Kae
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Dungeon Diver CH988
🕑 Added 2025-09-11 23:00:08 +0000 UTCThis calm and smooth voice continues to sound out in our minds, with no trace of its source.
Even though it's clearly an enemy, and moving forward is exactly what they want. The glyphs deep in our souls pull us to move forward with warm glows as well.
I’m still able to see ahead a few hundred trees in all directions with my natural vision, not using Primordial Aura and Vibrations to aid it, and I’m certain, using the memories of the past in this domain, that we’re getting close.
Just as this thought comes to mind, the trees start to thin out, and the scene of an empty portion of land comes into view.
The shadowy background of a massive structure appears behind it, like a wall.
The closer we float, the more this wall comes into view, and it appears to look more like old bark. The imagery of an enormous tree stump I absorbed from many of the First Blood’s memories fills in the blanks.
I start to see that it's curved, and leave the saplings behind me.
We get close enough that the top of this curved tree stump, and the outline of a figure, can be seen sitting on its edge.
“You’ve arrived. And just in time for the sealing to end. Please, come, I want to show you what you’ve fought your way from the Lower Realm to face. It is a rare treat for me to see new faces with this much talent in the current era.”
The voice still comes from an unknown source when I try to track it, but there’s no doubt in my mind we’re looking right at the sender.
Both Maria and I stop in midair a good distance away from the tree stump, and slowly float up higher to be face to face with this entity.
I can't properly see who exactly it is, as there is an invisible barrier around them, but it is in the shape of a Demon, and one I recognize from the many memories of the First Bloods.
All of them had strange seals on their souls, deleting portions of the past, but I was strong enough to brute force my way through some of them.
This body shape, demeanour, and even sitting stance and position he chooses to make when facing us, they’re all exactly what the Imperial Family Head would do.
We halt in front of the Demon, far enough away that I still feel moderately in control, but close enough that we’re definitely putting ourselves at risk.
The only hope in my heart that this isn’t a pointless death trap is the fact that the glyphs on the inside of my soul are burning so white hot, that they almost hurt. Whatever they’re trying to resonate with, it must be in this stump of a tree.
“I love those confident eyes you have. You have no idea what you’ve done, bringing me even more of the energy from the zones below. It saves me the trouble to do extra clean-up before the sealing,” comes from the voice again.
This time, the invisible Demon in front of us slightly moves his head.
I can see oily, rainbow-colored glimmers of light as the Primordial Aura around him shifts, but other than this, I still have no way to see through it.
My eyes are glued to the Demon, but Maria speaks back.
“What about killing thousands of your Outer Guards, and dozens of your First Bloods? Do you not care to save them as their King?”
There is a silence between us, but the invisible figure only shrugs.
“What do I care? None of them can last longer than a few minutes without dying under my aura… I have to place seals on them like you if I ever want to talk face to face.”
The Demon stands up, and the glistening aura around him shines much more with the movement.
Both of us reflexively shift our stances and float backward a few trillion kilometers, but the Demon only lets out a sigh and starts pacing slowly across the edge of the trunk.
“If anything, I’d like to thank you again for that. Now that the lot of them have been thinned out, they’ll be even more loyal. And King? Is that what they still call me? I’d rather they called me something more fitting, maybe their father, or better, their god.”
The Demon walks around leisurely, hardly even looking our way.
My heart beats faster, as this was not the kind of Demon I thought I’d find in the center of this Zone.
I can’t tell if he’s indifferent to our arrival, or outright insane.
If I could gauge his actual level of power, I’d have a better idea of what’s really in front of me.
My eyes keep shifting away from the Demon, and back toward the center of the tree. Maria’s eyes follow a similar track to mine.
The Demon stops in his tracks once he notices, and reaches behind his back with both hands.
It isn’t too fast to see, but it isn’t slow enough to put me at ease. The movement looks extremely fluid and graceful though. I can’t help but watch as he grabs two soul weapons out of thin air.
At least, they were hidden behind a layering of Primordial Aura that I couldn't sense through.
My eyes track upward, as a third soul weapon floats up behind him, and points toward us, hovering in the air between his horns.
They’re three daggers, all of which glimmer with far more Primordial Aura than his body.
They look almost orange-red, and fluctuations of blue, yellow, and purple make them flash with light. They look like they’re made of chaotic opals.
I can see outlines of glyphs deep within them, but the majority of the symbols are covered and blurred out by Primordial Aura.
He points the two daggers in his hands at us as well. “What? You don’t want to hear what I have to say? You’re already scheming to get your prize? Come on, entertain me. I want to see what the big deal about this Creator’s Legacy really is. Can the two of you truly control fate? If you wish me dead, will I truly die? Even if the strength gap between us is so large?”
He twists his hands around, and the two daggers playfully spin, but the one above his head stays steady.
Maria and I freeze in place, and don’t dare to make a move.
The heat of the glyphs in our souls is getting so hot, that I even feel it melting through a strange invisible film, like there is an inner layer to our glyph imprints that hasn't been exposed to the outside world yet. However, it feels like we need to get closer to this stump to actually melt all the way through.
I muster up the courage to reply, “We’ve made it this far. What’s to say we can’t control your fate like all the other family heads below you? You’re not even who we’re aiming for. Who's to say humans can’t be the next Overseer?”
The Demon leans back and laughs, then throws his daggers down by his sides.
They both stab into the dense wood of the tree beside him.
“And to think I was even a little nervous the old texts were true. If you don’t even know your own race’s history, why would I be worried about some stolen legacy? It must have been a race-activated tomb, the two of you must have opened it with dumb luck. The only reason we couldn't open it was that humans never made it this far up into the Upper Realm!”
The Demon starts pacing back and forth again, passing his two daggers by while the third still floats above him, but it spins leisurely in circles now.
For a moment, the tension is lifted, but the Demon turns back to us.
“I did hear a rumor that the Fallen One was spotted in the Green Zone just before you arrived. Though, he must have been killed in the war against the Vermillions.”
The Demon leans in toward both of us and examines us for a few seconds in awkward silence.
“I don’t sense any True Soul Bonds with Dragons on either of you… so this doesn't add up either.”
He begins pacing again, then stops, and using a jerky movement that ends up being strangely graceful, he grabs both of his daggers out of the ground and points them toward us.
“Or maybe he didn't die… and he’s masked his scent. This could be another one of his plans to get back at the Overseer, the one who broke the Great Cycle.”
The tension between us spikes again, but we don’t say anything. We only stare back at the vague outline of a Demon before us.
Seconds pass, and the Demon loosens up, and begins pacing again, twirling only one of the daggers in his hand while he just grips the other and swings it around.
It appears as though he’s thinking, and after just four strides, he stops.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”
He turns toward us, points all three of his daggers our way, and the invisible, faceless Demon’s eyes finally shine through his disguise.
At the same time, I feel the seal around us protecting us from the outside aura begin to fade away.
