Chapter 485: Stairs to Oblivion (3)
– Ghost Umbra’s Pov –
Few have ever seen this world from the shadows.
To perceive everything through darkness .. taking that ominous color as your sanctuary, turning it into your greatest weapon.
That’s how I’ve lived my life until now.
Thanks to the skill I’ve honed since childhood, I became able to completely erase my presence. When I roam between the shadows, no one ..not even someone stronger than me .can detect me.
As long as I don’t reveal myself, no one can sense my presence.
That’s what I relied on when I slipped between the shadows of the Ultras’ soldiers.
The other side of the world holds its own secrets. The gates that once shielded us from the wrath of the higher beings above have now swung wide open.
The horrors of the past could return at any moment .. no, they may have already returned.
My mission now was simple: uncover what the Ultras were hiding and reveal their true intentions at last.
Hidden in the shadows, I continued to delve deeper and deeper into the heart of the entity known as the Ultras.
At first, I thought they’d concentrate their forces along the shore to repel the Empire’s vanguard. It looked like our chances were slim compared to their overwhelming numbers.
But I was completely wrong. They didn’t stop even after we landed on their lands.
After observing them for a while, I realized how strange they were. Their movements, the way they carried themselves…
They were so strange that I had to ask myself .. are they even human like us?
The deeper I infiltrated, the more I realized how little I actually knew about them.
They followed a strange blood-based system. It seemed their ranks were determined by what they called “the highest purity.”
Humans who could endure the most demonic blood were the strongest among the high-bloods.
And their numbers were vast .. so vast I could barely comprehend it.
It’s safe to say their total force surpassed 100,000 by far, easily outmatching the Empire’s.
But that wasn’t what I came here for.
There was more to uncover, so I kept going forward.
And I wish I hadn’t.
Because as soon as I snuck deeper, I stumbled upon a terrifying sight…
Out there, in the barren plains, I saw massive armies…
Armies filled with Nightmare Creatures .. savage beings who lived only to feed and destroy .. now somehow completely submissive and obedient to the Ultras.
The rumors were true.
They really had tamed the Nightmare Creatures.
The mechanism that allowed them to achieve this was unknown, but I suspected the strange symbols carved into their bodies were closely related.
Still, I didn’t get to dwell on it for long. Because what I saw next made me question everything.
How could I not, when I saw them dragging a colossal being… a Nightmare Lord like the Eight-Legged Lady… a massive creature being led like a tamed animal…
And she wasn’t the only one.
Cosmos. Abyss Watcher. All of the Nightmare Lords were there.
They had really subdued Nightmare Beasts that had reached the SS+ rank.
This was a true catastrophe.
A disaster that Frey and the others had to know about.
My stealth skill kept me completely hidden. As long as I didn’t get too close, no creature could detect me. But some high-tier monsters could sense my presence.
So I made up my mind to retreat.
What I’d seen was enough. The information I had gathered would suffice.
I tried to convince myself of that ..to pull back from the enemy lines.
Even I had struggled to accept this suicidal mission that Frey gave me.
Had I not known him personally, I would’ve thought he was trying to get me killed by sending me deep into enemy ranks like this.
That mysterious friend of mine… he’s changed so much lately.
I suppose everything he’s been through has finally caught up with him.
Thinking of the man he had become—that warrior who performed miracles on the battlefield…
He wouldn’t be satisfied if I returned with something this pitiful, would he?
What he truly wanted from me was something greater. A vital piece of information that could change the course of the war.
He wanted me to risk my life.
“Frey, my brother… I feel like I have so much to say to you. But I’ve never been one to speak much, and I probably never managed to express what’s inside. Still, you asked me to risk my life… and that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
Resolved to press on until the very end—
I dove even deeper into the heart of the Ultras.
From a distance, I intentionally followed the strongest among them .. especially that lord… Gavid Lindman.
Being anywhere near him was like signing your death sentence. Just following him forced me to push all my senses and instincts to their limits, using my Shadow Technique with extreme caution.
I shadowed him and his forces for hours .. hours that turned into days.
Days where my concentration peaked so intensely, blood began dripping unconsciously from my eyes.
Fatigue gnawed at me, but I couldn’t afford to stop.
Even a second of lost focus meant digging my own grave.
I followed him for days.
Many times, I thought what I was doing was meaningless.
But it wasn’t. I realized that when I saw them finally reach their destination.
Gavid Lindman and his forces stopped in front of a massive structure—an enormous building that seemed to serve as some kind of forbidden place.
It was so tall I couldn’t even glimpse the top, but I could clearly feel the overwhelming fluctuations of power radiating from above.
That ominous pressure froze me in place for a long time…
Just what in the world lay at the top of that staircase?
Standing there in the shadows, every cell in my body screamed at me to run—to turn around and flee as fast as I could.
But my legs betrayed me.
No matter how hard I tried, they simply refused to move.
For countless hours, I remained frozen in place, eyes locked on the summit of that monolithic structure.
A war raged within my mind .. should I run? Should I press forward?
What was the right choice?
I stayed rooted there for an eternity, until the strange fluctuations in aura from above began to shift—clear proof that something was about to happen.
Something massive.
Most likely… this was what Frey wanted me to witness.
But reaching this point, continuing any further felt like suicide.
And yet, I couldn’t turn back.
Step by step…
I crawled through the shadows, climbing those stairs.
One threshold after another, slowly drawing closer to the truth.
Whatever awaited me up there… it was ominous.
The pressure from the aura surged to insane levels with every step I took.
To be honest, I wanted to flee. I wanted to retreat.
But I couldn’t. .not really. It was like something else was driving me forward… like someone else had seized control of my body from afar.
I was forced to continue—and so I did.
And then, after what felt like an eternity…
I reached the top.
“…Frey, what kind of curse have you placed on me?”
How the hell did you even get me to come this far?
I wondered.
But whatever spell this was—it ends here. No force in the world could compel me to take one more step now.
Because what stood before me… was beyond comprehension.
At the center of a massive platform, a colossal gate stood .. its surface radiating an ominous crimson glow.
Around it, kneeling in reverence, were dozens of creatures.
Filthy creatures, twisted with horns and monstrous features.
Demons.
All of them… waiting.
Waiting for something.
Something terrible.
And they didn’t have to wait long.
The gate blazed to life .. its light blinding . while the pressure crushed me where I stood.
I don’t know what expression I wore, but I knew for sure… it wasn’t a pleasant one.
The fear gripping me in that moment was unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life.
From within the gate…
A wretched demon emerged .. his body hovering effortlessly above the ground, his red eyes scanning the kneeling hordes with complete indifference.
Four twisted horns spiraled from his skull, and though his frame looked frail, only a fool would believe it.
The pressure he unleashed was beyond anything I had ever encountered.
But even then, he wasn’t the truly terrifying one.
No… it was something else.
My gaze stayed locked on the still-glowing gate, even as the first demon arrived.
Because I felt it.
He was coming.
The one who made my heart sink deep into my chest ..the one who nearly made me scream as my very soul threatened to flee my body.
That aura…
That pressure…
It was greater than anything I’d ever known. More lethal than any beast I’d ever faced.
That… that thing ..
That was death itself.
A colossal body.
Two dark, monstrous horns.
Violet, glowing eyes.
And hundreds of grotesque protrusions sprouting from his flesh.
Strange black lines carved through his face…
He looked terrifying. Majestic. Like a walking embodiment of filth .. of death .. formed in the darkest corner of this vast universe.
The second demon stepped through the gate, a bored look on his face.
“So this is the world our Lord has chosen?”
He glanced around with obvious disappointment, only to be answered by the first demon with a soft, restrained laugh.
“The Lord’s motives have always been a mystery… but the results are always spectacular. This time won’t be any different.”
“I know that much already. I’m the one doing all his dirty work.”
With an annoyed wave of his hand…
The demon released a devastating surge of energy .. erasing every other demon present in an instant.
“How many times must I tell you, geppetto? Armies are meaningless when I am around.”
He growled, as the other demon .. geppetto ..chuckled softly.
“Sorry, sorry. I sometimes forget you inherited the King’s reincarnation soul.”
The two exchanged a few more words—words I heard clearly—and with every syllable, my condition worsened.
Because I realized their identities from what they said.
The 13th-ranked High Demon… Jebito.
And the other…
The one who made my breath vanish—
The 10th-ranked… one of the strongest demons to ever exist…
Zibar.
Knowing who they were only made it all worse.
What stood before me wasn’t just one, but two demons with enough power to end this war in an instant .. with catastrophe for the human side.
And the only thing I felt beyond fear… was despair.
Especially when I saw Jebito glance in my direction with that deranged grin of his.
“So… what should we do about our little eavesdropper over there?”
There was no doubt now.
They had known about me all along.
With a strange pulse of pressure, geppetto erased all of my shadows in an instant, exposing me.
“Hmph… that insect? He’s so weak I didn’t even register his presence.”
Zibar stepped forward .. and with it, a colossal wave of pressure crashed down.
It felt like he’d just dropped the entire sky onto my head.
He advanced slowly, his massive shadow swallowing everything in its path.
Seeing his partner move unprompted, Jebito sighed in mild annoyance.
“Don’t forget, Zibar. ..we’re not allowed to participate in this war. Not yet.”
Their master’s orders were absolute.
But Zibar clearly didn’t care.
“So what if one little insect dies?”
Ah…
So that’s what I am to them.
An insect.
A crawling bug before a whale… a monstrous beast capable of shaking the entire world.
Watching him tower over me, watching my breath vanish.
I realized then and there…
I’m going to die.
Zibar raised his hand.
And I… stood frozen, waiting for the end.
But the end never came.
What happened next shattered all expectations.
Zibar’s hand ..
was stopped.
Blocked by a black sword I knew all too well.
Zeibar’s horrifying eyes narrowed with interest at the intruder who had appeared from nowhere.
The moment he arrived, he unleashed his aura to the limit . miraculously pushing back Zibar’s overwhelming pressure.
“Well, well… would you look at that?” geppetto laughed. “His aura… it’s almost like ours.”
Zibar simply stared at him with growing curiosity.
And as their auras clashed in silence… the first collision occurred.
Between Zibar ..
And the man who had come from the void—
Frey.