Chapter 57&58

Chapter 57: The Sealed Demon King's Castle

Four days later.

The tattered Plantain arrived at the second floating Island and entered the dock. The golden Fairys came out one after another, carrying their luggage and holy swords.

After four days of rest, Nephren condition has improved a lot.

Although she would occasionally hear strangers mumbling in her ears and see places she had never been to and people she had never met in her dreams, at least her physical condition had

improved a lot from the shaky appearance she had been in four days ago.

However, it is only the physical condition that is good.

If left alone, it won't be long before the existence called [Nephren] disappears from this world, leaving only a body. Stepping onto the second floating Island, one of the restricted areas of the floating continent archipelago, Nephren took a deep breath as she looked at the lush trees in front of her. Although she was willing to believe Tohka and didn't think she would lie, and didn't think she was seeking medical treatment in a hurry, it was still a little unbelievable that there was a way to solve the erosion of the previous life.

But anyway, she had no choice.

On this floating Island, there is hope of healing the erosion of the previous life.

She hoped this was true.

"Tohka, we'll leave Nephren to you."

On the Plantain , Chtholly, Ithea, Noph, and Rhantolk did not board the second floating Island. They did not experience any symptoms of erosion from their previous lives, so they did not need to go with Nephren.

What's more, they are now loyal to the Guardian Wing Army. After the mission is completed, they need to return to where they should be to report the mission immediately, and return to the Fourth Fairy Warehouse to

be on standby at any time to participate in future battles.

They had been away from the Floating Continent Archipelago for nearly a week.

During this period, the golden fairies from other fairy warehouses were responsible for the invasion of the Sixth Beast of the Floating Continent Island. Now that they are back, it is time to take up their own work again. Even though they were a little worried, they had to say goodbye here.

"Don't worry, I will take good care of Nephren." Yatogami Tohka patted his chest, "It won't be long before we come back to find you!" "Well, see you then."

"Have a safe trip, Tohka!"

"I hope there really is a way to cure the erosion of the previous life."

"If anything happens, remember to contact us immediately."

Amidst the reluctant farewells, the Plantain turned around at the dock.

As the whistle sounded, the airship, which had been badly damaged in the beast tide, left the Second Airborne Island and headed for where it was supposed to go. If it wasn't for sending them to the Second Airborne Island, the Plantain would have been docked at this time to be repaired.

"Let's go too."

After watching the Plantain leave, Yatogami Tohka took Nephren to the castle of Lord Black Candle. Half a month ago, Suowong brought her here once, so she certainly remembered the way.

Even if I can't remember, as long as I look up, I can see the dark castle sitting on the mountain. "Is that where the Demon King... the Earth God Lord Ebon Candle lives?" Nephren's eyes widened slightly.

Having lived in the Fourth Fairy Warehouse for most of her life, she was obviously shocked when she saw the uniquely shaped building of the castle. The entire castle was pitch black, as if it was made of obsidian, with jagged spires protruding outwards, and many irregular spikes sticking out of the walls. Outside the castle, there was an ominous black fog surrounding it, as if it was pregnant with some kind of evil. Just based on this architectural style, it is slandered by humans as a demon...but it's not really a slander.

"Yes, it is here."

Walking on the blue brick road to the Lord Ebon Candle 's castle, they found something wrong. The lush forest was only in the section far away from the castle.

The closer we got to the castle, the more withered and yellow the trees around us became. It was still spring, but the dead leaves were all over the ground. "What happened?"

Arriving at the entrance of the garden at the foot of the castle, Yatogami Tohka looked inside with half doubt and half caution. The last time she came, the garden was still a very well-maintained garden, and every flower was showing off its bright colors. But within a month, all the flowers in the garden had withered and died.

Even the servants who worked here seemed to have disappeared.

A sense of foreboding came over me.

Seeing the strange scene on the second floating Island, Yatogami Tohka did not hesitate to summon the divine spirit suit and angel. "Nephren, wait here for me, I'll go check the situation first."

Leaving Nephren alone here, Yatogami Tohka stepped up her guard and walked into the garden. The garden was so quiet that not even the sound of insects or birds could be heard.

As she walked along the road, all she could hear was her own breathing and the cRhanging of armor. Did not only the plants wither, but also the living things disappear? Yatogami Tohka eyelids twitched.

Could it be that those two guys had some problems while researching the spirit crystals?

When she thought of this possibility, she immediately quickened her pace, crossed the garden, and came directly to the castle of Lord Black Candle.

"That's strange, there was nothing like this the last time I came here."

Looking at the black fog covering the entire castle, Yatogami Tohka observed carefully. The city gate was also covered by the black fog, preventing anyone from entering, and also preventing anyone from leaving. After observing for a while without any results, Yatogami Tohka placed his hand on it, wanting to see what would happen.

As soon as her hand touched the black mist attached to the city gate, the black mist immediately reacted. "Snap!"

Yatogami Tohka only felt a strong push coming out of the black mist, and was almost knocked away. Stretching her aching fingers, Yatogami Tohka narrowed her eyes.

It looked just as she had imagined. The castle was sealed.

And the one who sealed it could not be anyone else, either Suowong or Lord Ebon Candle . Only the two of them were qualified to create such a powerful barrier, which made her, who was wearing the divine spiritual outfit, feel a slight pain. "Suowong——! Lord Ebon Candle ——! I'm back——!"

Standing at the city gate, Yatogami Tohka tried to shout twice.

But after waiting for a long time, still no one responded.

This made her feel even more uneasy.

"It seems that the only way out is through violence."

Yatogami Tohka eyes gradually became serious, and he raised the Aosha-gong, pouring spiritual power into it. However, as soon as the fluctuation of spiritual power touched the black fog, the black fog that stubbornly refused to let anyone get close automatically dissipated. Yatogami Tohka was stunned.

Is this... a back door left specifically for her?

Anyway, after the black fog at the city gate dissipated, the road ahead was unobstructed. Yatogami Tohka pushed open the gate and walked in.

"This breath…"

The moment she stepped into the castle, she could feel the chaotic and cold atmosphere in the air. It was like walking into the castle of a real demon. As long as she was in it, her body's instincts would consciously reach the highest level. Not only the scene outside, but also the inside of the castle gave her a completely different feeling from the last time she came. Something bad must have happened here.

However, Yatogami Tohka had no intention of backing down.

After all, if something really happened between Suowong and Ebon Candle while they were researching the spirit crystal, she would be the only one in the entire Floating Continent Archipelago who had the ability to handle it.

Yatogami Tohka clenched the sword in her hand and walked step by step deeper into the castle.

Chapter 58 Taboo Experiment

As a former god of the earth, Lord Black Candle's castle is naturally quite large.

Yatogami Tohka explored the complex structure of the castle for a long time. After more than 20 minutes, she finally reached the top floor of the castle, which was also the source of the chaotic atmosphere.

Looking at the door leading to the top floor, Yatogami Tohka felt an extremely strong ominous aura. There was no doubt that the changes in the second floating Island must have spread outward from here. After taking a deep breath and preparing for all possible situations, Yatogami Tohka placed her hand on the door handle. Her hand was wrapped in spiritual power, just like before at the gate of the city, the black mist wrapped around the door handle automatically dissipated when it came into contact with her spiritual power.

"Click."

Pushing the door open carefully, Yatogami Tohka raised her vigilance to the extreme, ready to swing the sword energy stored in the kilometer of killing at any time. The room was filled with thick black fog, and the five black fingers could not be seen when she stretched out her hand.

Just as she was hesitating whether to go in, two lights like ghost lights suddenly lit up in the depths of the dark room.

"!"

Yatogami Tohka raised the Sandalphon without hesitation, and the purple light on the sword became brighter. Just before she was about to chop it down, a familiar duck voice with obvious urgency sounded from the darkness. "No, no, no! It's me!"

Hearing that it was the voice of Lord Ebon Candle, Yatogami Tohka paused and forcibly stopped the sword energy that was about to swing out.

"Why are you scaring me!" There was an annoyed tone in Yatogami Tohka question. But I felt relieved.

She walked in the castle for so long without seeing a single living person, and neither Suowong nor Ebon Candle came out to greet her.

Coupled with the strange scene outside, she thought something bad had happened.

However, Lord Black Candle's voice did not sound weak, so even if something happened, it should not be a big deal. "Ahaha, forgive me."

Ebon Candle also knew that his skull and the soul fire in his eyes were indeed a little scary in the dark, so he did not refute anything: "I can't help it. There was an accident in the experiment. This is the only way."

"What is this black fog used for? I can't see anything in the room!" "It's used to stabilize the curse inside. Sorry, the black fog cannot be taken back for the time being," said Lord Ebon Candle calmly, "Otherwise, the entire Second Floating Island, and even the surrounding floating Island, may be polluted and become a dead Rhan with

no grass growing."

"The curse has spread?" Yatogami Tohka frowned, "What happened? Aren't you and Suowong studying spirit crystals?" "Well... it's a long story."

Ebon Candle hummed in embarrassment, wondering where to start explaining.

But he seemed to think that a brief summary would not make Yatogami Tohka understand, so he decided to start from the beginning. "We are indeed researching spirit crystals, specifically, the refining technology of spirit crystals." Lord Ebon Candle said, "In order to achieve this goal, after you left, Suowong and I immediately

started various experiments and attempts, and obtained a lot of data."

"Hmm...sounds normal?"

"Yes, everything is normal up to this point."

Ebon Candle 's tone was a little annoyed, as if he was recalling something he didn't want to recall: "Until we entered the second phase of the experiment." Before

Yatogami Tohka asked what the second phase of the experiment was, Ebon Candle continued: "The first phase of the experiment was to obtain the structure and power circuit inside the spirit crystal. Although we couldn't analyze the power of the law contained in it, the structure could still be analyzed. It took us two whole weeks to do this. The second phase is to conduct human experiments based on the first phase."

Human experiments?!

Hearing this word, Yatogami Tohka eyes widened.

Spirit crystal and human experiment, these two keywords only have bad endings in her opinion. After all, she knows that in the original work, in order to purify the spirit crystal to a stable state, Takamiya Mio mercilessly used human lives as refining materials.

Tokisaki Kurumi's best friend is an unfortunate person who is used as material.

What Suowong and Ebon Candle needed was only the refining method of spirit crystals, and then use it to purify the soul fragments of the star god. After all, Takamiya Mio's original power and the soul fragments of the star god were not the same thing at all. Yatogami Tohka never thought that these two guys actually copied homework.

The test papers are different, but the answers remain the same.

She gave them the spirit crystal just to let them use it as a reference and then find their own way! "Is it true that only human experiments can get the data of the refining method?" Yatogami Tohka asked in a deep voice, "With your level, you should be able to find other ways, right?"

"Yes... it should be possible." Lord Ebon Candle coughed awkwardly twice, "But you know, Suowong temper is worse than that of the Donkey People. If there is a most efficient option, he will not choose any other method. "

"So, you became his accomplice?"

"No, no, no, you misunderstood." Lord Ebon Candle said quickly, "I'm not the kind of guy who would sacrifice others for my own goals. After all, I'm only slightly interested in the method of refining spirit crystals. Originally, when it came to the second stage, I was ready to quit, but Suowong proposed an alternative plan."

"What's the alternative?"

"He said that he is willing to use his body as material for human experiments." Lord Black Candle's tone was a little complicated, and he sighed deeply: "As I just said, he is a human who always chooses the most efficient method. If we use ordinary orcs for experiments, it will take a few months or even years. Moreover,

considering that orcs have no magic power, even if we really use them as experimental materials, the data we collect is likely to be incomplete."

"So...he used himsSpirit as an experiment?"

Yatogami Tohka tone was somewhat unbelievable.

But on second thought, Suowong seems to be such a person.

Five hundred years ago, he didn't mind sacrificing for humanity.

Five hundred years later, it didn't seem like a big deal to sacrifice again for his ideals. Perhaps, it was precisely because of his indifference to life that he was able to remain unmoved by the sacrifice of the golden fairy. However, now she had no time to think about what kind of person Suowong was. "He put the spirit crystal into his body?" Yatogami Tohka asked anxiously, "Where is Suowong? Where is he now?" "He..."

In the room, Ebon Candle gave a bitter smile.

"He's everywhere."