Angor was glad that Sunders did not scold him further or ask more about “Cassini”.
“Professor, did Mister Vifet come to ask about the situation in the Evernight Kingdom?”
“Right, since you didn’t tell him, which is the right thing to do because you may accidentally spill something you aren’t supposed to tell, or he can trick you into speaking.”
“What did you tell him? He seemed satisfied.”
“He wanted to know two points. The first is whether the parasites will spread to Moxa Westland. The second is what truly brought the dark domes and parasites.”
Sunders’ answers were simple; the affected areas would increase, fast. And it was caused by the Nightmare Realm. He would let Vifet imagine the rest of the details.
He told Vifet about the Nightmare Realm because people would find the cause sooner or later since so many “dragonfly nests” were popping up elsewhere. Wizards might not be able to travel to the Nightmare Realm using these unsecured tunnels, but Prophets would know who made them anyway.
Besides, Lupanya predicted “a calamity worse than the demon invasion”, and the Nightmare Realm perfectly fitted this description.
Compared to the Abyss Plane, which was a place full of unexpected danger that would claim the lives of the unwary, the Nightmare Realm was more like an inescapable nightmare. Slowly, it would haunt those who were trapped in it until they were lost to the void.
Today, the Nightmare Realm was commonly believed to be the deadliest place people ever discovered.
Of course Vifet knew that there was more to be heard from Sunders. But unlike talking to Angor, he couldn’t force Sunders’ decision.
Angor sighed. He wondered when he would reach Sunders’ level so that he could also say no to wizards like that.
Since the Overwatch Base was temporarily peaceful, Angor wanted to finish the second part of the Monument Loop before Sunders urged him to. But Sunders didn’t let him leave.
“Since you’ve about to tackle your limit before the wizard level, you must think about how to arrange your first spell slot now. I mentioned this back at Phantom Island, didn’t I? Have you made a decision?”
Back then, Sunders did not press Angor into a decision because he wanted Angor to take it slow and hopefully create an original spell to use. But this no longer seemed a correct choice when the southern wizarding region would get overrun by demons soon.
“... Not yet, sir. But I have an idea of where to start.”
“It’s an extremely important task for someone about to reach the wizard level. Choose a spell that helps you most. Either an illusion spell or an alchemy spell will do. Don’t postpone it too much.”
Angor excused himself and went into a separate room prepared by Sunders to think about what he just heard.
To maximize his future potential, inventing a new spell was definitely the best choice. But it was clearly not an easy thing to do, which had been proved by many wizards, including Greya.
“Maybe I should try using a manifestation of mystery?”
...
A small figure stumbled out of the inter-level tunnel in the middle of Prominent Forest and collapsed on the ground, breathing painfully.
She looked back at the space rupture above her in fear.
She was pretty used to traveling between different levels these days, but she never ran into such life-threatening danger before.
This tunnel was well-used by all kinds of wizards. It was usually safe and stable. Even if it was occasionally troubled by an unexpected dimensional energy torrent, it wasn’t any big problem because the tunnel was rather short. A quick dash was enough for travelers to pass through.
However, just now, an energy torrent unlike any almost pulled her away from the usual tunnel route and into the void beyond. She would have disappeared if she did not take out her secret tool in time.
“My Kunar Skin... Gone!!!” she cursed between her breaths.
About a century ago, she discovered a humanoid creature in the Loft Plane who looked very similar to a typical human gentleman. As a self-centered, greed-infested egoist who couldn’t stand looking at someone prettier than her, she skinned the handsome creature and put the skin of a toad monster on his body in return.
He died a few days later because his mortal body couldn’t endure such cruel torment. That was when she learned that the creature she killed was the last survivor of an extremely valuable clan, the Kunars.
In other words, her action finally sent the Kunars into total extinction.
Later, she learned that the skin of a Kunar held special properties used for stabilizing dimension energy. If processed properly, it could protect travelers who used unstable plane passageways. By possessing such a treasure, she could successfully use hastily-built plane passageways to move around when other people could not.
But she never thought she had to rely on the treasure when going through a conventional level tunnel that took her to level 3. During the busiest time, people used this thing every day.
She, a level-2 truth-finder, was nothing when faced with that strange energy torrent. Like an uprooted tree, she could have been easily thrown off course and vanished into the endless void beyond the tunnel.
She had to use her Kunar’s Skin again to make sure she reached the end of the tunnel in one piece. But even with the extra protection, she almost lost her life when moving through the short distance, which usually took others one or two seconds to traverse.
When she was only an inch away from the exit, the energy torrent grew in multitudes and grounded the skin to powder.
By casting a dangerous spell, she boosted her body across the gap and successfully made it to the Prominent Forest.
Compared to the great pain and fatigue caused by the spell, she was more upset about losing the valuable skin. She had not felt so defeated in hundreds of years.
If the torrent were caused by a wizard, she would make sure the culprit was obliterated by her own hands. Yet she knew that it was impossible for humans or monsters to create such a deadly incident just to annoy her.
With nowhere to vent out her rage, she screamed into the sky.
Her mad voice echoed in the forest for several seconds.
“Okay, okay... The Overwatch Base is near. I’ll just pick some apprentices and do a liiiittle help with their body design. No one can stop me from having some fun of my own...”
She quickly made plans for torturing people to her heart’s content. She would change their genders, cut up their skins, and stick several ball sacks onto their faces. Then she would inject some demon blood into their bodies and see them suffer.
The ground beneath her suddenly began to quake and interrupted her happy thoughts.
“What the heck? An earthquake?”
She saw the bouncing debris and falling tree leaves almost mocking her and quickly felt her rage returning.
She waited for the earthquake to end. But it only grew stronger and stronger, until the ground in front of her split up.
A deadly aura came out of the fissure, sending a chill down her spine.
The area grew brighter as several puddles of burning lava shot out of the fissure, igniting the trees nearby. This was followed by a giant hand, also covered in flowing lava, which reached out of the crack and tried to climb out.
The burning hand reminded her of a legend she heard before. People said that the Prominent Forest concealed an ancient demon beneath, Manjimania, who had been slumbering in the embrace of lava for thousands of years. Records said that Manjimania was a Demon Lord who was later thrown off its throne. Since it stayed dormant without bothering anyone, wizards simply left it there without waking it up.
The demon had poked its mountain-sized head out of the earth.
“Who... dareth disturb my rest?”