Chapter 990

After seeing off the retreating Hagane troops, Fran and the others were once again making their way toward the center of the continent.

Wary of oncoming enemies, our advance was very slow. However, the antidemons and dragonkin we expected never actually showed up, and we closed in on our destination with surprising ease.

The survivors of the second division were stunned by the sight of Trismegistus’ castle. Several began murmuring as we approached, but were left speechless after drawing closer.

Izario was the only one who seemed unmoved.

「What’s that?」

Even Fran was in a state of blank amazement. Her voice was filled with awe as well as admiration.

The sight was so bizarre that it left even Fran in this state just from a glance.

It was a huge castle covering a small hill. Rather than building the castle on top of the hill, it seemed more like it was built surrounding the entire hill.

The outer wall went around the entire perimeter of the hill, with a total length well over 2 km.

It boasted a size and majesty befitting the former royal castle of the dragonkin who once ruled the continent of Gordicia.

The castle walls rose high and sturdy, with so many spires that it seemed overkill. All the roofs were painted blue, and the walls were perfectly white. I guess the window frames were made of gold?

A remarkable amount of beauty was preserved within the magnificent castle. Trismegistus was the only one living in there, which meant centuries with no one taking care of it.

Yet there was not a single stain on the walls. Was there some kind of preservation magic in place here?

However, it was not the cleanliness of the castle surprising Fran and the adventurers.

Near the center of the castle, the so-called “inner citadel”. Something bizarre was growing out of it.

The castle simply looked a little oddly shaped at a distance, but that could not be further from the truth. As we got closer, we made out something like a huge tree growing through the roof of the castle.

Its gray, rugged surface and the way it branched out toward the sky also reminded us of a tree. However, there were no leaves, and the branches started turning translucent the further they went.

All of those branches disappeared eventually, as if melting into the sky. That’s probably why it was difficult to recognize from a distance.

Izario and Frederick were only calm because they knew the situation beforehand. In other words, this was not something that happened yesterday or the day before.

「That’s the castle where Trismegistus lives, as well as the birthplace of the Abyss Eater. And that big tree looking thing is the Abyss Eater itself.」

「…! That tree?」

「Yeah. The Abyss Eater’s core lies underneath the castle. That big tree thing is the body growing out of it. It looks like it’s fading away at the edges because that’s where it turns semi-spiritual.」

The closer I got to the castle, the harder it was to sense the presence of antidemons. Sometimes I felt like they were right next to us, but the next moment, they were nowhere to be found. It’s as if the antidemons were always watching us, despite us being unable to locate them.

I was worried about this phenomenon, but I guess it’s due to the aura emitted by the Abyss Eater’s core.

「If we get attacked by antidemons out here, we can’t detect them in advance. Everyone, maintain max caution. Antidemons can spring up out of nowhere, even right next to us.」

「Got it.」

It’s easy to forget after staying here so long, but this continent is literally inside the Abyss Eater.

Being a special semi-spiritual existence makes it invisible to the naked eye, so its presence is difficult to sense.

But just because we can’t physically touch the Abyss Eater doesn’t mean that it can’t interact with us. That’s where the antidemons come on. The Abyss Eater creates the antidemons in order to devour everything within itself.

And apparently, the source of all antidemons is the core at the base of that giant gray tree thing. No doubt the closer we get to the main body, the more antidemons will be spawned. Even if we can’t see any right now, we can’t be too careful.

That said, if the Abyss Eater has a core, couldn’t someone just kill it by destroying that?

Fran seems to have thought the same thing.

「Why don’t you just destroy the core?」

「Because we can’t. It can withstand even the maximum power of a divine sword, as well as regenerate itself immediately.」

Much to our surprise, there were apparently three divine sword wielders who once cooperated to destroy the core. They failed spectacularly.

「Alpha, Krystalos, and El Dorado, I think? I don’t know much myself, since I just heard it from Trismegistus.」

「And they couldn’t beat it?」

「Apparently.」

Ignis, Berserk, Gaia… We’ve seen the power of the divine swords before our very eyes, on several occasions. I hate to admit it, but each was worthy of the title of “divine sword”.

Three of the blades together, and they still failed to destroy the Abyss Eater’s core? That’s one tough bastard.

「We’d better get moving. There’s an absence of antidemons for some reason, which is making me worried…… This place would normally be crawling with them.」

Like I thought, the antidemons must be being controlled somehow.

In the end, the second division reached the foot of the hill on which the castle stood, without any kind of battle or even any interference.

We just needed to pass through the huge gate in front of us, so we were practically already inside the castle grounds. Maintaining our caution, we took a step into the hill, and I noticed an obvious change in the atmosphere.

A momentary soft gust of air. As if we were exposed to a refreshing breeze blowing through an unsoiled forest, which was completely out-of-place.

It seems like we just slipped through a ward with some kind of purification function. Immediately after that, Fran and the few adventurers who were right behind Izario froze solid.

The adventurers who hadn’t passed through the ward looked at us suspiciously.

But I knew exactly how they felt.

「This… is… the Abyss Eater?」

「Yeah, but don’t worry. It won’t hurt us. For some reason, the antidemons don’t spawn within the castle.」

The wards surrounding the hill must have had the role of containing the Abyss Eater’s influence. Its ridiculously powerful aura now enveloped us completely, as if physically trying to crush us.

As Izario said, the antidemons don’t appear in the castle for some reason.

「……I hoping to give you all a break until everyone got used to the aura, but I guess we can’t just stand around if he came to greet us personally.」

「Greet?」

『Fran. Over there, at the entrance to the castle.』

It seems the pressure from the Abyss Eater’s aura was so powerful that it blocked out her detection senses. However, Izario and I noticed the figure there.

A handsome blond dragonkin man. He simply stood silently at the gate of the castle.

「How nice of you to come to us, Trismegistus.」

「!」

『So he’s Trismegistus!』