopped to stare at the Abyss Eater, Trismegistus headed to the stairs at the side of the room. Apparently, that’s where we descend underground.

「Little lady, you okay?」

「I’m fine.」

「It’s hell from here on out. Make sure to keep yourself together.」

「…Okay.」

A place even Izario calls hell? I can’t even imagine it. Still, we definitely have to resolve ourselves before entering.

『Fran. Let’s go.』

「Nn!」

Fran and Izario followed after Trismegistus.

The staircase itself was nothing special, one you would see anywhere. But now that we stood in front of it, we immediately sensed that only hell lied at the end of it.

「Antidemons…」

『Yeah, it’s crawling with so many super powerful antidemons that I can sense them through the Abyss Eater’s aura…』

If all the antidemons in there were unleashed upon Gordicia, wouldn’t the entire continent be wiped out in the blink of an eye? The antidemons I sensed were just that powerful.

「Don’t worry. I told you about how this castle was protected by the power of the gods, right? The antidemons down there will never be able to escape.」

I guess the gods sealed away both the Abyss Eater and the antidemons below the castle. Trismegistus descended the stairs, passing through the gateway to hell without hesitation.

To that man, this was merely a daily occurrence. As we hurried after him, the change came abruptly.

「It is time to begin.」

As he descended the stairs, Trismegistus began formulating an enormous amount of magical power, turning his whole body golden. He was yet to unleash his mana, and the air had already started trembling.

And yet this aura wasn’t violent in the slightest. It’s like he was completely calm. The one shaking was not him.

Riiiing!

As if trembling in anticipation of battle, the blade of his silvery-white falchion emit a high pitched metallic sound.

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