Lilith stood in the center of her dormitory, closing her eyes to carefully sense the coordinates she had just captured through her Locating Spell.
That unsettling ripple of Demonic Energy, that bottomless crater, and that cold gaze...
“Hmph, since I’ve found the location, it’s time to go.”
She opened her eyes, a flash of excitement crossing her crimson pupils.
As much as she hated trouble, it would be wrong not to investigate a place that clearly hid such a massive secret.
Besides, whatever it was that dared to reverse-track her through the array had successfully piqued her curiosity—and a tiny bit of her annoyance.
“You dare try to track me?” Lilith curled her lip. “Just wait, I’m coming to settle the score right now.”
She reached out her right hand, fingers spread, and lightly tore at the air in front of her.
Rrrrip!
A crack was torn through space. Behind the rift lay distorted light, shadows, and violent spatial turbulence. Lilith stepped inside.
A second later, she appeared in the sky above the Endless Mountains.
Below her lay an unending range of gray mountains.
In the eastern part of the range, a massive crater was particularly conspicuous. The opening was bottomless, and its edges emitted a faint, dark-red glow, looking like a gruesome wound on the earth.
“This is the place.” Lilith hovered in the air, looking down at the crater.
She descended slowly, her feet lightly touching the rocks at the edge of the pit.
Looking around, the environment was even worse than she had imagined.
The air was thick with the scent of Demonic Energy. That sensation... it was very familiar.
“Hmm, the surrounding area is completely saturated with Demonic Energy pollution.”
Lilith took a deep breath, sensing carefully. “And the energy here is basically identical to the energy inside me. It seems this really is the place where the former Demon King fought his great battle.”
Magic from the same source—what did that mean?
It meant that this place wasn't just polluted; it likely contained something left behind by the former Demon King, though it was probably the unpleasant kind.
Lilith raised her hand, a tiny black vortex manifesting in her palm.
With her abilities, she could completely absorb all the surrounding Demonic Energy.
But just as she was about to act, she stopped.
“Never mind.” Lilith dispersed the vortex. “If I absorb it now, he might just run away. Better to wait a bit.”
The thing that had reverse-tracked her through the array was definitely hiding deep within this crater.
If she sucked the surrounding energy dry now, it would be the equivalent of telling the opponent, “I’m here, and I’m very strong.” That fellow might get scared and flee immediately.
“I’ll head down and take a look first.” Lilith walked to the edge of the pit and peered down.
It was bottomless.
Darkness shrouded the depths, with only the occasional flicker of dark-red light, looking like eyes blinking in the abyss.
She took a deep breath and then leaped, jumping into the crater.
Whoosh!
The wind howled in her ears as her body plummeted. The darkness quickly swallowed her, with only the intermittent red flashes providing a dim light.
The fall lasted for about ten seconds.
Then, Lilith felt the space around her suddenly distort.
“Hmm?”
Before she could react, her feet hit solid ground.
Lilith steadied herself and looked around, stunned.
She was standing on a street.
On both sides of the street were orderly stone buildings—some were residences, others were shops.
In the distance, she could see a plaza and even a clock tower.
The sky was a hazy gray, and it was a sky that emitted a dark-red glow.
This was a town.
A complete town built at the bottom of a crater.
“Where is this?” Lilith was a bit dazed. “Could this be that thing’s hiding place?”
She had originally thought the bottom of the crater would be the core area of the Demonic Energy pollution or some ancient battlefield ruins. Instead, it was a town?
Something was off about this picture.
Lilith thought for a moment and raised her hand, preparing to construct a sword.
No matter what this place was, she would cut it down first. Just like Luya’s space, one slash would solve everything.
But the moment her magic began to condense, a voice came from the side:
“Stop!”
Lilith turned her head.
A boy ran out from a street corner, stopping in front of her while panting for breath.
The boy looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old, with rare short white hair and golden eyes that shone exceptionally bright under the dark-red sky. He was wearing simple cloth clothes.
“Wait, wait, wait, Lady.” The boy raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I think we can talk. Put the sword down first.”
Lilith did not lower her hand. Instead, she pointed the translucent red longsword she had just constructed at the boy, her brow furrowed slightly.
She wondered to herself: “Strange, why is there a human? With this concentration of Demonic Energy, it should be impossible for anyone to survive.”
The level of Demonic Energy pollution here was so high that even a Rank 3 or 4 powerhouse would suffer if they stayed too long. Yet this boy seemed completely unaffected and was full of energy.
“Who are you?” Lilith asked. “What is this place?”
The boy looked at the tip of the sword pointed at him and swallowed hard. “I... my name is Leonard. This is... well... my home.”
“Leonard?” Lilith repeated the name. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it.
“Yes, Leonard.” The boy nodded, trying to look as friendly as possible. “I don’t want to fight. I am the Hero Leonard. Please put down your sword.”
Lilith: “...?”
The Hero?
The Hero who died a thousand years ago?
She carefully sized up the boy before her. White hair, golden eyes, young, calling himself the Hero Leonard...
“Didn’t the Hero die a thousand years ago?” Lilith criticized internally, but she didn't say it out loud.
After a moment's thought, the longsword in her hand dissolved into points of light.
“Fine.” Lilith gave a harmless smile. “Then can you take me on a tour of this place? I’m lost.”
Leonard was visibly relieved. “Of course! Welcome to... uh, there’s no official name, everyone calls it the Shelter.”
“The Shelter?” Lilith raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, the Shelter.” Leonard turned and signaled for Lilith to follow. “Follow me, I’ll show you around. But you have to promise me not to just destroy things randomly.”
“I’ll try.” Lilith followed him, while simultaneously calculating how to pry information out of him.
But before she could think of an opening line, a sudden change occurred.
Rrrrip!
The sky overhead was suddenly torn open by a massive rift.
Six figures dropped from the rift, landing steadily on the street.
Lilith recognized their identities at a glance: five elderly men in magnificent magic robes or armor, all with a presence around Rank 9.
There was also a blonde man who looked to be about thirty years old, whose aura was significantly stronger than the other five.
Above Rank 9!?
“These must be the investigators sent by the Royal Capital,” Lilith thought to herself.
Her reaction was lightning-fast. The moment the six landed, she had already covered herself in a voluminous black robe.
Leonard was stunned to see Lilith suddenly change her outfit, but before he could ask, the six people had already looked over.
One of them, a white-bearded old man in a red magic robe, stared at Lilith for a few seconds before his eyes suddenly lit up. “Are you... the esteemed man in black?”
Another sturdy old man with a giant sword on his back also realized who she was. “The man in black who split the mountains and repelled the Calamity Veen in the Holy City?”
“It really is the man in black!”
“I didn't expect to see you here!”
“Is your Excellency also here to investigate these ruins?”
The five Rank 9 powerhouses immediately surrounded her, their voices filled with respect as they spoke one after another.
Lilith was a bit speechless.
She simply nodded without speaking and then turned to leave. She didn't want to waste time with these old men.
But a hand suddenly pressed down on her shoulder.
It was the blonde man who was above Rank 9.
“May I ask, Excellency,” the blonde man stared at Lilith with a sharp gaze, “why are you here? This is a restricted area recorded in the top-secret files of the Royal Capital.”
As his words fell, countless eyes suddenly opened in the hazy gray sky.
Rate on N.U.
