Outside the Tower (1)

[...How could a human even reach this place!?]

Amdusias's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

Without another word, Vikir flicked his sword once.

Then, fragments of crimson aura fall to the floor.

Amdusias's expression changed in an instant.

[That blood is...? Why is that here...?]

The energy of twisting the causality of the Hell Tree was clearly felt in Vikir's sword.

But Vikir did not answer any of Amdusias's questions.

Only.

"Demons kill."

Twice, or even now, he has struck the river that flows through the abyss, and over the course of his three lives, he has only shown a conviction that has become more and more solid.

…pakang!

The tip of Amdusias' horn collided with the edge of Vikir's sword, rupturing the atmosphere.

The void shattered like a pane of glass, sparks falling through the myriad of tiny cracks.

pajig! pajijig!

Amdusias sensed a different ominousness in Vikir's sword.

Unlike when they had clashed before, Vikir's sword had become much faster and more precise, and now it held an eerie aura of some unknown nature.

[Assuming it was the stats from the tower that made it faster and stronger, but... is this eerie feeling also due to its blood?]

Amdusias shouted as he stepped back.

[You! What have you coated your sword with, and where did you get it?]

"Be gone."

Vikir was still dancing.

…Pakang!

Once again, eight strikes flew out to cut Amdusias down.

Amdusias lifted up the unicorn's unique, gigantic horn and struck them all away.

Jiiing-!

However, it was not possible to block all the slashes.

As the crescent-shaped strikes shattered and their fragments scattered, they inevitably left tiny cuts all over Amdusias's body.

And the shards of aura dug into the wounds.

[Huh?]

Amdusias felt his vision blur for a moment.

For a moment, a strange vision flashed before Amdusias eyes.

A swamp of blood and flesh, a mountain of bones, an atmosphere drained of mana, a giant mushroom cloud rising over the distant horizon.

...And an endless, barren desert.

...A huge tower rising in the middle of the desert.

...An old man in black walking lonely and alone toward the tower.

Each vision pierces Amdusias's mind, fragmented and broken.

[What, what is this?]

Even the mighty Amdusias was bewildered.

Strange things kept popping into his mind as the unknown substance that bent the laws of cause and effect seeped through his wounds.

Seeing it, Vikir was convinced.

'...There is something in Piggy's blood.'

I don't know what Amdusias is hallucinating, but I do know this.

Piggy's blood is poison to demons, and it's enough to distract a Demon King once.

It's unclear how the causal chain is twisted and the demons are struck, but it's enough that it happens.

Vikir gathered his strength once more and prepared to strike.

However.

[Oooh! You think I can suffer any more?]

Amdusias began to counterattack as well.

Tsutsutsutsutsutsutsuts...

The nightmares in the Hell Tree turned into black energy and began to be absorbed by Amdusias.

He glared at Vikir as he sucked the black energy into his mouth.

[You see, all the negative emotions exuded by the challengers of this tower become the nourishment for me, this is Hell Tree].

All the negative energy emitted by those who have been forced into the tower.

Emotions such as sadness, grief, anger, screams, feelings of betrayal, hatred, and inferiority will all be fed to Amdusias.

[I'll eat your emotions too].

"Emotions. Do I have any of those left?"

[As one who has stepped into the realm of the Supreme, I can see clearly into even the deepest unconsciousness. Bluffing doesn't work].

Amdusias's eyes glowed, and he raised his horns, pointing them at Vikir's chest.

[Your fear, your anger, your sadness, all of your negative energy will become my strength].

At the same time, Amdusias began to gallop.

The gallop of a ghost horse. It laid a straight black path on the ground.

It galloped directly into Vikir's mental world.

* * *

…Thud!

Amdusias stamped his hooves on the ground.

Amdusias is as adept at entering the minds of others as he is at drawing them into his own.

Amdusias looked around.

His vision was obscured by parched black soil, tiny dead trees, scorched earth, and smoky plumes of fire.

[Hmm. For a human, you've got quite the interior].

Amdusias walked forward through the smoke and fog for a while.

Finally, he saw a vague shadow through the thick atmosphere.

It was a large stone statue, weathered by the passage of time and no longer in perfect shape.

It was chipped here and there, but its face was still recognizable.

[Hugo and Osiris... The Iron-Blooded Swordsmen are the Patriarchs and Young Patriarchs of Baskerville. Hmm, for a statue of this size to have such a large presence in its mind, it must have some family feelings of its own].

Amdusias was judging the presence or absence of emotion by the size of the statue, which was quite large.

The bigger the wound, the bigger the emotion, the bigger the representation.

…Thud!

Amdusias stomped his massive feet, crushing all the giant trees and boulders in his path.

[It seems to be quite large for a mere mortal's mental world. I can see some pretty big beings...]

With all the smoke and fog, it's hard to tell exactly how big this place is or where you are.

But in the end, it's the mental world of a boy not even twenty years old.

If it's that big, how big can it be, and if it's that desolate, how desolate can it be?

[Laughs].

Amdusias snorted and stepped forward.

Suddenly, Amdusias saw a very steep uphill slope ahead of him.

The terrain looked like a mountain, but the smoke and fog made it impossible to determine its exact height.

[High, at least, in the insignificant human inner world].

Still, if they got high enough, they might be able to see their surroundings.

Amdusias began to walk up the slope of the mountain that appeared before him.

… thud! … thud! … thud! … thud!

Amdusias's hooves pounded the ground.

Parched, crumbling earth rushed down, causing landslides, but Amdusias used his massive frame to crush them all.

Amdusias continued to climb the mountain that must be somewhere in Vikir's inner world.

[...This mountain is probably the highest mountain in the world.].

Amdusias felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

A mountain where the leaves of every tree had been burnt to a crisp, the soil had dried up, the insects had died, and the beasts had been reduced to bones.

The mountain was unexpectedly high. So high that even the mighty Amdusias was momentarily exhausted after climbing it.

[A mountain in the mental world is usually a deposit of emotions, such as responsibility, burden, or debt, but... how much emotion is this human piling up?]

Amdusias muttered in incomprehension.

No matter how much power he has, he's barely a teenage boy, isn't he?

Does he carry these feelings inside of him because of how much he's lived, or how much he's suffered?

Amdusias continued to climb the mountain of emotions as he questioned himself.

He could not see the peak because it was shrouded in smoke and fog, but he could intuitively feel that the summit was just around the corner.

Amdusias continued to climb.

...He couldn't tell how much time had passed.

Soon, Amdusias was at the top of the mountain.

The end of the mountain, pointed like an awl. There was nothing there, just nothing.

Amdusias lifted his head and looked down the mountain, but there, too, he could see nothing, shrouded in smoke and fog.

Just an empty summit.

Amdusias measured the height he had climbed and opened his mouth in disbelief.

[I don't know how a single human could have accumulated this much negative emotion, even a centurion who's crossed the line of fire hundreds of times wouldn't have this much...]

Amdusias had to admit, Vikir was right.

To be able to build a mountain this high in your mind is usually a sign that you're not human.

[But even then, a human would be no match for the power of me, Amdusias].

Amdusias snorted and looked down the mountain.

He would find Vikir's mouse-sized self hiding somewhere and destroy it.

Then.

Kugung-.

The entire mountain trembled lightly.

A storm from nowhere began to sweep the smoke and mist around the summit.

And in that moment, Amdusias saw.

[...!]

The land stretched endlessly beneath the mountain.

The vast horizon stretched out so far that even Amdusias dared not guess its end.

But it wasn't just the vastness of the land that took Amdusias' breath away.

It was the bloodshed.

Swamps of blood and flesh. Mountains of bones. Rivers, lakes, and oceans of blood.

Demon and human corpses tangled together to form hills and valleys, ravines and canyons, and everywhere boiling lava and sulfur erupted in fountains.

Vast numbers of demonic beasts swarmed and devoured the corpses, and everywhere there were wails and cries of anguish, and endless, endless streams of demons.

Amdusias shuddered at the sight of this vast chain of chaos, this vortex of hatred.

[How can this be in the minds of humans!]

A terrifying battlefield, the likes of which even Amduccias, a Demon King, had never experienced.

The world of human and demons. The horror and cruelty of this place have gone beyond the limit.

A scene even more brutal and terrifying than hell unfolded here.

[A human will never see such a scene in their lifetime! Even I, a Demon King, have never seen such a battlefield, and yet here it is, in the mind of this child, a child who has barely lived a moment!]

It was unbelievable to see it so clearly, so vividly.

Just then.

…Kugung!

The mountain vibrated once more.

[...?]

Amdusias looked up in surprise.

And then, something even more devastating came into view.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

A mountain.

Flanked by mountains even bigger and taller than the one Amdusias had just climbed.

Like, there were four more!

The mountain Amdusias had climbed with his energy was only the smallest of them all.

Awe. Shivering. Amdusias froze in place, unable to speak.

As mentioned before, the mountains of the mental world represent the burdens of the heart, such as debts, responsibilities, and missions.

How can a human being, a young boy in his teens, have five of these mountains?

And in such a terrible, terrifying world!

Amdusias stammered.

[No, no, no...]

But he could barely finish his sentence.

kung!

The five mountains shook violently, then suddenly began to surge upward.

[???]

Amdusias soared upward without even knowing what was happening.

And soon, he realized a terrifying truth.

ku-gugugugu...

This great mountain range, five peaks, was coming toward Amdusias now.

It was carved with a swirling pattern at the end.

Amdusias muttered in despair as he looked at the five gigantic mountain peaks, filled with smoke, fog, and fire, gathering in one place.

[...fingers?]

That's right.

A large body revealed beneath five huge mountain peaks. The source and core of the mental world.

The age of destruction. A returner who holds a piece of the terrible universe in his heart.

Vikir's own self had risen.