Hysteria

"You're telling me that although the Dead Valley should have been absolutely free from any of the three nations, a group of dwarfs has just casually walked here? Through those icy mountains that go beyond the clouds?

"That's correct."

Palming my face, annoyed to the point where my head started pounding, I wasn't sure what to make out of the beautiful demoness anymore.

"Haaa... Tell me what to do about it."

I didn't care about pretending like I had a clue about how to deal with this issue, even more so as I couldn't help but feel like Tatiana was partly responsible for this little incident. That being said, after getting to know the geographic location of the Dark Lands, and what stood in between the three nations and the Dead valley, I could understand why she had been so confident.

The thing was that the Dark Lands was located on the easternmost side of the continent, with the three nations all bordering it from the west. However, between the isolated Dead Valley and the three nations, there were three large areas of the Dark Lands that should have acted to repel any invaders.

In the south, there was the huge desert, the place where I had been ambushed by the roc. This desert was the area bordering Luprad, which created the very out-of-place looking cut-off where the elven forests simply stopped existing, replaced by sand instead.

In the center, the Dark Lands took the form of a swampy forest, and though I had not been able to see much through the thicket of black trees, the undead that occupied it was supposedly incredibly powerful.

Lastly, we had the north, the direction where the dwarfs must've arrived from. That area was covered with gigantic mountains, reaching far beyond the clouds, and though it was impossible to see the peaks, it was apparent that they were covered with ice.

And here she was telling me that a group of dwarfs, in other words not the army or something like that, had just somehow found a way to traverse them. In essence, this spelled incredibly bad news for me as that would mean that the secret behind the Dead Valley, the fact that it was inhabited by weaklings, might be exposed to the world, as well as show them the way here.

Straightening her back again, revealing the fact that she was pretty excited about all this, her white bobbed a bit as she spoke, "You have to get rid of them. As long as you do so, the emperor and the ministers of Creria will most likely believe them to have gone missing in the Snowy Peaks."

Giving me a very unsurprising answer, as even I could have figured out that I couldn't allow them to return to their country and make a report about their findings, there was still one problem. A very major problem.

"But if they managed to make their way through the Dark Lands, aren't they pretty strong?"

"Probably."

"..."

"But even if they managed to find a way to get here, it is highly unlikely that they are in optimal conditions. In fact, I want to believe that they are likely very weakened right now."

Standing up, it wasn't as if I didn't realize what she was insinuating, and to be honest, it would be a lie to say that I wasn't looking forward to testing out my new abilities, as well as to see just what the three nations were made of.

"Guess I'll have to move quickly then."

Taking a slight bow in response to my rising from my throne, the slight curves on her body didn't move much underneath the black leather armor.

"Good luck, master. Try not to die."

"..."

****

Three dwarfs were currently walking through the wide open plains of the Dead Valley, and although their bodies were weary and torn, it was nothing compared to the state of their hearts.

Underneath their flexible armors, composite constructs created by using leather and steel in tandem, their hearts were aching due to the loss of their comrades.

They had made it, despite how the emperor had laughed at their leader, Osdrolin, telling him he was crazy, that there was no way that the cave he had found could ever be used as a path to venture through the mountains.

Yet, the dwarf with the red hair and beard had stayed strong, believing in himself and his own research, to the point where others had followed him, convinced by the theoretical evidence he provided.

And he had been right.

Osdrolin had been right all along, for the cave that their adventuring party had explored had indeed served as a path directly connected from Ninburh, a providence as well as a city in the eastern Creria, to the Dark Lands.

However, even that tunnel hadn't been completely safe to venture through. Not just the fact that their journey had taken several weeks to fulfill, with the darkness always putting pressure on their minds, but the tunnel hadn't been devoid of monsters either.

Although it would be laughable to call the arachnids or burrowers that appeared in the tunnel strong, they had been strong enough that the dwarfs had lost half of their party, an unfortunate result of getting attacked in that dark, narrow tunnel.

The one saving grace, the one thing that might be able to make their sacrifices worth it was the fact that they had made it here, they had successfully made it to the Dark Lands without journeying through the recorded paths through the Sands of Time or the Swamp of Malice.

Or, at least they thought they had arrived at the Dark Lands.

Osdrolin, Yargom, and Dhotmur were all researchers at heart, and even though they made their living as adventurers, they had all made their diligent research about the Dark Lands. Therefore, they all knew the stories and myths about the deepest part of it, and although there were no official records about it, it was hard to believe that this place was the Cradle of Animosity.

When doing their estimations by checking the map and calculating the distance they had covered, they knew that this had to be it. The birthplace of the demon king, the catalyst of chaos himself.

Yet, the reason why they hadn't fled was that it made no sense to them.

If this truly was the Cradle, why were all the monsters they stumbled upon so incredibly weak?

So, feeling not just the weight of the bags on their backs, they pressed on, now making their way to the forest that consisted of nothing else than black, dead trees, knowing that they needed proof if they wanted to honor the memory of their comrades.

At this point, Osdrolin's face was stiff with frustration, and anger as well as a tinge of curiosity. A curiosity that he had already learned was a part of himself that he couldn't deny.

Even though they had lost a lot, and even though they were all aware that they might not be able to make it back home, they were all still researchers, practical scholars who always sought more truths. And this was their chance of uncovering them.

Entering the dark woods, with the ground still as dry as ever, an eerie silence arose amongst them. The fact that they had entered a geological location that should have been one of the most suitable for monsters, at least compared to the rest of the area, and yet there was still no sign or sound of any made the hairs on their skin rise.

Their fatigued minds and bodies didn't help much in calming them down, and for the first time in a long time, Osdrolin felt the need to open his mouth.

"We are going back..."

How odd it was that encountering monsters here was the biggest contributing factor in why they dared to venture further, but as soon as there was no monster in sight, only dark trees covering the muddy sky, he was unable to take it anymore. Not only Osdrolin but Yargom and Dhotmur also the same way, simply nodding in accord with their leader's order.

During their retreat, they couldn't help but fall into a job, wanting to get out of the dark as soon as possible, their minds too scarred from the tunnel filled with horrible memories, and it didn't take long until they returned back to the dry plains.

However, that was not all they returned to.

In the sky above them, there was a man hovering in the air, his four wings in black and white spread like a glorious deity of fright. With hair just as black as the wings on his right, and skin almost as pale as the wings on his left, they had no idea what they were looking at.

Though when they saw the blood-red eyes shining under the dark clouds, their faces paled.

"I welcome you, travelers, to my humble abode, and at the same time, I apologize."

Suddenly, a disgusting, slimy black started to emerge from the wings, portioning themselves out evenly in the feathery adornments.

A hundred black orbs were created, sitting comfortably underneath the cover of the wings behind them.

"What is tha..."

*DON!*

The hundred orbs opened up, showing the pupils within them, staring straight into the souls of the sinful subjects.

"AAAAHHHH!"

It didn't take more than a moment of looking into the black and white eyes before the dwarfs were consumed by the dark emotions that were festering their souls, falling to the ground while frantically ripping their hair, scratching the skin on their arms until their skin was shed.

Even when blood was covering their bodies, they kept struggling, kept trying to escape the prison that was their own vessels.

And then, their worlds ended, unable to conquer the darkness of their own minds, as the angel judged their souls, sending them to the afterlife by piercing their bodies with the feathers that symbolized salvation.