“Did he find out anything?” asked Madelyne.
Brofen shrugged. “Nope. The only thing Mister Monkey said is that we can’t settle down at Frozen Ruins. We may pass, but not stay for too long. I don’t know, maybe he did find a problem. He just didn’t want to tell us.”
Madelyne frowned. “This is why you mentioned there’s more danger? Nothing you told us is helpful though.”
“Actually, I already mentioned another important point. You should have noticed if you heard what Gucia’s friend told us.”
Angor spoke up, “Do you mean the strange hallucination Gucia heard during his... insanity?”
Gucia exclaimed that he heard a voice that was calling him. Such detail should be an important clue. Yet Sennefer did not mention or question this matter at all, which meant it was likely that the Moonfrost Union knew what truly happened to Gucia.
Brofen nodded. “Yup. The union refers to such a condition as ‘being marked by the unknown’. We did relevant research before, and we had a conclusion. Anyone who has such a ‘mark’ cannot escape the fate of going missing. And before this happens, they will hear a voice calling out to them.
“Later, we managed to dig out more details from the victims when they were still with us. Apparently, they saw a man covered under a black robe made from raven feathers. Then we heard it from the natives that they probably saw Crondo, the ‘Herald of the Bottomless Abyss’. Or the God of Death, as believed by certain religions in the Abyss.
“We don’t know where the ‘bottom’ of the Abyss is. For now, we can only assume that it refers to deeper levels where nobody has set foot in. This Crondo figure is very likely working for a Grand Demon who rules over death.”
Brofen took out a bottle of black rum and gulped.
Madelyne held her chin. “Are you saying Frozen Ruins has connections with a Grand Demon?”
“Who knows?” Brofen spread his hands. “One thing is for sure, that this place isn’t safe to stay. Well, even Mister Monkey told us so, which means we’d better listen to him.”
“So there are indeed ruins hidden somewhere?” asked Angor.
“Maybe, or maybe not.” Brofen gave Angor a curious glance. “Either way, I suggest that you stay away. Knowing something you’re not supposed to know can get you into trouble, son.”
The Moonfrost Union kept what they found out about the Frozen Ruins confidential just because they didn’t want too many curious wizards to come this way. While it was true that curiosity was crucial when studying wizardry, carelessly poking one’s nose in the secrets of the Abyss could easily get them killed.
No matter how insignificant a matter appeared at first, it would become dangerously complicated when a Grand Demon was involved.
The three of them silently reached a tacit agreement that they should change the subject.
Though this wouldn’t stop Angor from keeping the new knowledge he heard in mind. At the same time, he truly admired the brave predecessors who successfully founded all the establishments for mankind to lounge in such a dangerous realm.
Next, Madelyne and Brofen talked over random affairs that greatly intrigued Angor. Though their conversation did not last very long because they soon lost interest in talking when the team fully left the territory of Frozen Ruins.
Frozen Ruins was free from monsters thanks to the unknown threat protecting it. Now, they would be expecting trouble.
Madelyne suddenly asked a straightforward question, “There’s a Baphomet showing up at level 1. Is the Moonfrost Union starting their big move?”
Brofen looked away. “I’m a researcher. I know little about other businesses.”
“Yeah, right. Humph.”
“Come on, what the union is doing doesn’t concern you, right? You didn’t come to the Abyss to work with us anyway.”
The journey continued on with everyone’s spirit badly tensed up. Thankfully, they did not run into anything on their way to the Gray Lamination Zone, apart from several low-level wandering monsters that were easily wiped out by apprentices.
“Now this makes more sense.” Brofen looked relieved. “We’re taking a route we’ve been using for many centuries. That Baphomet must be a terrible mistake. Is it because Sennefer is with us? We have someone too strong among us, so this world seeks to balance it out by sending a powerful demon upon us? Then Sennefer got weakened, which nullified the adverse karma as well? Hmm...”
Angor chose to ignore Brofen’s illogical rambling when he had another question in mind.
What is this “Gray Lamination Zone”?
From what he had read about the Abyss, he knew that human explorers usually stayed within the first three levels, also called the “outer levels”, where common abyssal monsters and other native creatures dwelt.
The front line they were heading to was a temporary settlement just outside level 4. As the books explained, one of the methods for traveling between different levels was to use a Gray Lamination Zone. But they never mentioned what exactly would happen.
The first thing Angor felt upon arriving was that the energy in the air was terrifyingly active, which would easily facilitate the occurrence of space ruptures. But for some reason, the space around them remained stable as if everything was held under control.
The boosted energy had other visible effects. For example, the plants growing beneath looked vibrant than those around Frozen Ruins. They wouldn’t be here if the area was constantly troubled by space ruptures.
“This looks like a nice place for wizards who study dimension-related arts...” Angor muttered.
Madelyne heard him and explained, “Not quite. You only saw the rich dimensional energy all around, but you didn’t know that the energy is being regularized by the Transition Gate—common wizards will not be able to use it. High-level wizards can try to forcefully bend the rules, but they’ll risk damaging the gate by doing so.”
Angor scratched the back of his head. “Is this ‘Transition Gate’ going to send us to level 2?”
“No. We’re directly jumping to level 3. Each level of the Abyss is a large expanse no smaller than the southern wizarding region, and there are many ways to travel between levels. The gate we’re using this time is meant to get us to level 3, for convenience.”
Madelyne pointed to a high mountain ahead of them. “You’ll see the gate once we move past there.”
Angor already felt a dominating aura getting more and more intense as the team moved. It appeared very similar to the world’s consciousness.
There, on the other side of the mountain, a “gate” quietly floated in place.
Angor thought “Transition Gate” was a metaphorical name used to describe the function of a tunnel. He wasn’t expecting to see an actual gate—it was a giant door about dozens of meters high, quietly fixed among clusters of clouds in the middle of a valley.
The black and glossy surface of it had many strange markings carved on it, such as half-demons carrying weapons and torches, hunting gargoyles and colossal dragons.
Above everything and at the tip of the door was a single, gigantic eyeball quietly gazing down.
“This, is the Transition Gate.” Madelyne failed to hide her amazement. She had been here many times, and each time she did, she would feel astounded by the sheer magnitude of the structure.
Angor though, after getting over the initial shock, just found more questions filling up his head.
“Who built this thing? Why did its aura appear so much like the world’s consciousness? Did the ‘abyss’ consciousness’ put it here?”
“We don’t know what this door originally meant,” answered Madelyne. “Researchers found out that it was a Grand Demon from ancient times who created it. That eye above us is a unique symbol representing this demon.”
“Precisely,” Brofen added. “Note that there are many Transition Gates scattered all about the outer levels. However, they all have this mark.”
“Are-are we going to alert this Grand Demon then?” Angor grew worried.
“That won’t happen. The demon we mentioned has become past tense in history.”