Volume 3, Chapter 37 – Hello, Which Era Are You From?

Compared to the Despair Demon General, the Seventh Rank Darkborn in front of her was the epitome of strangeness.

Although it was also a humanoid creature without facial features, the Despair Demon General at least had a normal human head. But this Seventh Rank Darkborn had an open dictionary in place of its head. Coupled with its burly, brown-furred body, it exuded a sense of disharmony.

To be specific, it was like a person’s body had been magnified three times, but the size of the head had remained the same. It was quite comical.

As the two Darkborn were still entangled in their fight, completely oblivious to Fia’s arrival, she couldn’t help but feel at a loss for what to do. To pull them apart would make her seem like a mediator. After her experience with the Despair Demon General, Fia had already classified the Darkborn into the evil camp. If she were to be honest, she felt it would be best if these two fought to the death. Therefore, to pull them apart would seem like she was helping them.

Fia subconsciously looked for Lianne, intending to imitate her actions. However, she found that the complex emotions she was feeling were also present in Lianne. Although she couldn’t see Lianne’s expression, from the way she stood awkwardly to the side without moving, it was clear that Lianne also had no idea how to handle the situation.

I get it, I get it . Fia sighed in her heart. Two burly, beast-like Darkborn were rolling around on the ground like children fighting, using rear naked chokes and cross armbars. The scene was truly facepalm-worthy, making one doubt if they were really Darkborn at all.

If a woman who was fond of romance between men were to see this scene—two muscular, semi-bestial bodies half-naked and twisted together—she might have been blushing and breathing heavily.

“…Lady Fia, do you have a good idea?”

Quietly approaching Fia’s side, Lianne glanced from time to time at the two Darkborn, who were less than ten meters away from them. Even with her decades of life, Lianne had never seen such a sight. She could feel that the strength of these two was not inferior to her own, yet they were fighting like children, trading punches and kicks. If not for the ground shaking and the blood flowing, she would have thought she was in a strange dream.

“Even if you ask me…”

Fia was at a loss for words.

She was sure even the elf princess had never seen such a scene.

She couldn’t help but remember what Anastasia and Renee had said about the Darkborn also being divided into factions. Although the Darkborn, like the various countries on the World Tree Continent, were divided into countless factions, the difference was that they had two main factions, and the rest basically revolved around them.

These two main factions were the Darkborn led by the Absolute Evil, and those led by the “Dominators.” The former acted ostentatiously, doing whatever they pleased, while the latter were extremely low-key. Even Anastasia had not heard of any traces of the Dominator faction’s activities. No one knew what kind of Darkborn they were.

The two somewhat powerful Darkborn wrestling in front of her should be from these two different factions, Fia guessed with a strange expression. After all, if they were from the same faction, no matter how great their conflicts, they would not fight each other after arriving on the battlefield. They had either had a dispute during the planning stage, or this encounter was an accident from the very beginning.

“How dare you ruin my plan!”

“I’ve been wanting to deal with you for a long time—”

Even now, the two Darkborn were still fighting with their physical strength. The headless one, with two more arms than the dictionary-headed one, had the upper hand. The former was applying a rear naked choke from behind. However, the dictionary-headed one had extremely strong vitality. Even with its neck twisted 180 degrees, making a terrifying creaking sound, it showed no sign of giving up.

On the contrary, its right hand gripped its staff tightly, and it forcefully stabbed it backwards again and again. The headless one’s mouth happened to be on its abdomen, so the staff went straight into its mouth, causing it to let out a muffled, gurgling scream.

The veins on both of their arms were bulging; they were undoubtedly using all their strength.

Seemingly having reached its limit, the headless Darkborn, who resembled Xingtian ¹ In Chinese mythology, particularly in the classic text Classic of Mountains and Seas, Xingtian was a powerful giant who challenged the Supreme Divinity for control. In the ensuing battle, he was decapitated.(cn headless demon, that’s a simple way to put it) , threw the dictionary-headed one it was choking. Its bloody, mangled mouth, with few teeth left, roared.

“You forced me to do this!”

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“You’re the one who forced me!”

As their voices fell, in an instant, the hall was divided into two by the Darkborn. The side near the dictionary-headed one was filled with crackling green spheres of electricity, while the side near the Xingtian-like one was filled with black slime gushing from the cracks in the ground. In Fia’s [Wind of Exploration], the mana of both of them had dropped significantly. They were about to deliver the decisive blow.

To not even have noticed someone has walked in, they’re such failures as villains. As expected of a headless idiot.

If this clash were to happen, the explosion would surely affect the entire underground space. Fia aimed the palm of her hand at the two idiots.

[Mental Shock]

The intense mental shock materialized into a white tsunami, instantly engulfing the two Darkborn who were gathering their power. Immediately after, the towering Chaos collapsed limply to the ground as if it had no bones, and the green orbs of light that filled half the hall also gradually dissipated into the air as their master’s consciousness became blurred.

“Who is it!”

“What person!”

After a brief daze, the two Darkborn glared angrily at Fia, who had released the [Mental Shock]. But amusingly, the two of them had completely different reactions.

The Xingtian-like one’s face changed drastically. After a low curse of “Damn it, it’s the elf princess,” he immediately turned into a pool of Chaos and fled into the cracks in the ground like a rat.

The dictionary-headed one, on the other hand, was first surprised by his “companion’s” escape, and then kept looking at Fia’s face. It wasn’t until a full second had passed that he remembered that what he should be doing was running away.

He raised his staff and chanted rapidly.

“The Pitch-Black—”

A wave of white light, like a tsunami, flashed past. The dictionary-headed Darkborn’s whole body trembled, and his chant was interrupted.

[Mental Shock] is really a broken spell.

While Fia was thinking this, Lianne on the other side also made a move. A giant’s arm condensed from the cracked floor, grabbed the dictionary-headed Darkborn who was floating in the air, and then squeezed gently. With a sound of breaking bones, the Darkborn let out a muffled grunt of “Kuh,” its body instantly going limp, its head drooping.

If the Knowledge-seeking Demon General had not been fighting with Balor, he could have easily resisted Lianne’s magic. However, the previous consumption had greatly reduced his stamina, and Fia’s [Mental Shock] had just happened to interrupt his decisive blow, causing his mana to drain away like a flood. Therefore, the current Knowledge-seeking Demon General was no different from an ordinary Fifth Rank magic caster.

As the Knowledge-seeking Demon General lost consciousness, the hall fell silent.

The first to react was Lianne. She turned her head and looked straight at Friede at the entrance.

“Friede, go and check the situation outside.”

“The stairs were destroyed by those black things… by the Chaos. Only you can go up, Lianne.”

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“The ward that drains mana from the walls has lost its effect. You can use magic to create stairs to climb.”

“Lost its effect?! When?”

“It lost its effect before the Chaos attacked us. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to stick to the walls and destroy the stairs,” Fia answered calmly.

Otherwise, the Chaos’s mana should have been drained by the ward, and it would have turned into a pool of colorless liquid.

Reminded by Fia, Friede had a sudden realization. She nodded with a serious expression.

“Alright, then I’ll go up and see the situation. Please be careful, Miss Fia.”

“Yes.”

With that, Friede used a spell that looked like [Telekinesis] to create a floating board and left.

“Then, what should we do with this Darkborn? The one that escaped earlier recognized you, Lady Fia, and looked afraid. Are you acquainted with them?”

“I don’t know them.”

Faced with Lianne’s scrutiny, Fia quickly drew a clear line. She could roughly guess why that Darkborn had been able to recognize her—if it wasn’t because the elf princess was too famous, it was related to the elf princess acting as Thanatos. After all, Renee had fallen into the bandits’ hands while pursuing a Darkborn belonging to the Dominators, so it was normal for them to recognize the elf princess.

But one thing was for sure, she had no impression of this group of Darkborn at all.

“Haah, you are an exceptionally talented elf princess. It’s normal for the Darkborn to recognize you,” Lianne said to herself. “But what should we do with this one? If you knew him, I could still hand him over to you, but if you don’t…”

“Shouldn’t we kill him?”

“We witches sometimes cooperate with the Darkborn. Although they have committed many evil deeds, to us, they are more cooperative and more worthy of approaching us than humans. I can feel that this one’s power is not weaker than mine. Normally, even if Friede and I were to team up, we might not be able to kill a Darkborn of this level. To simply execute him like this, I worry that in the future, the Witch Hall…”

As Lianne’s voice trailed off, Milu, in her red and white short skirt, came to Fia’s side. Her emotionless voice revealed her dissatisfaction.

“They broke into the Heart Core’s room. There’s nothing to be said about killing them. Haven’t you been going on and on about the Heart Core?”

Being pointed at by a little child, Lianne felt a sense of displeasure. She furrowed her non-existent eyebrows.

“From that perspective, killing him is of course not wrong. But there must be something strange about this matter, otherwise this Darkborn wouldn’t have been fighting with the other one. In any case, we’ll wait until he wakes up and ask him clearly. If he came with malicious intent, perhaps we can use him as a bargaining chip to make a deal with the Darkborn. Even the Absolute Evil would not easily give up a Darkborn of this level. The Witch Hall could gain a great benefit.”

“What about the Heart Core? Is it damaged? They must have been after it, otherwise they wouldn’t have come straight to this room.”

“Ah, the Heart Core is fine. Otherwise, I would have definitely felt it.”

As if to vent her frustration, Lianne let out a long sigh.

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“It’s a good thing the Heart Core isn’t damaged, otherwise I really don’t know what I would have done. They must have been fighting here for a long time, otherwise they wouldn’t have been caught by me so easily. It was a huge miscalculation. Lady Fia was right. The Heart Core is too far from the living area, and it’s difficult to notice any abnormalities. To have rashly thought that it would be fine just by setting up a barrier, I was too naive. In the future, I must place the Heart Core where I can see it at all times.”

It would be safe, but it also meant that Lianne would have to stay in that conference room at all times, no different from being in prison.

Such a thought appeared in her mind, but Fia did not say it out loud. She lowered her head and looked at Milu’s crimson cat’s eyes. When she first saw them, they had given her a terrifying impression, but now, there was only a bewitching charm. It was because of these eyes that Milu looked like a foreign princess.

“How is it? Is it the same as you remember?”

This was, of course, a question about Milu’s feelings towards the Witch’s Heart Core. According to Milu’s description, her master was a huge, diamond-shaped crystal buried underground. In Fia’s opinion, this Witch’s Heart Core, which was twenty meters away and quietly radiating a white light, perfectly matched all the features Milu had described.

Wait…

Fia’s eyebrows raised.

Because of the two Darkborn’s fight, Fia had only glanced at the Heart Core and then shifted her attention. But now, staring at it, she suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if she had seen it before.

No, no, that’s impossible.

Even the elf princess had definitely never seen the Witch’s Heart Core, otherwise, Lianne would surely have an impression.

Then where did this sense of familiarity come from?

Fia frowned and tried hard to remember. With the precedent of Estelle, she had become extremely sensitive to this feeling of familiarity—if she had realized where the “perfume scent” on Estelle had come from the first time she met her, then she could have avoided Estelle’s encounter with the Despair Demon General.

She had only been on the World Tree Continent for a short month, and the number of important things that had happened could be counted on two hands. Fia quickly ruled out the possibility that this familiarity came from this world.

Since it was not something that had happened on the World Tree Continent, then it could only be from the Human Alliance. But her memories of her life in the Human Alliance were incomplete, so there was no way to tell where this familiarity came from.

The only thing she could be sure of was that this crystal had something to do with the Human Alliance.

It can’t be something like a beautiful girl sealed in the crystal, right? Fia thought jokingly. Even if this crystal was from the Human Alliance, she didn’t plan to do anything.

“It’s this one.”

Her bewitching vertical pupils fixed on the Witch’s Heart Core, Milu said decisively. Then, as she walked towards it, she took out the two-handed sword that was taller than her from her storage item and shouldered it.

Milu soon stood before the Witch’s Heart Core. She adopted a posture of communicating with someone and looked up at it.

“I’m leaving. Give the contract to my master.”

“…”

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The crystal said nothing.

“Don’t play dead.”

“…”

Still no response.

Milu frowned. This time, she raised the longsword above her head with both hands, with an air of being ready to smash the crystal if it didn’t comply, her tone full of impatience.

“Speak.”

“…”

“Then I have no choice but to smash you and forge a new contract with my master.”

As her voice fell, Milu swung down the two-handed sword. A startled Fia quickly reached out and grabbed her hands.

“Hey! How can this thing talk!”

“Guh,” her hands held by Fia, Milu turned her head, a pout on her face. “It’s playing dead.”

“It’s been a dead object from the very beginning.”

“Um… can you put away the weapon? The souls of all the witches are in the Heart Core.”

At some point, Lianne had also come to Milu’s side, her tone full of trouble. She wasn’t worried that Milu would smash the crystal; her movements were too slow, and she could stop her at any time. But this trend was unsettling.

Even if she didn’t stop Milu, Lianne would. Fia felt this. To prevent Milu from acting recklessly, Fia took away her weapon and then walked around the crystal, which would take several adults to encircle.

The crystal was completely transparent, with nothing inside. Although there was still a lingering sense of familiarity, Fia did not find any traces related to the Human Alliance on it. At first, she had thought there might be Human Alliance language inscribed on it, but the reality was that the crystal was perfectly smooth.

But Milu had said that her master was this crystal. If she wasn’t lying, could this crystal really be a sentient being?

Fia secretly used her appraisal magic on the Witch’s Heart Core. The result showed that it was indeed the Witch’s Heart Core. Although the description said ‘A soul exists within’, because the description was a reflection of Fia’s subconscious, it could not be used as evidence.

If it was not a product of the Human Alliance, why did Milu have knowledge of it? Did she have to communicate with it in the language of the Human Alliance?

With this thought in her mind, Fia coughed lightly, enduring the feeling of being treated like a fool (Lianne wouldn’t understand anyway), and switched to the language of the Human Alliance.

“Hello, I am a soul from the end of the Shining Era of the Human Alliance. The universe is about to become desolate. May I ask which era you are from?”