Stray

Across the cave, the bright light stunned everyone’s eyes. Nemo silently drew a cold breath.

They had been deep into the Abyss for more than three weeks, and he had sensed many strange landforms, but it was the first time that he saw the weird scene in front of him so intuitively with his eyes.

The fire came from flames and magma, dyeing the entire space red. The exit of the cave was connected to the “ground”, but those giant rocks didn’t extend forward normally.

They seemed to be standing in a broken glass tube, with fragmented ground and terrifying cracks on all sides. Most of the rocks hung quietly in the air, like floating mountain peaks, occasionally colliding and sticking together.

Orange-red lava and flames, dark rocks, and endless smoke— They couldn’t see the boundaries of this space, except for the cave they had entered. As the effect of the fire waned, dark filled in all direction covered with smoke and dust.

But they could see the demons wandering among the giant rocks.

It was like a chaotic ocean of scorching air, hot rocks, and smoke. Nemo could see a few deadwood jellyfish floating slowly in the air in the distance. A little closer, there were a few stout fleshy tentacles— or feet— wrapped around the largest floating rock mountain near them. Their huge bodies extended into the smoke in the distance, making it impossible to see the entire picture clearly.

Small demons climbed on the surface of the rock, and countless monsters came and went, roaming around.

Nemo turned his face and looked to the other side— A huge brown-yellow pupil was facing them, and he couldn’t see where the boundary of the eyeball was. The honeycomb-shaped pupils that didn’t have any white in it, turned around and the complex pupils dilated and shrank uncomfortably.

Not to mention a few months ago, the current Nemo still felt soft in the knees. Nightmares weren’t enough to describe the scene in front of him. He preferred to believe that he was maliciously infused with hallucinogens that paralyzed his brain.

Oliver squeezed a sigh from his throat and wiped his face fiercely.

Nemo understood his mood very well. Speaking in terms of only appearance, in front of this compared to the previous Black Chapter test when they encountered the Seymour Worm, that could be considered fresh and cute.

Right now, the great Demon King wasn’t really looking forward to returning to his hometown. Rather, he had already started hoping to return to the surface.

“Always check the condition of your gravity pendulum at all times. It will help you find the gravity direction. Confirm at least once a minute during movement. Don’t take any chances. Newcomers, don’t look at that eye! The most likely way for you to die here is to fall to your death.” Commander Rugo was unmoved by the distorted scene in front of him. “Keep moving!”

The expressions of the two people from Horizon were also calm.

Nemo wasn’t even as calm as Debby, who was barely twenty years old. Nemo shook his head hard, trying to regain his sobriety, and fiddled with the gravity pendulum in front of him. It was like a metal ring that was evenly cut into four parts. Four metal arcs of the same size floated around his waist and abdomen, turning as his body moved.

At the center of each arc hung a crystal pendant on a thin metal chain. The pendant made a sharp conical shape, pointed downwards. These pendants didn’t sway as he advanced, but rather move slowly, pointing firmly in a certain direction.

Before he could finish speaking, a scream came from the front of the team. Godwin didn’t move this time. The fastest reaction was from Debby— The girl neatly flicked her staff and dragged back the person who was tilting up and flying in the air.

No, that wasn’t correct. Nemo looked at the struggling figure— It wasn’t “flying” upwards, but rather “falling”.

“I said, don’t take chances. Why do you think this place is called the Gravity Maze?” The one-eyed dwarf screamed.

“If you rush forward like fools, you may step on thin air and fall to your death on some rock. The direction of gravity here is chaotic! Don’t you understand the lingua franca? It’s chaotic!”

The Mooney knight who had the accident panted heavily. In the orange-red light of the fire, his blue face could still be seen.

“This is the last time I emphasize this matter.” The one-eyed dwarf coughed and stopped making a sound.

After that short episode, the team was a lot quieter. People were constantly focused on the gravity pendulum direction and their advancement speed was comparable to that of a wild duck waddling in the grass.

The direction of gravity was chaotic, so they had to move as slowly as ever. The members of the reconnaissance team followed the instruction of the gravity pendulum to climb up and down the rocks. Not to mention the physical exertion, just the frequent reversals of their field of vision was enough to make people uncomfortable.

At present, the reconnaissance team finally found a relatively flat floating rock platform and began take a short rest.

The air was hot and muggy making even the talkative Jesse shut his mouth. He simply put a protective shield on the fuller goat to prevent the important member of Tumbleweed from getting too hot that it would turn into the team’s meal in advance, while Adrian Cross was by Jesse’s side never relaxing his vigilant as he gripped tightly on his bow.

The back of the knight’s neck was exposed, and the blood marks of spiritual sacrifice looked fresh.

The two members of Horizon were at the front of the team, guarding the one-eye Rugo, who had been commanding the team this whole time. Oliver held his Rest in Peace in his hand guarding one side of the reconnaissance team expressionlessly as he tried his best to ignore the huge eyeball that was looking at him.

“That’s a rock whale, which should be docile,” Nemo muttered in a low voice, mustering up the courage to look at the giant eye again. “…Theoretically.”

“What about Witherspoon?”

“It is the nearest superior demon to us, and there is another one farther away. Even in the Abyss, superior demons are not everywhere. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried… wait, Nemo.” Oliver’s voice sank suddenly. “There are people over there.”

Nemo was trying to stuff a piece of dried meat into his mouth, and when he heard Oliver’s warning, he stopped subconsciously. The hand holding the jerky turned around and stuffed it into the sullen gray parrot on his shoulder.

There could be no one here.

Adventurers who usually want to collect some rare minerals or hunt specific demons would operate within ten kilometers of the abyssal passage. Without an experience leader, going to a depth pass twenty kilometers would purely be a death sentence. Even the adventurer who witnessed the large teleportation array being transformed by magic this time was just lost and accidentally ran into the depths of around thirteen kilometers.

But Nemo didn’t immediately refute Oliver.

His lover grew up in an inn full of adventurers, and Nemo believed he was well aware. He gripped his staff and looked in the direction Oliver was pointing.

Oliver was right.

The big stone platform where they were located was connected to another rock mountain. In the smoke of the flames, several figures were approaching staggeringly. Nemo hadn’t noticed this faint breath before, but since the target was delivered to his eyes, the great Demon King instantly recognized what it was.

“Kenner’s Dolls.” Nemo’s scalp exploded. “Ollie, hurry up, tell everyone to stand back. We’ll deal with them at once.”

Although there were still doubts on his face, Oliver didn’t delay. He stretched out his hand almost in the next second, and a bright blue warning rune came over the team.

The Gravity Maze wasn’t a suitable place to retreat quickly. The reconnaissance team shrank rapidly and was surrounded by Godwin’s protective shield.

“Wow, Nemo, this is the first time we have fought side by side,” Debby said happily, and then took a breath unabashedly. “Praise Zenni, Kenner’s Dolls… Fortunately, you found them in time.”

The girl turned her head and erected another protective wall on top of of Godwin’s protective shield.

“Requesting mage support.” After preparing for the battle, Debby asked in a clear voice. “Knights, please also pay attention to your surroundings. This thing will never attack from one direction— We will fight the main force, and we’ll have to trouble you with the rest.”

Oliver stood beside Godwin uncomfortably, half nervously and half curiously looking at the “figure” in the smoke. After seeing his opponent clearly, his curiosity suddenly dissipated.

Kenner’s Dolls only “look” close to human, but after seeing them clearly, they weren’t like humans at all. Their torsos were thinner than normal humans, their limbs were slender, and their joints were closer to insects and even had hard spines. The organ that should be their head was faceless, with dozens of irregular holes stack on top of each other. The hollow “skull” swayed around, loomed, and created an audible and creepy impact.

“There are too many. Did we invade their territory or…?” Oliver gritted his teeth. “Maybe retreating is more effective.”

“No, they are just hungry.” Nemo glanced at Godwin who was fighting beside him, raised his staff, and the dark shadow instantly threw a dozen demons out. They fell along the chaotic gravity and into the void.

“And under the command of something. They don’t usually avoid so skillfully,” Adrian added with certainty.

The intermediate demon moved extremely fast. They landed on all fours, rushing forward like a herd, and their movements were extremely flexible. Fighting with these creepy things now was as difficult as using a heavy sword to chop a feather flying in the air.

Nemo kept using his black shadows to sweep them away, but he didn’t know where they kept coming from, so he couldn’t brush them off cleanly. Oliver waved his Rest in Peace mercilessly slashing at the brown-yellow vicious body. The liquid spewed out of the monster’s severed limbs exuded an usually unpleasant stench. Jesse’s condition didn’t seem to be very good. He stood behind Adrian and threw a poisonous dagger at the demons.

Even after so much experience, the gap in experience was still obvious…

The knight drew his long bow and continuous shot arrows. One arrow could shatter the heads of up to three demons. Godwin’s actions were equally decisive as every move he made was fatal. Debby, who was beside him, attacked for a while before deciding to adjust her direction and instead supported Godwin wholeheartedly.

The fighting and roaring behind them were also endless. Debby was right, this thing didn’t intend to attack them from one direction at all.

Nemo had done his best to erase them, but as a result, all his efforts were as ineffective as trying to dry a table on a rainy day. The Kenner’s Dolls were good at concealment and their nests were hidden in the cracks of space. He couldn’t find where their lair was.

They must figure out where these things were coming from as soon as possible.

If this continued, while their personal safety wouldn’t be an issue, the object they wanted to protect wouldn’t last. Considering the overwhelmed stone platform under his feet and the fragile human reconnaissance team behind him, Nemo didn’t dare go too far.

Destroying the lair first was his only choice.

“Dylan!” Nemo raised his voice. “Can you find their lair? I feel… I can’t see it!”

“Concealment will not make it disappear.” Jesse rotated the two daggers in his left and right hands, beautifully splitting the two demons who came forward. “Use snacks, Mr. Light! …Oh, my clothes are all dirty.”

Nemo gritted his teeth and knocked dozens of demons into the air. “Ollie, help me fend them off for a while.”

After receiving the affirmation of his lover, Nemo quickly took a step back and closed his eyes. This time he really shed a cold sweat.

The Kenner’s Dolls nest— If it was a dim star dot that was compact together, it was now blurred as it kept jumping around in the starry sky. He only knew that it was nearby, but he couldn’t find the exact location. More trouble was still behind. For some reason, Witherspoon was moving at full speed in the direction where they were.

If Witherspoon was commanding these things…

Tumbleweed would be fine, and they could also protect the two members of Horizon, but the reconnaissance team were too fragile that it would only take Witherspoon a moment to kill them all.

The Gravity Maze was extremely unsuitable for rapid escape, which was definitely calculated by the opponent.

Why did Witherspoon come here if it sensed the aura of the Demon King? If the other party was coming for him…

“Ollie, I may need to leave the team for a while,” Nemo said quickly, taking the soft parrot off his shoulder. “Bagelmaurus is not in very good condition. Please look after it.”

Attracted by the flesh of a superior demon who had no fighting spirit, a doll who was attacking Ollie stretched out its sharp claws and poked straight at the parrot. Nemo subconsciously guarded the paralyzed parrot in his hand. The claws stabbed in his arms piercing the flesh, creating a bloody wound.

The demon’s claws were immediately broken, and the bloody wound healed quickly. The dark shadow directly threw the demon who was trying to attack again away.

“Witherspoon is approaching. I know the approximate direction of the lair, and your sword should be able to push this stone platform away. I… may use some more destructive moves, you have to take everyone away.”

Taking a careful look at Godwin’s side, Nemo’s voice became even lower.

“But if you are seriously injured.” Oliver knocked down a few more demons, his voice hoarse. “Remember the last fight with Witherspoon? In case you return to that state… I mean in case.”

This was the Abyss, and no one knew whether the so-called law based on “cognition” would temporarily change his mind and drag Nemo back to the bottom of the Abyss.

“I know,” Nemo said in a deep voice, “Believe me, I won’t hurt like last time.”

“Can’t you let out your aura?”

“I will try it in a while, but flesh is not the same thing as the body. Witherspoon knew that I… Well, it’s still rushing over, so maybe it’s prepared.”

“I see, I will go with you.” Ollie’s tone had an air that couldn’t be rejected. “Bagelmaurus can follow Jesse.”

“No.” The gray parrot made a faint protest.

“Don’t be capricious!” The two of them bowed their heads and roared together.

“I’m curious.” The grey parrot’s eyes glided around the blood on Nemo’s arm. “Why do you two always like to treat me like a parrot?”

The two members of Tumbleweed kept fighting demons while trying to express their bewilderment with their facial expression.

“I’ll go,” Bagelmaurus whispered. “I am also a superior demon.”

“You really are. But what you have here is only a piece of flesh, and Witherspoon has a complete body. Even if you have my blood, this is too risky.”

“I know!” The gray parrot cocked its feathers and raised its voice. “I have a brain. I have had enough of you bastards looking down on me! Listen, Light, I will vomit most of my flesh in a moment. You throw it in that direction—”

It used its bird wings to point in the direction.

“I will leave a little bit of flesh to ensure the temporary survival of this body. Don’t worry!”

“If you want to waste your flesh in this way and let consciousness return to your body…” Nemo’s throat is a little dry.

If a superior demon wanted consciousness to return to its body, it must destroy or abandon most of the flesh transported to the surface, making the flesh unable to hold consciousness. After returning to the body, the separated flesh could no longer be used.

This part of the power was similar to the “admission ticket” of the surface playground and couldn’t be recycled. For the kind of superior demons that aren’t very powerful, each share of power was extremely precious. Considering the difficulty of sneaking to the surface, they were more inclined to use this piece of flesh to possess a body for a long time, or at worst, bounce around from body to body slowly consuming their flesh.

Almost no demons would take the initiative to destroy their own flesh, just like no humans would spend a lot of money on a dinner party and throw it in the trash after taking a bite.

“Who’s going to waste it? Who’s going to waste it?” Bagelmaurus flapped its wings in anger. “Have you forgotten what I am! Throw it away when I tell you to—”

“Nemo!” Oliver reminded loudly.

Others may not be able to detect it, but he and Nemo were very clear that the dolls were attacking faster, and Witherspoon was getting closer to them.

The grey parrot raised its head and looked at Nemo solemnly, then closed its eyes and lay down on the ground.

A purple-black piece of flesh diffused from the parrot. It squirmed and gathered together, and then rolled aside with a grunt. The parrot on the ground closed its eyes tightly. Its heart was still beating weakly, but the breath of life had been reduced to a minimum.

There was no time to hesitate. Nemo waved away the gathered demons and carried the soft parrot’s body into his pocket. Oliver picked up the piece of meat and threw it towards the place where Bagelmaurus motioned.

The piece of flesh quickly disappeared into the void.

“What’s next?” Hearing the cracking of the protective cover behind him, Oliver bit his lip and retreated in the direction of the reconnaissance team.

“Believe in it, probably.” Nemo looked ahead nervously.

Witherspoon was coming soon.

A monster with six claws appeared from the smoke. It was larger than all the rocks and mountains they had encountered along the way. In terms of appearance, it had no fur, and its epidermis was covered with thick keratin. It also had no neck, and its bat-shaped head was directly embedded in its body. The members of the entire reconnaissance team piled together wouldn’t be enough to match the size of one of its teeth.

The one-eyed dwarves in the reconnaissance team screamed in unison as they didn’t expect a superior demon to come into the Gravity Maze to trouble them. The two dragons that were sweeping demons at the end of the team rose into the air, no longer worrying about the way forward and returned to their original shape visibly to the naked eye, ready to sacrifice their lives…

Suddenly, a serpentine demon that no one had ever seen came out of the smoke and dust.

Its head was even a bit bigger than Witherspoon. The countless eyes on the edge of the flat snake’s body flashed red, and it quickly entangled Witherspoon, like an anaconda strangling a spotted hyena. After restraining the enemy, the flat snake split its unusually huge mouth and bit Witherspoon’s body in one bite.

Purple-black blood spurted out like a waterfall.

Witherspoon roared and struggled desperately. Two forces belonging to the superior demon broke out at the same time.

Without command, the dolls instantly gave up this thankless battle, but the current reconnaissance team didn’t have much mind to worry about them anymore.

The two members from Horizon turned pale and turned their offense into defense as they added more layers to the protective shield. Knowing he had the consciousness to give up his life, Godwin felt he had the capital to fight, but he wasn’t stupid enough to take the initiative to step forward at this time and give his life in the melee of these two demons.

After confirming that the protective cover could protect the team, the leader of Horizon propped his body with his sword and looked at his unreliable cousin breathlessly. It turned out that he really didn’t know what Oliver Ramon was thinking in his head…

Mr. Ramon was holding the parrot in his team, as if he was comparing sizes.

Then he turned to the two superior demons who were fighting, and together with his lover, they uttered an exclamation of “Wow!”.

The author has something to say:

Godwin: What the hell is going on with this team… Why am I tracking this kind of thing……

Grey parrot: You may not believe it, but I have a size advantage!

Ah, after so many chapters, the gray parrot is finally useful XD

Kinky Thoughts:

Nemo and Oliver continue to remain cute!