Volume 10, Chapter 4 – The Amber City

“In other words, because the barrier hiding the Demon Lord’s castle was destroyed, the castle is now exposed on the Alexia Continent?”

While holding down her silver hair, which was being tousled by the strong wind, Yisi looked at Tina beside her. After Tina had eaten her fill and rested for a moment, Yisi had brought her and Laxy to the Demon Lord’s castle using a series of teleportation spells. And now, from the distant, curved green horizon, they could see a massive, black cavity, like the vertical pupil of a cat, standing in the distance.

Tina nodded.

“Mhm. I can feel Mother’s presence. The Demon Lord’s castle should be nearby. When Mother sent me out, there were many demons ambushing in the forest outside the barrier. Please be careful. Although their individual strength is weak, if you alert even one of them, they will notify stronger demons to come. Some of them are fallen angels with bizarre abilities that even I find troublesome.”

“My Lord, please leave the fallen angels to me. From long ago, we God-Forged Angels and the fallen angels have had our disputes.”

Gently beating her wings, Laxy, who was hovering on Yisi’s right, suggested with her head lowered.

“No, wait a moment.” Yisi looked at the [Omniscient Map]. Just as Tina said, there were nearly a hundred demons hiding in the vast forest below them. But these demons were mostly between level 10 and 20. There were no fallen angels or similar beings; their strength was pitifully weak. “The number is far too small…”

Is it that the ‘Eternal Freeze Seal’ is too strong, making the demons give up on rescuing their companions? Or have those demons scattered across the continent, searching for Tina?

While Yisi was wondering, the light dots representing the low-rank demons on the [Omniscient Map] began to move—they were converging on the three of them.

“My Lord, we’ve been discovered!”

As she spoke, Laxy drew her golden and red-intertwined rapier, and her whole body ignited with white ‘Holy Fire’ as she entered a combat stance.

“We didn’t use [Concealment] magic, after all. We’ve just been hovering in the air. It’s only natural we’d be discovered.”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Yisi discreetly took Tina’s right hand. Having heard Laxy’s words, Tina, who couldn’t see, tensed up, clearly entering a combat stance as well.

But how can she fight someone like this?

Yisi couldn’t help but show a troubled expression.

“Laxy, you and Tina stay here. I’ll go down and take a look. I might be able to get some information out of these low-rank demons.”

“Yes.”

After placing Tina’s small, soft hand into Laxy’s, Yisi lowered her altitude, turning into an arrow shot from a bow, and shot straight down toward the demons below.

“I don’t even need magic to deal with these low-rank demons.”

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Unlike the very alluring, human-like demons she had imagined, it was better to think of this group as unevolved, beast-like monsters, like bear-men or tiger-men, who could only act on instinct.

“GAAAAA—!”

“They can’t even speak.”

Facing a large bat monster that was screeching as it flew toward her, Yisi sighed in frustration.

She was such a fool to have expectations for them.

“But this way, I can go all out without any psychological burden.”

Her gaze swept over the monsters among the demons that looked like bears and clams. Back in the Duchy of Chloe, because she had been fighting undead, and she didn’t have much chance to encounter many monsters in the Hels Kingdom, her meat storage had dwindled quite a bit. So much so that every time she went to see Evelyn and Andrea, the Charleses would look at her with expectant eyes.

At first, she thought it was because Andrea and Evelyn weren’t giving them enough meat. But later she discovered that the Charleses weren’t hungry; they just preferred to eat the meat of wild monsters. To the Charleses, ordinary livestock meat versus monster meat was like rice versus snacks. Evelyn had even complained about it, saying Yisi had spoiled their appetites.

“Demon meat should be able to satisfy the Charleses’ needs, right?”

Not just the bears and clams, but the other hedgehog- and wolf-type monsters could definitely be tossed to the Charleses to digest as well.

She’d just collect them all into her storage in a way that damaged the corpses as little as possible.

Switching the Laevateinn she had already drawn for Gungnir, Yisi put on a sly, hunter-like expression.

“First one.”

Facing the bat monster rushing toward her, Yisi, with a speed the naked eye couldn’t follow, easily pierced its head with Gungnir. The instant its HP dropped from 100% to zero, she froze it with [Absolute Zero] and then stored it in her storage.

Although the bat monster had too many bones and not enough muscle, and would only be considered a low-tier snack by the Charleses, it was a delicacy for the Rubber Slimes raised at Margaret. In a recent report from Fran, it was mentioned that when the Rubber Slimes ate monster meat rich in magic power, like the ‘Sprint Chicken’, the rubber they produced was more heat-resistant and even gave off a fragrance similar to perfume.

Maybe she should consider grinding up the monsters she got, mixing them with grains like highland barley to make feed, and feeding it to the Rubber Slimes. That way, more of them could eat magic-rich food.

Nowadays, most of the orders Margaret received came from various great nobles. Among them, the rubber-soled boots had already achieved a reputation on par with the clearest Margaret wine. The nobles of the Hels Kingdom already saw wearing a pair of Margaret-made boots as a symbol of wealth.

“Mhm… maybe I should first try building a workshop in the Duchy of Chloe dedicated to raising Rubber Slimes. That way, a workshop for drying and grinding monsters into feed will follow. If I can use Margaret’s name to attract nobles from all over, it wouldn’t be a bad direction for future development.”

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While thinking such thoughts, Yisi dealt with the low-rank demons attacking her one by one, as if she were mowing grass. Just as she had judged, these low-rank demons were no different from monsters; their intelligence was even lower. Even seeing their companions sent flying or stomped underfoot by Yisi, they still fearlessly charged at her with claws and fangs.

The crack of breaking bones and the roars of the monsters mixed together, becoming the only sound in the forest.

In just five minutes, Yisi had taken care of all the monsters that had attacked her. However, what she found strange was that she had only spotted about a hundred monsters on the [Omniscient Map] at first, but the number of corpses she had stored in her storage had already exceeded 150. The extra monsters hadn’t been on the map initially.

“The [Omniscient Map] can’t be wrong. Is something producing these monsters?”

Yisi turned her gaze to the only light dot on the map that hadn’t attacked her, which was also the last one remaining. This low-rank demon was less than 50 meters away, but she couldn’t see it due to the forest’s narrow field of vision.

“[Blink].”

Her vision changed. What appeared before Yisi’s eyes was a monster that looked like a pufferfish, but its body was completely deflated, lying on the ground like a dead fish, gasping for breath. Judging from its size—about half a bedroom—it could hold at least two carriages inside if it were full of air.

“It looks like it’s about to die, but its HP is full. It’s just out of magic power.”

If she wasn’t mistaken, the 50-odd demons that had just appeared from nowhere were probably produced from this land-pufferfish’s body. Its skill list had the words [Create Low-Rank Demon].

“This other world is really something. Not only can you see four-legged zombie fish, but also land-pufferfish. Speaking of which, if this guy can produce demons, maybe I can make use of it.”

Thinking this, Yisi took a low-grade magic potion from this world out of her storage and poured it onto the pufferfish.

About a minute later, the pufferfish, which had been nothing but a pile of skin and looked like it would breathe its last at any moment, suddenly swelled up like a balloon being filled by an air pump. It first rolled its fishy eyes. Upon seeing Yisi, its eyes went wide, and it opened its mouth wide, spitting out the same monsters that had just attacked her.

Yisi, in turn, instinctively held Gungnir in front of the pufferfish’s open mouth. With Gungnir’s sharpness, any monster spat out of the pufferfish’s mouth would be immediately skewered, and Yisi could then refrigerate it in her storage.

Her eyes burst out with a star-like sparkle.

“Oooh!!! It really was you making these monsters!”

She had just been wondering where to find so many monsters to feed. Now it seemed that as long as she had this land-pufferfish, she wouldn’t have to worry about monsters. She just had to lock it up, give it enough time to recover its magic power on its own (using potions would be too wasteful), and then scare it periodically, and there would be an endless supply of monsters.

“When I get back, I can have Mary try and see if killing the produced monsters gives any experience… Hmm?”

When Yisi stored the last monster produced by the land-pufferfish in her storage, the pufferfish’s level decreased by 1.

“Does producing monsters consume levels?”

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“It’s not as useful as I thought…”

It seems the dream of using demons to make feed will have to be postponed indefinitely.

After using several potions in a row, draining the exhausted land-pufferfish until it was only level 1, Yisi finally sent it to heaven. This land-pufferfish was a demon-type. If left alone, it might grow up to threaten humans. Not to mention, it was here under the orders of the Ocean Demon Lord Styx. She would not let go of anyone who harmed her companions.

“No… demons probably don’t believe in gods. In that case, maybe I should pray for it to go to hell.”

Making a wild joke, after sending the land-pufferfish to hell, Yisi returned to Laxy and Tina’s side.

Perhaps because she had been waiting for too long and her nerves were on edge, Laxy let out a long sigh of relief when she saw Yisi.

“Huu… My Lord, you’re finally back.”

“Yeah, it took a little longer than I expected to clean up the low-rank demons below. Nothing special happened while I was gone, right?”

“No.”

Yisi looked at Tina, who was so nervous even her tail was sticking straight out.

“Tina, I’ve cleared out all the nearby demons. There were no fallen angels or high-level demons among them. They must have left. Can demons not stay in the human world for long?”

“No, demons aren’t like the Blood Clan. They don’t have a problem with sunlight.”

“True.”

Otherwise, demons would never have been able to force the continent’s inhabitants into fearing them.

Yisi waved her hand, her gaze shifting from Tina to the vertical, pupil-shaped black hole standing on the distant horizon. That deep darkness, which looked as if it would swallow the entire sky, felt ominous just by looking at it.

The people living near this forest have probably already discovered this black hole.

Thinking such thoughts, Yisi continued to use [Advanced Teleportation] to arrive in front of the black hole. Because the barrier hiding the castle had been destroyed, even from the outside, she could glimpse the inside of the castle through the black hole, which looked like a spatial rift.

The demon world was an overall deep crimson, like a blood moon. The building Tina called the demon castle was as luxurious as the palace in Alvier, the Blood Clan’s royal capital, only taller and more magnificent. Furthermore, even the houses of ordinary demons were on par with those of lower-ranking Blood Clan nobles. These buildings spread out from the castle’s center, like green leaves surrounding a flower. The massive, stone-built city, large enough to hold a million people, was encircled by towering walls over a hundred meters high, and the sky was protected by a petal-shaped barrier. Even the royal capital of the Norta Empire was far inferior in scale and splendor.

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However, this was just the city’s original appearance, as Yisi pieced it together from the ruins. Due to the destruction wrought by the goat-headed demon sent by Demon Lord Styx, the entire city was now burning. Large sections of the city walls had collapsed, and more than half of the houses had been razed. Yisi even glimpsed the figures of Sandra and Hetty in the sky above the city. In order to cover Tina’s escape, the two of them, along with other fallen angels and archdemons, had formed a human wall, intercepting the goat-headed demon. The sheer determination in their brows made it easy to imagine the do-or-die will Hetty must have had at that moment.

Because the ‘Eternal Freeze Seal’ had stopped time, everything remained exactly as it was when Tina left.

Should she be glad that Tina couldn’t see? As the master of this city, watching her own people being trampled by demons… the sense of despair was unimaginable.

“Laxy, stay back.”

Holding her breath, Yisi tried to reach her hand into the black hole—she felt nothing. This massive city was already within the space of the Alexia Continent. After confirming there was no danger, Yisi switched to her Third Form and, with a light beat of her red dragon wings, flew into the black hole.

“There’s a turbid smell in the air. Do demons normally live in a place like this? It’s not very comfortable. My movement doesn’t feel restricted. In other words, the ‘Eternal Freeze Seal’ only froze the city, it didn’t encompass this entire space?”

The area covered by the ‘Eternal Freeze Seal’ was not the entire space; it stopped at the city walls. From Yisi’s perspective, the entire city looked as if it had been encased in deep red amber.

“I’ll try and see if I can release it. According to Tina, as long as the seal is released, she’ll immediately regain her sight and the Demon Lord’s Inheritance.”

She lightly knocked on the edge of the ‘EternalFreeze Seal’. Her knuckles against the barrier made a dull thud, thud sound. Afterwards, Yisi condensed a demonic blade and tried to pierce the ‘amber’.

Ting—

A crisp sound.

The demonic blade not only failed to pierce the barrier, it didn’t even leave a dent.

Yisi couldn’t help but click her tongue.

“As expected of a barrier that can even freeze time. A demonic blade can’t pierce it.”

In that case, my only option is to try magic that removes negative effects.

Since she had given the Twilight of Eternal Frost back to Camilla, she only had the next-best staff on hand, one suited for her level 400 strength.

Yisi took a few steps back and held the blue staff horizontally in front of her with both hands. She took a deep breath.

“『 Seraph’s Blessing 』.”