Stray

    Time goes back to just before the sun is about to set.

    Oliver took the dark horse out of the hostel, and saw that the man was bored, and the black fur Mr. Pope probably did not cause any troubles worthy of attention.

    The dark horse snorted a few times, rubbed Oliver's head 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".

      Far away, we can meet 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 attractive carrot, and stretched its ears forward. After a while, it finally decided to temporarily abandon Oliver's head and start chewing the radish.

    "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 and smacked 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 abyss. The only thing they knew was that the underground space called the "Abyss" was definitely wider than the ocean on the surface.

    For thousands of years, or even earlier, 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 you can't stabilize those large teleportation formations - let alone crusade against the demon king, 90% of the warriors can't even survive to the bottom of the abyss.

    In principle, large teleportation arrays are only allowed to be used by expeditionary troops 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 directly to the ground, but now it has a problem.

      .

    At the moment, 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 expedition forces of the past would be attacked by demons in the abyss, but 80% of them were out of hunger, curiosity or boredom. 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-the reconnaissance team was nominally investigating and repairing the teleportation array, but in fact Everyone understands that this is more of 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 devil and the hero, Nemo is more worried about another thing.

      Can't get out.

    They need to figure this out ASAP. Fortunately, they have a solution they can try.

    "When 'visiting' Della Layne, I made a note of the spatial coordinates that I could use." Nemo tore off the loop of the short ponytail and tied his hair back. "But that's all in the public area, Pandora is deeper underground, I can feel it—Oli?!"

    Mr. Demon King, who has been immersed in thinking, raised his voice instantly.

    The horse finished chewing the carrots and 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 startled and released his hand from the horse's face, which made his left hand instantly stuck in the wall. Nemo had just tied the messy hair behind his head when he saw Oliver carefully pulling his left hand.

    Oliver pulled for a while, realizing that there was something wrong with adding a large hole in the wall of the 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 go through walls." Oliver muttered, he rubbed the horse's ears in shock, trying to communicate with the dark horse.

    "It's alright, I'm not drooling like a spider dog, balance...but speaking of this, Ollie, I have an idea."

    "Huh?"

    Five hours later.

    Oliver just thought they were stupid for sneaking in 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 advance in the empty corridor, and the black knight is like a ghost, and the horses and horses go directly through the solid and thick walls full of magic circles. And the wall that could resist both abyss spells and surface spells remained silent, without any reaction.

    A poor man in the research uniform of the mercenary guild headquarters is being dragged by the knight and is 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 or objects.

    The two researchers who were left on the vigil had their mouths wide open and their pancakes snapped to the floor.

    "Then... what is that? Shall we inform the earth-"

    "But the guard wall didn't respond! It was an illusion, definitely an illusion... Did you see that? The man being dragged was wearing an old uniform that wasn't used thirty years ago. It could be some kind of, yes, some kind of flashback of the past..."

    "I'd better let me know."

    "What do you say? A knight suddenly appeared underground for no reason, and disappeared directly through the guard wall full of defensive circles, dragging a person who could not appear now? Friends, the place where they disappeared is not easy to open. In case there is 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..."

    "A few traces left, I can't tell. You know it's the hall, and I don't know how many people from the three religions and nine classes have come during the day. If something really happened, it was also the guards and the magic circle outside. The manager didn't do his job well. Well, let's take a look, and if that phantom reappears, we'll let them know."

    The two "phantoms" behind the guard wall breathed a sigh of relief.

    "I stumbled when I was just passing the wall and almost let go, Delarion's old uniform was too long." Nemo patted his chest, making sure the horsehair string on his wrist still.

    "I got stuck 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 the adventurers in Roadmark Town before, and the sales are very good."

    The dark horse stared at him seriously for a while, then turned his head away.

    "Let's move 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 light in the underground hall was empty, no researcher was active, and the magic lights around it did not go out, just 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 circles used by Dellalain before.

    It was extremely quiet, except for the dull voices that overlapped from 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 forcibly brought back here when she collapsed on the way, and has not fully recovered until now." Nemo stepped forward, a Only hand on the rough outer wall of the black cube. 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 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 descend to the surface nor return to the abyss.

    Like a person whose torso was swallowed by a swamp, but could not die.

    Pandoratel's situation is even worse - at least the nightmare 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 will be killed as an adult, and people can'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 crying in darkness and loneliness.

    A bit sarcastic, 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.

    "Hmm."

    Oliver didn't say much, he made a gesture, the gray fog 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 also put a huge black cage on his other hand and closed his eyes.

    The shimmering light flowing on the surface of the black cube instantly extinguished, 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 a cube began to stretch, and a hazy mist rose up on 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 demon 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 seal test.

    Unfortunately, the good times did not last long.

    Finally realized that she had regained some of her freedom, and 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 noticed 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 did not want to leave. The liquid limbs tensed up straight, like an oversized sea urchin.

    Nimo doesn't think she's 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 run out and they'll catch you eventually."

    Pandoratel did not move.

    "I have no idea of ​​hindering your revenge." Nemo sighed fiercely, "Yes, I have not experienced your nightmare, and I have no right to decide for you whether or not to forgive those people. But... listen to me."

    "I will send you back to the abyss, you can find your kindred, and recover from your injuries. This time you can rest as long as you want, and you can go anywhere you want. If After that, you still want revenge—"

    Nemo paused for a moment.

    "You may 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 may be your friend, I may be a bystander, Maybe your enemy. At least for now, now I beg you, let me take you home."

    Pandora slowly retracted her limbs and shrunk into a ball again. She seemed to be thinking.

    [You promise? Guarantee I still have a chance? 】

    The devil is still a little dazed, and she doesn'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 Church of Silent, this time Nemo became a lot more proficient. Quickly draw the magic circle learned from the Abyss Church, and add some improvements—

    The ground cracks and the entrance to the abyss reappears.

    Pandoratel paused for a few seconds, and although she had no eyes, Nemo always felt like she was looking at the hall at the end.

    Then she dashed firmly towards the crack, towards the remnant at the other end of the abyss.

    "It's now!" Nemo exclaimed, and slid down the chasm. After the superior demon returned, the crack began to slowly close.

    At the moment of passing through the crack, 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 pulled 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 frightening - Nemo was pulled back by him like a fishing, and hit Oliver directly 's chest. 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."

    "Hmmm."

    "First, the impact just now... my protective shield fluctuated, and it is estimated that the alarm outside has sounded. Second, you, your clothes were burned by the abyss. Nothing left, you Can it be restored?…Uh, do you want me to lend you my cloak?"

    “…”