Chapter 45: Gloomy Sky
Location: Avvah Castle, Capital city of Se'irim Devildom, Abyssal plane
"Tsk…this is a terrible piece of information."
In pitch black darkness, a seductive voice whispered in displeasure. The owner of the voice blinked her alluring black eyes with heart shaped magenta iris slowly. Those alluring eyes were fixed on one place, where a crystal ball was placed.
Inside the Crystal ball was a little girl with golden hair and eyes, standing on a divine circle. Her cold and ruthless golden gaze was looking straight ahead as if she was seeing through the crystal ball, peering at the very soul of the person who was secretly watching her.
Seeing this, the seductive voice sneered in disbelief.
"Hah! Look at this brat. Where did she awaken holy power without a God? It doesn't seem to be our Divine Mother's doing. So how?" Se'irim sharpened her eyes and smiled more seductively.
Supported by the faint glow of the crystal ball, only a part of the pitch black darkness became dimmed.
A massive bed, filled with various types of beautiful male demons and succubuses came to view.
"Perhaps, it was Angels' doing?" A succubus with black hair seductively massaged her thighs and asked cheerfully. The demon beside her lowered his head and licked Se'irim's toes like a devoted slave drunk in lust.
"No, my darling. That holy power doesn't have any characteristics of Angels or Demons. It's an anomaly." Se'irim giggled.
"Then Your Majesty, are we going to inform the Angels about this matter?" Another succubus asked, kissing her nape. Her hands seductively ran over Se'irim's shoulder blades.
"Why would we? This wasn't in our contract, was it? Those prideful fools can get drunk in their stupid arrogance and get screwed over later."
"Pfft" the succubuses surrounding Se'irim burst out laughing. The sin of Lust also joined their goggles, laughing with the grace of a true queen. Yet her eyes were always on the crystal ball as if they were glued to it.
"That useless toy, Einn got killed so easily. So did the Holy Knight of Zal'kitana. Tsk. Useless toys…I thought they might be usable for more years to come, how infuriating." Those sharp heart shaped eyes turned cold more and more as she watched the scene happening inside the Crystal ball.
"Your majesty…what are you planning to do? If we inform the other Demon kings—heuk!" The black haired succubus suddenly grabbed her neck and collapsed before finishing her sentence.
The air around the bedroom became cold. All other succubus and male demons froze as if they were frozen in time.
"How dare you give this precious opportunity to another bastard?! Only I, the Sin of Lust and Demon Queen Se'irim deserve the glory of capturing this anomaly! Only I deserve divine praise from our Holy Mother!!" A maniacing voice, still seductive but far from calm filled the dark bedroom.
"Do you pathetic worms think I can't even catch a small flying lizard that wasn't even of S rank yet?!"
Clash!!!
Something being broken followed her loud voice. And the screaming of the demons and succubuses buried it deep within seconds.
Snap. Thud. Snap. Thud.
Black blood pooled on the bed, damping blankets and the mattress. Se'irim stood there on her knees. Her eyes clouded with twisted and sadistic pleasure. She smiled seductively once again, licking her blood stained fingers.
"Yes. That's right. If I was the first to get my hand on this anomaly and offer it to my Divine mother, she'll grant me the blessing of strength. I'll be more powerful than those arrogant bastards! Hehehehe~" a sinister light flashed in her half closed eyes.
At that moment, the golden haired anomaly in the crystal ball lost her consciousness. The eternal glow of the divine circle vanished along with it as if it never existed.
"But before that…" Se'irim tilted her head. "Let me give my prey a small gift. Hmmm~ Since this dungeon is under my control…" she snapped her fingers.
And her black and magenta aura seeped into the crystal like slithering snakes. The next moment, the entire crystal was wrapped in her demonic energy.
"Until we meet again, my dear anomaly."
∆ ∆ ∆
Location: Selene Palace, On the moon, Primal plane.
Bjorn glanced at the man sitting on a magnificent throne, looking down at him with an indifferent gaze. He was momentarily shocked to even bow and show respect as since the moment he entered the throne room, he was overwhelmed by the pressure of a ruler.
Bjorn couldn't help but admit that Dragons were the most unmatched in both power and beauty in this world. The man before him proved it true.
It was like he was made of cupid's laughter, Sun's radiance and melted gold.
"Show your respect to the Ruler of Mitherr-ge!" The dark elf standing beside the throne growled like a wolf, his navy blue eyes gleaming in a dangerous light.
'Ah, that must be the so-called personal assistant.'
Bjorn bowed, perfectly following dragon etiquette.
"I present myself before the 49th monarch, His Majesty the Dragon King Elysium. I am Bjorn Mimirson from the Kingdom of Isaz."
"Hmmm…" a low hum, mixed with curiosity greeted him. "Lift your head." Then came the permission to regain his stable posture.
Bjorn looked at the Dragon King, the one who oversees the entire planet and protects the Primal Plane in the shadows. He had so much respect for this man—no, Dragon. Someone who tries to protect peace was always welcome in a titan's ideals.
"By the order of His Majesty the King Ragnar, I am here to offer the Demon lurking around the sudden mixed dungeon gate that appeared near the Lagujarna Lake."
"You mean you are here to dump garbage that cannot be recycled by the order of your King?" A low and unshaken chuckle escaped the Dragon King's lips. Bjorn stiffened without realizing.
"I-that-"
"Well it doesn't matter, Us Dragons are here to protect this world from those rotten garbage anyway." The Dragon King waved his hand leisurely. The tiny crystal gems dangling on the end of thin golden chains made tingling sounds, like a wind breaker, as he made the slightest move.
Bjorn could only bow. He felt his all four palms were drenched with cold sweat. It wasn't easy to face the aura of a Dragon King. A quiet, effortless dominance that made the air heavy with unspoken nobility, crushed Bjorn subtly even now. It was completely different from the tiny Princess he saw back on Isaz.
He wondered how it would feel to face real Dragon Fear for a moment. However he soon abandoned such thoughts. If even the ruler's mere suppressed aura was this much, he was certain he'd lose his life force upon facing true Dragon Fear.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to inform them about the Demon he captured and brought here, a puzzling noise made his presence known.
Bjorn as well as The Dragon King simultaneously looked at the person who dared to interrupt the conversation of an official envoy.
It was the dark elf standing beside the throne. With long plum purple hair and jewel-like unique eyes, the elf did not disappoint the common belief of elven beauty.
But at the moment, his beautiful face was twisted with concern.
Woosh!
At the same time, a mysterious and transparent woman appeared beside Bjorn like a ghost. He flinched and took a few steps back.
Bjorn had heard from his father how advanced and mysterious Dragon technology was. Enough to create intelligent lives that do not actually live and have emotions, only obeying orders. The dragons called them AI, android robots. The most famous creation his father gave an example of was a blue hue transparent woman who oversees the moon on her own.
Since it was his first time on the moon, it was also his first time seeing the said woman. Last time, His Majesty the King himself visited this place and spoke highly of it with his father, Magnus. But seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't help but admire the dragons. His shock was thus justified.
"Selene? What's the matter?" The Dragon King frowned.
"Umm…" Selene glanced at the elf.
The elf sighed as if he was deeply troubled by something as he kept looking at the holographic screen that came out of his wrist watch. He then pushed off all the screen from his view and bowed deeply to the King.
"Your majesty the 49th Dragon Monarch whom I deeply respect." His tensed voice made not only Bjorn but also The Dragon King puzzled.
"Speak." Thus the dignified golden dragon ordered with a firm voice.
"We lost signals and all communication from The Crown Princess and her team a moment ago." The Elf lifted his head and spoke nervously.
The throne room fell into a deep and sunken silence.
∆ ∆ ∆
Location: Void plane.
Kyriaki looked at the gloomy sky with a blank stare.
The vast sky, neither too bright nor dark, looked like the sky before strom. It appeared like it was without any hope or dreams, full of flaws that cannot be fixed. It was like a Rain God's mistake. Not giving rain, and not letting sun rays go through either.
Kyriaki felt like she was that sky. And the unknown Rain God was her own self.
She knew for a fact that the relationship she has with herself is the most complicated. Because she can't walk away from herself, because she can't turn a blind eye to what she had done and what she had gone through for far too long, she felt herself like the gloomy sky, not raining nor giving way to the delightful sun.
To top it all, she had to take responsibility for herself. She has to forgive every mistake. She has to deal with every flaw. She has to find a way to lift herself up even when she is disgusted with herself.
It was exhausting, truly.
Another mistake and she was already experiencing the emotion of self-loathing.
Was it because this was her first mistake in her new life?
She mistakenly believed that if only the enemy was eliminated, everything would be fine. Everyone would be safe and everything would go back to normal.
She thought clearing the dungeon was the end of her meticulously crafted plan.
'How naive. How foolish. I shouldn't have pointed fingers at Kyrios. I'm worse than him.'
She never thought of the possibility of not being able to go back.
Usually, when a dungeon was cleared, the returning portal was automatically transported back to the challengers where it was connected to the Primal Plane. All they had to do was to cross the gate.
Kyriaki was very certain it would be the case in her situation as well, that is; until she opened her eyes to see the gloomy sky of the Void Plane over her head.
She felt pathetic for not considering any uncertainty.
'No, Kyriaki. Your future self is watching you right now through memories. Don't make her scoff at you.' Kyriaki sighed deeply, a bitter smile formed on her pink lips naturally as if to cover her patheticness.
'I mean, who'd have thought they'd end up in the Void Plane out of all places after clearing a dungeon?'
A dungeon is created in a temporary dimension between the Void Plane and the Primal Plane. Hence in a sense, it could be said that they were exciting in three places at once when entering a dungeon.
However, instead of returning to the Primal Plane, jumping straight to the Void Plane was far from common.
Common sense told her that this kind of phenomenon was not normal. Which meant that an outside force had trampled with the dungeon. A force that was powerful enough to control a dungeon and the challengers inside of it, no less. Kyriaki's beautiful eyebrows knitted together, forming a frown.
'If I'm here, then does that mean my teammates are also here?' That revealization broke her free from her self-loathing.
'That's not good news. Void Plane is the home of all monsters. When the five planes were created it was said that the will of Mitherr-ge banished all the monsters to the Void Plane to protect the inhabitants.' Kyriaki's frown deepened as she lifted her upper body like a bolt of lightning.
'There are so many dangerous monsters. Books like
Kyriaki looked around with a stiffened body, only to find out that she was surrounded by blue slimes.
Not just one or two, but nearly a thousand.
Her eyes widened in surprise as if she couldn't believe her own luck.
Some small slims jumped up and down on her head, some rolled down her chest like balls and some rested on her lap like she was a mere resting place.
"Pfft…" all the depressing thoughts were washed away in an instant. Kyriaki's cheeks turned pink as if a watercolor painter's touch. She poked a slime with a soft smile, revealing her hatchling Ego's childlike actions she concealed with superdragon strength before.
'If my life is a novel, people would have called this plot armor or protagonist's buff.'
Kyriaki really couldn't believe her luck.
She lost consciousness before she was transported to the Void Plane. If she was thrown to a nest of some dangerous monster, she'd have lost her life without even knowing she had died.
But out of all places, she was peacefully lying inside a slime nest.
A slime. G- monsters that have no offense skills, defense skills nor supporting skills.
Just…monsters in name only.
A harmless creature. Something that could be called eye-candy of the monster world.
Slimes were a good nutrition for some species, including baby dragons. Kyriaki shook her head, reminiscing about the past where she had to eat all kinds of slimes for breakfast before her 1st growth pace.
But soon, her smile faded like a morning dew after the sunrise.
'Even if I was lucky enough to be dropped on a slime nest, there's no guarantee that the same happened to my teammates.' Her beautiful face hardened with each word she thought of.
A wind blew away her free golden hair. Blue slimes wobbled like water filled therapy balls around her with a bouncy sound. Before long, Kyriaki suddenly froze as if she found the things wind carried were unusual. Then her gaze turned to the direction where the wind came from with a particular expression.
Kyriaki tilted her head, sensing a faint and strange smell in the air.
They were all subtle. But a dragon's heightened senses could catch it nonetheless.
Having accustomed all sorts of smells as a hatchling, she already knew how to differentiate dragons, dark elves and Titans from one another even with closed eyes.
However the smell she caught on was a completely different new realm to her.
Kyriaki tilted her head even more.
The faint smell of fresh soil and peaceful midnight was new to her. And the smell of cool wind and fresh snow that mixed with the former was enough to arouse Kyriaki's curiosity. Not to mention,the smell of blood was strong enough to lure even monsters. There were more smells, but she wasn't skilled enough to put a name to them. Even the ones she identified pulled her to dark rather than light.
But one thing was certain.
In the Void Plane, where monsters lurking and gloomy days continued, those smells shouldn't exist.
They definitely did not belong to monsters.
Like a sprout peeking up from soil after going through so much hardship, Kyriaki slowly rose to her feet. Her eyes had regained her former purpose.
∆ ∆ ∆
"Most demons are pansexual. Especially the bloodline of the sin of lust said to be genderfluid and pansexual from birth."
—From the file