Chapter 375 – 150. Baemon (5k)
Although the atmosphere in the crevice had reached a freezing point, it was after all a realm created by a powerful deity, still quite far from the true reality. Therefore, those extremely terrifying yet magnificent scenes could mostly only be witnessed by Fisher and others who were still within it.
In the real world, the aurora in the sky still flickered, the moonlight still shone brightly, and the beings at the foot of the mountain were resting, with no one connected to the war in the crevice that seemed fated.
In the recently cured Snow Fox Tribe from Dead Rot Disease, the snow foxes, as if blessed by fortune and having walked before the Grim Reaper, cried tears of joy while taking care of each other, cherishing the beauty of life; the current night should have been similar, and they had all rested early, leaving only a few snow foxes who had already recovered to keep watch. Yet for some reason, they were extremely drowsy tonight, and few snow foxes still maintained their awareness.
They lay resting on their beds or dozed off while leaning against their cute, mini weapons. As a slight breeze rustled outside on the cold night, they unconsciously fell asleep, yet suddenly hummed a strange melody they had never heard in their lives from their throats,
“Hmm hmm hmm~ hmm hmm”
In the barracks, the sick snow foxes, the one-armed scholar Balzak, and the mechanical engineer Selti, who was left alone in bed, all unconsciously and synchronously began to hum the same song in their quiet dreams, like members of a well-coordinated orchestra.
The breeze rippled across the snowy plains and rushed through the now eerily silent city of Miya, where humans and subhumans who had fallen into deep sleep were dozing off, humming unconsciously,
“Hmm hmm hmm~ hmm hmm”
The gentle breeze ascended, passing over the camp still lit by bonfires, where several middle-aged men dressed in the elder robes of the Sorceress Research Society curled up in their tents, humming.
At the troll camp wrapped in spatial turbulence beyond the Phoenix Bridge, the trolls who had been tightly focused on the depths of the Sema Snow Mountain were now sprawled across the snow, swaying lightly and humming along with the breeze.
Under the moonlight, in this moment, countless creatures on the deep Northern Region land seemed to be driven by a unified conductor’s baton, collectively performing a beautiful song; the aurora overhead was also drawn by the beauty of the music below, as if forcibly plucked from the snow-capped mountains by the gentle breeze, leaping in mid-air to transform into a lively musical score, serving as the accompaniment to the unified human voices.
“Hmm hmm hmm~ hmm hmm”
The breeze easily passed through the spatial turbulence set up around the Parasol Tree, through the dark long corridors and massive rooms. Doors opened in response, and the breeze’s footsteps gradually slowed, forming long hoofbeats in the open space.
“Clip clop, clip clop.”
Through the numerous kaleidoscopic crystals in the Parasol Tree hall, amidst the shimmering colors and mist, the shape of the creature slowly walking within the Parasol Tree began to emerge.
It was an extraordinarily out-of-place creature that should not have appeared here; it swayed its hooves slowly forward, and its golden, soft fur swayed slightly with its movements. Next to a single hump sat a blurry figure.
It was a very peculiar single-humped camel, but for some reason, it appeared here abruptly.
“Hmm hmm hmm~ hmm hmm”
The odd humming tune rang out again, but this time it was sung by the figure sitting on the camel, a beautiful, proud sound reminiscent of a victorious horn, which, though not loud, resonated within the heart, compelling weaker beings to bow their heads.
The glimmering crystalline fragments surrounding them were gradually consumed by the simple camel and the figure, as if a hidden chaos lay beneath the high and melodic tune, silently advancing. For when one attempted to carefully observe the chaotic shadow projected within the crystals, they would find it vanished without a trace.
The tangible shadow was hard to catch, so one could only listen to the humming tune. The tune was high yet not loud, clearly unchanging, yet the person humming seemed to change continuously.
First, a common ordinary male voice could be heard humming, vaguely piecing together its shape from the shattered kaleidoscopic crystals. If Fisher were awake, he would have noticed that this figure closely resembled Auren, the one he had killed in the Southern Continent, originally sent by Feilon to procure Raphael.
But he should have been dead, lying in the endless wilderness of the Southern Continent.
“Hmm hmm hmm~ hmm hmm”
Next, the strange tune changed again, taking on the form of a Nali girl wearing glasses. If Fisher were awake, he would surely recognize that this girl was Cassie, the junior he had encountered at the Royal Academy, who once apologized to Fisher, collapsing mentally at Elizabeth’s coming-of-age ceremony, ultimately leading Fisher to choose to distance himself from Elizabeth.
But she should have silently moved away from Saint Nali, starting anew in a place far from conflict, where no one could find her.
“Hmm hmm hmm~ hmm hmm”
The timbre of the tune continuously altered, with countless reflections shattering in a mirror-like fashion, the figure twisting and changing incessantly.
Many attention-grabbing and ordinary silhouettes surfaced continuously, including the guide Fisher had at Shivali, the admissions officer at Saint Nali University who recruited Jasmine, the slave hunters who targeted Raphael, and many hidden figures who had never appeared before, revealing their true forms only in this very moment.
The figure riding the camel gradually approached the empty cylindrical space in the center of the Parasol Tree. Gazing at the deep space below, the camel lifted its head and snorted, while a pale hand gently patted its head. Simultaneously, the figure on the camel ceased its transformations, and a familiar female voice emerged from her mouth,
“Don’t rush, we have arrived.”
At that moment, the figure sitting on the camel was a beautiful woman dressed in the black robe of the Turan Family, her long black hair neatly tied up. At the top of her dark hair was an emerald-green crown, enhancing her mature feminine charm to the fullest.
That was Heidi Lin, the maid who had served Valentina and her daughter for over twenty years.
The camel effortlessly leaped down from a height, jumping from doorways and bridges in the walls, finally landing calmly near the broken platform and tree roots at the bottom.
There, the unconscious Fisher lay on the ground, his soul still trapped in the crevice, leaving only his body behind; beside him, the similarly unconscious Erwind lay quietly, appearing peaceful, showing no signs of battling fiercely in a dream world.
On Heidi Lin’s beautiful face, like a sculpture, fine cracks began to spread, accompanied by crisp cracking sounds from her body, yet she seemed oblivious as she continued to hold her chin, surveying the Nali gentleman lying on the ground, or rather the quivering square book in his arms, suddenly laughing aloud,
“Little one, long time no see~”
” …”
Sir Book’s square body shrank smaller and smaller, trembling uncontrollably as it frantically tried to burrow into Fisher’s embrace, seemingly too afraid to respond to the figure speaking in a “Heidi Lin” tone behind it.
“Heidi Lin” pouted, and the cracks on her face multiplied. Her body gradually turned into lifeless sand, showering over the camel, causing it to shake.
As the emerald-green crown atop Heidi Lin’s head fell due to her disappearing form, just before it could fall to the camel below, another pale hand steadily caught the emerald crown. In that hand, a fire pillar like a snake spread from the crown, consuming it completely and transforming it into a crown embedded with numerous sparkling jewels.
“Don’t be like that; I let you leave safely when you intruded into my abyss to snoop on my records. In your eyes, am I really such a terrifying and heartless existence?”
A completely different voice emanated from the owner of that pale hand. She tipped the crown over onto her own head, and the crown hovered and paused above her, the dazzling light from the gems immediately revealing the true figure sitting on the camel.
It was a being who shone with a faint light all over—her pure and graceful form was covered by a loose white robe, with no inhuman organs, nor terrifying fire snakes and tails like other demons. Behind her, glittering illusory blue and golden wings flickered, making her appear as beautiful and noble as an angel.
She languidly leaned against the single-humped camel, and on her stunning face, a pair of deep scattered light blue pupils adorned her with a hint of divinity, yet the sparse eyeshadow at the corners and her short, curly golden hair made her appear quite approachable. She looked at Erwind, who was butt-turned and burrowing into Fisher’s embrace, then gently beckoned with her hand, causing Erwind to uncontrollably fly towards her.
“Oh my, why are you suddenly flying towards me? Are you preparing to reconcile with me?”
“Baemon, ugh! I knew you were always there, let me go, you heartless—ugh, Fisher, save me!”
The woman called “Baemon” smiled at Erwind, who was wildly flailing around but unable to escape from her grasp. She yawned and complained,
“Really, how ungrateful; I merely gave you a little punishment, preventing you from going around proclaiming what you saw in my books, and let you have a good sleep in Saint Nali’s Royal Library. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have met this gentleman; isn’t your relationship with him not very good?”
As Erwind flew around, upon hearing Baemon’s words, he suddenly looked at the smiling Baemon in disbelief, an idea striking him.
“You, you deliberately put me to rest in the Royal Academy of Nali to bring me close to Fisher?!”
“It’s just a little coincidence, you know. Your suspicion of others is really quite off-putting. Why are you so open-hearted towards Fisher?”
“No way, Baemon! What do you want to do? You definitely didn’t have good intentions at the Phoenix banquet thousands of years ago! But Fisher and Valentina are innocent. They cannot die. If you dare to lay hands on them, I’ll—”
Baemon rested her chin on her hand, looking at the fierceErwind in front of her, and softly laughed,
“Are you threatening me?”
Erwind looked at the harmlessly smiling Baemon, a spine-chilling sensation suddenly pierced through his heart, causing his square body to soften and nearly fall to the ground. But Baemon, with a gentle flick of her finger, effortlessly lifted the limp Erwind back up.
Seeing Erwind in such a near-fainting state, Baemon waved her hand, tossing him back into Fisher’s embrace, shaking her head as she laughed,
“I’m not that bad, you know. I have no need to pay attention to your Fisher, even though he looks quite special; I only met him for the first time here in the Northern Region.”
“Really?”
Erwind turned his head with suspicion, looking at Baemon sitting on the camel, and asked.
Baemon nodded with a smile, sincerely replying,
“Mm-hmm, but if you say more about my records to him, I might come to collect some reward. I dislike intermediaries like that, you know.”
“I’m here to harvest the seeds I planted before, and now they are finally ripe; it’s time for harvest season. Just playing around with you is fine, after all, among the demon gods, only I can still walk in the world. Those who can’t stand each other in the dynasty just argue, which is utterly meaningless.”
Baemon gently patted the neck of the camel beneath her, guiding it next to Fisher. As she looked at the unconscious Fisher on the ground, she suddenly thought of something and gently reached out her bare foot hidden under her white robe. This sudden action startled Erwind into flying up to block in front of Baemon, fearing she would do something to Fisher.
“Wait, what are you going to do?!”
But Baemon merely pointed her finger and opened the way. Then she said,
“He bears Eil’s mark, you know, that lazy one who loves to sleep. One day, she unexpectedly left her unique mark on a person; isn’t that interesting? And more interestingly, what would happen if I erased hers and inscribed my mark instead? Would you not be curious?”
Erwind, flying in midair, opened his mouth, looking at the smiling Baemon. For a moment, he couldn’t define whether he was curious or not. But Baemon didn’t care; she just extended her bare foot and gently placed it on Fisher’s chest, gradually crushing the invisible mark on him, then burned an invisible symbol onto him,
“Anyway, apart from the demons, no one will notice this change in the mark, nor will he. But you can’t tell him, or it won’t be fun anymore. If it’s not fun, I might have to look for some other amusement.”
Erwind quickly shut his mouth, fully aware that the “amusement” Baemon referred to would undoubtedly be a thousand times more painful than the discovery of the mark by Eil. Choosing the lesser of two evils, he had no choice but to keep quiet for Baemon.
But perhaps unnoticed even by him, the place where Baemon had just stepped was exactly where the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans lay within Fisher’s arms, and that handbook had shifted slightly due to her touch.
Baemon, sitting on the camel, smiled as she passed by Fisher, Erwind, and Erwind, directly reaching the space between Valentina lying on the ground and the base.
Valentina’s blood had completely flowed into the base, and the scarlet glow flickering from within it indicated that the contamination from the Spirit Realm was descending into the world through it.
“As the god of the base, I will not stand on ceremony.”
Baemon waved her hand from her perch on the camel, and Valentina’s body, already dried up, was thrown into the twisted base. Following that, before the swirling base, she extended her hand. As she gently exerted force with her pale fingers, some twisted and formless existence was easily pulled from within the base.
This seemingly mundane and silent action soon came to an end. However, afterward, the scarlet glow within the twisted base quickly vanished, and the distorted structure began to envelop Valentina’s body, continuously freezing and shrinking.
In Erwind’s view, Baemon, who smiled as she reclaimed something into her embrace, appeared like a fisherman quietly sitting by the river, effortlessly casting her line into the long history of the Northern Region.
“Oh dear, without the base, things here will soon become lively. I must take my leave now; remember to take care, little Erwind. We will meet again.”
” …”
Ignoring Erwind, who constantly scanned her with vigilant eyes, Baemon gently patted the camel’s neck, slowly walking towards the upper part of the Parasol Tree.
That angelic figure gradually walked further away, soon disappearing from Erwind’s view, while simultaneously, the chaotic shadows within the crystals faded away bit by bit as if they had never appeared.
In reality, apart from the complicated gaze of Erwind, who shrank back into Fisher’s arms, it was extremely silent. Yet simultaneously, in the crevice, the enormous shadow of the tree form of the base, tainted by the Spirit Realm, abruptly disappeared from its place. This eerie scene caused the three sides engaged in a difficult tug-of-war in the crevice to momentarily be taken aback, falling into an extremely brief silence.
But this also meant that the stalemate had been broken, leading the chaos toward an unpredictable conclusion.
Please vote, tip, and support! It is very important to me!
Thank you very much for your support!
(End of Chapter)
