Volume 8, Chapter 44 – The Great Void

“Your Majesty, break through! Your life is more important than ours!”

Violently smashing the Chaos coming from above with her large shield, Afla shouted anxiously. The battle had only begun less than two minutes ago, and already half of the Thirteen Attendants were unable to fight. If everyone weren’t looking after Afla, the youngest sister, the maid Afla would have long had her hands and feet devoured by Chaos and been unable to move.

And even Lucitine, the strongest, was helpless against the swarm of Antler Chaos that blanketed the sky like insects. She could clearly feel that these Chaos were of a lower tier than those she had encountered before; even a slight graze from the scales sword would turn them into a pool of mucus. But for every one she killed, two or three more would fill the gap. Their endless numbers formed an overwhelming advantage, making every step forward difficult. Several golden beams had even narrowly grazed her skin along the way, leaving her utterly distraught, and she could only watch helplessly as her magic power was consumed bit by bit.

Admittedly, she could unleash a large-scale magic and freeze these low-defense Chaos in one go. But the Chaos weren’t without intelligence. The moment she began chanting, over a dozen Chaos would aim at her and condense golden beams. The huge threat posed by the golden beams forced her to abandon using large-scale magic. Past experience had already shown that if she didn’t have enough time to dodge, over a dozen golden beams would riddle her like a sieve.

Even in the ten-thousand-year history, no day has been as distressing as today.

If the soul of the Queen of Death was devoured by Chaos, the existence of the Queen of Death would completely disappear. Like those foolish gods devoured by Chaos in the past, she would become nourishment for Chaos’s growth.

It cannot end here.

Thinking this, Lucitine steeled herself. Once again, she swung the scales sword, sending a gray blade sweeping across the underground world. Over a dozen Chaos in front of her were cut in half on the spot. But the gap revealed was filled by the Chaos behind in just one second, not even giving her a chance to chant a spell. They lunged at her again, brandishing claws, and she had to deploy a magic shield condensed from death energy just to barely hold them off.

“Your Majesty! If you don’t go now, it’ll be too late! We’ll buy you at least two seconds. Please, you must break through!”

A butler among the Thirteen Attendants, who had already lost an arm, shouted sternly. Under the cover of the other attendants, his whole body gathered a bright flash like a supernova, his gritted teeth filled with pain.

How can I use your lives to pave my way!

Lucitine wanted to scold him loudly, but her reason understood that this was the last chance to escape. Without the Queen of Death to restrain the undead within the Wall of Sighs, the entire kingdom of the dead would fall into chaos. More importantly, the undead would thereby lose their bargaining chip against Chaos. The tens of thousands of years of effort by the Venexes would be ruined in her hands.

Damn it!

I will avenge this in the future!

She clicked her tongue heavily, deeply gazing at her Thirteen Attendants, then held her breath, gathering all her magical power, waiting only for the moment the Thirteen Attendants’ magic ended. During this time, she saw the Chaos in the distance using golden beams again, their spearheads pointed directly at the Thirteen Attendants, whose magical power was about to peak. Given the speed at which the Chaos launched golden beams, if the Thirteen Attendants didn’t interrupt their spellcasting, they would surely become sacrifices to Chaos.

Yet Lucitine was powerless to stop either the Thirteen Attendants or the Chaos.

A profound sense of powerlessness welled up in Lucitine’s chest. Strong hatred and unwillingness pounded against her heart like drumbeats. As the Queen of Death, having to rely on her subordinates’ self-sacrifice to survive ignobly—the humiliation made her clench her teeth, the hand gripping the scales sword creaking with terrifying force from the strain. The terrifying power spread to every cell in her body.

She began to understand why the Venexes in the immortal sanctuary were deranged. If this was their reason for loathing Chaos, then from now on, she too would hunt Chaos to the death like them, leaving not a single one. Chaos must end by her hand!

But then.

Suddenly, a radiance even more brilliant than the bright light condensed by the Thirteen Attendants appeared. The intense flash drove away all darkness, to the point where the swarming Chaos, as if meeting their natural enemy, dissolved and collapsed, turning into countless droplets of mucus and falling. The original Wall of Chaos seemed to have a huge hole melted into it by the high heat.

Along with it was a crimson-eyed elf, her black hair and emerald-green skirt flying wildly in the howling wind. In that instant, Lucitine’s eyes widened to their utmost. She naturally knew the elf appearing before her was Fia. And at this moment, Fia, in her eyes, was like an angel descending into hell, bringing with her a sacred radiance and righteous resolve that made one tremble with excitement, rescuing her from this filthy, despairing purgatory. She forgot her identity, standing rooted to the spot, stunned, gazing blankly at the black-haired girl who appeared in the posture of a savior.

“What are you dazed for?”

In the blink of an eye, Fia, who had been outside the Wall of Chaos, rushed before Lucitine. She embraced Lucitine’s beautiful waist and flew straight towards the Thirteen Attendants, whose magic power had condensed to its peak.

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“Stop!”

“Look out!”

Fia’s shout and the Thirteen Attendants’ shout sounded almost simultaneously. Fia was commanding them to conserve their magic power, while the Thirteen Attendants were warning about the dozen golden beams speeding towards them from afar.

Without even looking at the golden beams flying towards her, Fia used [Spatial Hand] to grab all the Thirteen Attendants. The golden beams then instantly reached Fia, right behind her. Lucitine, held in Fia’s arms, instinctively struggled, trying to use magic to share the burden. But a blue light shield with multiple sharp angles unfolded behind Fia, rapidly expanding into a massive object over thirty meters in diameter.

As a result, the several golden beams couldn’t even damage the first layer of the light shield. And the Thirteen Attendants, their magic forcibly interrupted, lost their ability to resist.

Fia used [Entanglement] to wrap vines around the Thirteen Attendants’ waists and, single-handedly, dragged everyone towards the large hole melted by the light on their way in.

Unfortunately, things weren’t as simple as imagined. In the time it took her to go and return, the large hole melted by the magic had been repaired, and new Chaos were continuously filling the gap.

“Ah…”

Lucitine, held horizontally in Fia’s arms, opened her mouth. To avoid causing trouble for Fia, she could only nestle against Fia as much as possible. She wanted to ask if she should help deal with the Chaos—she still had some magic power left. But recalling the feat of Fia melting the Wall of Chaos with dazzling light when she appeared, she swallowed the words. She felt she would only be a hindrance to Fia.

What she didn’t expect was that even at this critical moment of life and death, Fia hadn’t missed her sound. Fia looked down at Lucitine, whom she was carrying in a princess hold.

“What’s wrong?”

“Be… be careful. This is the Chaos’s lair. Let’s go back first and discuss it later.”

Lucitine answered, trembling like a young girl in first love.

“This is an outpost, not the main base.”

“What?”

Even an outpost had this kind of strength? What would the real main base be like?

Lucitine’s breathing even paused for a moment. The joy of being rescued washed away the shame in her heart. She quickly asked.

“Then what do we do?”

“You’re the Queen of Death. Shouldn’t you be the one asking that?”

Even as she spoke, Fia gathered another dazzlingly bright sun of white light in her hand. It should be noted that this magic had no aggressiveness towards Chaos at all; it was simply [Light] amplified to maximum output by [Hyper-computation]. Fia had instructed all the blue-eyed Chaos that upon seeing this magic, they should notify everyone to retreat.

“Ugh…”

Lucitine faltered at the question. Then she witnessed with her own eyes the scene of Fia merely raising her hand and releasing light, causing the Wall of Chaos to rapidly melt. For a moment, she forgot about feeling embarrassed, her eyes filled with shock.

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The same expression appeared on the Thirteen Attendants, the only difference being that the shock in their eyes was even more pronounced. They had just fought the Chaos and knew best how troublesome these Chaos were. Now, Fia, with a mere gesture, released a sun that successively melted the Wall of Chaos, and there was still a hundred-meter gap between them. Describing such a sublime sight as a divine miracle wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Almost everyone’s mouths were agape, eyes wide. Especially Afla, who had once offended Fia, now bit her lower lip hard, too ashamed to raise her head.

“What kind of magic is this?”

“There’s no chanting process! I can’t sense the magic’s power!”

“It’s simply divine…”

Calling it divine was too much. This was just [Light].

Fia mentally stuck out her tongue, while on the surface maintaining an expressionless, serious look. Keeping [Light] going constantly would eventually tip off the undead. She quickly led the Thirteen Attendants through the melted large hole, heading straight for the cliff they had come from. Along the way, a few Eyes cooperatively chased Fia, causing the deeply ashamed Thirteen Attendants to eagerly volunteer to stay behind and hold them off. But when they saw Fia’s [Spatial Rift], they obediently shut their mouths.

It wasn’t until Fia and the others all stood at the entrance of the ant tunnel by the cliff that the Chaos in the underground space gradually subsided.

Fia silently surveyed the undead who had narrowly escaped death behind her. Lucitine stood strenuously, one hand on her chest, her bosom rising and falling slightly as she panted.

The remaining Thirteen Attendants either sat slumped on the ground resting, looking back at the underground world with lingering fear, or murmured incantations softly to heal their physical disabilities. Their tattered clothes and wretched appearance, compared to the Thirteen Attendants who embodied honor, looked more like defeated remnants after a lost battle. If they had pain, if they could feel fatigue, and if they were human, the scene would now be covered in blood and filled with miserable screams.

“Your Majesty, Lady Fia, this place is too dangerous. We should continue retreating. It was our oversight not to anticipate that Chaos could use tactics. Next time, we will definitely avenge this shame!”

A woman resembling a mature maid stepped forward, dragging her damaged body. Having lost a leg in the scuffle with Chaos, she limped, unable even to maintain the magic preventing her body from decaying. Her rapidly rotting face was exceptionally ferocious.

Lucitine didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she turned her gaze to Fia, her expression seemingly wanting to say something, clearly seeking Fia’s opinion.

At a time like this, you, as the queen, should be the one commanding the overall situation. Your heart is completely in disarray.

Sighing inwardly, Fia used her right hand to brush aside the black hair at her cheek, her tone flat as if discussing a trivial matter.

“You go back first. This is a Chaos outpost. If we let them multiply freely here, before long they’ll be able to follow the ant tunnels into the kingdom of the dead. Since I promised Lucitine to help you eliminate Chaos, I will naturally go all out.”

“You going alone is too dangerous.”

Urgency flashed in the maid’s eyes. It wasn’t that she looked down on Fia, but that there were simply too many Chaos here. The bright sun Fia had displayed was indeed remarkably effective against Chaos. But don’t forget, this underground world was extremely vast, and the Chaos forming the wall weren’t all of them. What if there were still a massive amount of Eighth and Ninth-Tier Antler Chaos that hadn’t shown themselves, or if Fia’s magic power ran out before she could eliminate all the Chaos? The consequences would be unimaginable.

Anyone with eyes could see that Fia was currently the strongest combat power. If she fell here due to carelessness, it would be an irreparable loss for the entire World Tree Continent.

Fia sighed softly.

“Haa, then you can just watch from here.”

“Watch…?”

Unable to understand the meaning in Fia’s words, the maid tilted her head in confusion. Fia didn’t explain. Instead, she turned around to face the underground cavity.

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After all this time, Milan should have already withdrawn all the Eyes with powerful individual strength. The Chaos left in the cavity were only ordinary Chaos, regarded as nourishment and not part of the Eye.

Fia estimated inwardly. Although dealing with ordinary Chaos didn’t require high-tier magic, to conceal her tracks and appear powerful, it was better to choose a magic that looked the part.

Fia feigned profundity and took a deep breath. Then she took [Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea] from her storage magic. She held the staff horizontally in her right hand. The interlocking crescent moons at the tip consequently gathered breathtakingly pitch-black magical power, as if drawing some unknowable element from the surrounding space. Gradually, at the staff’s tip condensed a pitch-black sphere, containing shining stars within, reminiscent of the universe.

Even Lucitine, strong as she was, felt a heart-clenching energy from this fist-sized sphere. When her gaze lingered on the pitch-black sphere, she felt her lungs exceptionally tight, robbed of even the strength to speak. Only after with great difficulty tearing her gaze away from the sphere’s pull could she finally breathe heavily. And only then did she realize her back was soaked with cold sweat, her pink hair even stuck together from profuse sweating.

The weaker Thirteen Attendants couldn’t even look away. They felt their very souls being pulled from their bodies by this pitch-black sphere. A tearing, splitting pain wracked their brains, as if someone were forcibly peeling back their skulls along with their scalps. They wanted to scream, but each could only stare blankly at the pitch-black sphere, their bodies no longer under their own control.

Fortunately, Fia’s magic was quickly completed. She turned the staff, directing the black sphere at its tip straight towards the distant stone pillar.

“ [Great Void]. “

The magic-filled pitch-black sphere slowly flew into the large cavity. When it reached the center of the cavity, as designated by Fia, the fist-sized black sphere instantly expanded. This wasn’t rapid swelling, but like time-skipping—in an instant, it grew from fist-sized to an astounding volume that seemed to stretch out the entire large cavity.

The whole process was like pressing the mute button; no sound was emitted. The large cavity, which had still had some faint light, also became completely pitch-black, as if the black sphere had devoured everything—not only sound, but even light couldn’t escape.

The pitch-black was fleeting. When the large cavity reappeared before everyone’s eyes, it was already a different sight. To facilitate observation, Fia re-illuminated the cavity with [Light]. Instantly, Lucitine’s and the Thirteen Attendants’ pupils violently contracted.

The large cavity was no longer irregular, with cliff walls covered in protrusions. It was now a perfectly round sphere, as if physically scooped out by an ice cream scoop. Even the cliff walls presented an exquisite, smooth curve with not a single unevenness to be found. The stone pillars that had nurtured Chaos had vanished without a trace. Including the Chaos themselves, everything was as if it had never existed. Only the originally intricate ant tunnels remained at the edge of the large cavity.

Divine skill.

Lucitine couldn’t find any other words to describe this magic. Throughout the entire process, Lucitine hadn’t heard a single unusual sound, not even the noise of rocks splitting. Everything encompassed by that strange black sphere was instantly annihilated. She couldn’t help but imagine, if she herself were locked onto by this bizarre black sphere, how should she respond? Or rather, what would her fate be?

Other than fleeing, there was no other way. Her intuition told her the answer.

As for what would happen if she were hit—she would probably just close her eyes and wait for death. Fortunately, this magic surely annihilated both body and soul in an instant, so she wouldn’t feel pain. It probably wouldn’t be too terrifying—”terrifying” here referring to the moment of death.

No one dared make a sound, afraid that if they stood out, they would become Fia’s next target. If not for the Thirteen Attendants’ resilient spirit, if it were anyone else, even undead who had lived for thousands of years, they would by now surely be unable to control their legs from going weak and their teeth from chattering. These were Chaos that had nearly wiped out the entire upper echelon of the kingdom of the dead, and they were instantly killed by a single magic!

Their gazes all condensed on Fia’s back, beginning to guess her mood. Having unleashed such a great magic to instantly kill the enemy, she must surely be filled with exhilaration and pride. That’s right, they understood this feeling perfectly. If they had unleashed such a magic, they wouldn’t just silently admire their own masterpiece. They would throw open their arms and laugh uproariously at the sky, proud of their immense power, to the point of urging the weaker ones around them to quickly applaud and cheer, celebrating their completion of such an earth-shattering work.

Someone started it. Within the narrow, dark ant tunnel, applause rang out. At first sparse, but when Fia turned back and looked questioningly at the Thirteen Attendants, the applause instantly became fervent, as if afraid that slowness would displease Fia. Though only thirteen people were present, the applause was as thunderous as a hundred people clapping in unison.

To make matters worse, echoed by the large cavity, the applause became even more enthusiastic while also becoming even more terrifying, to the point where each of the Thirteen Attendants forced the most perfect smile onto their faces to greet Fia. Yet in their hearts, they were swallowed by corresponding, unparalleled fear. Every one of them recalled their initial words and even glances that had looked down on Fia, and regretted it to the point of soul-shuddering.

Especially Afla, who had directly offended Fia. If just moments ago she had felt guilt, now her applause, louder and faster than anyone else’s, sufficiently demonstrated her repentance for her own blindness. She applauded as if unaware that continuing would fracture her hands, while forcing out a crying-like smile with shortness of breath, and masking her desperately trembling legs, which simply couldn’t support her. If she had a living body, she would by now be uncontrollably incontinent.

This wasn’t a queen—this was a god! Just what kind of existence had their queen managed to latch onto!

The confusion in Fia’s eyes deepened. She couldn’t understand these people’s actions, nor could she not feel the strange atmosphere circulating among them.

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“What are you doing?”

“We… We are celebrating your immense power! Your magic has left us utterly astounded!”

[Great Void] had surprised even herself, but purely in terms of power, it wasn’t that strong. It didn’t warrant this kind of cheering, right?

Due to time constraints, Fia hadn’t used [Great Void] under [Hyper-computation] before. But judging from this result, although also a forbidden spell, its range was far inferior. Not to mention [Orbital Beacon Bombardment], it couldn’t even compare to [Celestial Canopy of the Divine]. It wasn’t a magic worthy of praise.

Fia glanced again at the Thirteen Attendants, still applauding with eerie smiles.

Although their attitude towards her had already been quite respectful in the hall this morning, Fia could now clearly feel that the current respect was worlds apart from that of the daytime.

The current respect and thanks should probably be due to her saving their lives, Fia guessed inwardly. She nodded lightly, accepting the Thirteen Attendants’ praise—which they interpreted as Fia being satisfied with their repentance, and thus breathed a sigh of relief, feeling they had just struggled back from the brink of death. Then Fia waved her hand, signaling the Thirteen Attendants to stop applauding.

“Can you all still move? This is an outpost. The Chaos’s main base is elsewhere. We need to quickly return above and prepare, following the Chaos’s escape route to find their main base.”

Wh… where would there be an escape route?

The Thirteen Attendants groaned inwardly. Instantly killed by a single magic—how could they have escaped?

But they ultimately didn’t dare voice their thoughts. They could only nod repeatedly, smile obsequiously, and agree with Fia.

“You’re absolutely right. We… We can still walk. Don’t worry about us!”

Can you really walk? Fia was extremely doubtful. Two of the Thirteen Attendants had had their limbs devoured by Chaos; they didn’t look at all like they could walk. Fia’s plan was to let Lucitine use undead magic to help them restore their severed limbs to normal, then leave together.

But the Thirteen Attendants quickly proved with actions that they were correct. They carried their injured, immobile companions on their backs, waiting only for Fia to give the order to depart. And they from time to time cast nervous glances at Fia. Once they noticed Fia looking back, they would immediately avoid her gaze like mice seeing a cat.

Are they afraid of me?

Fia doubted inwardly. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on details. Compared to the Thirteen Attendants, Fia still preferred Lucitine. She put away [Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea] and instead extended her tender palm towards Lucitine.

“Are you alright? Let’s go back first.”

“O… okay…”

Not expecting Fia to actively offer to hold hands, Lucitine’s shoulders flinched, flattered. Then, her cheeks slightly flushed, coy yet satisfied, she gently placed her soft palm on the hand Fia offered.

After the heart-stopping fierce battle, everyone was finally able to leave the great cavity, each carrying their own thoughts.