Chapter 489: Grim Reaper Rene’s hair blew back as the explosions continued for several minutes. There were quite a lot of runes on the ground, hundreds of them stretching back along their path... when they finally ended, the only thing that remained was smoke rising in thick black columns. ’I wonder why...’ Azel thought, staring down at the carnage below. The first time he came here, he had been immediately caught by the King of the Underworld and snatched up like a toy. But so far, even with all this racket, all these explosions lighting up the darkness, the King didn’t carry him again. It brought about questions but he let go of the thought first. He smiled at Rene and then carried him on his shoulder, adjusting his grip so the boy was comfortable. "Let’s go... There’s a huge hole here." He said. They slowly went in the opposite direction of the cliff’s edge. At the end of it, maybe fifty meters from where they stood, there was a huge hole expanding across the ground. It stretched from the edge of the cliff for over twenty or so meters, a massive gap in the earth itself. On the other side was another cliff, though he could see a sea of souls flowing above it. Blue orbs drifted through the air like fireflies. ’If we pass here, we can reach the Soul Sea.’ He thought, studying the geography. It was clear movement from there on out. They just had to follow the souls to get to the world’s center where the castle waited. "Hold on." He raised his hand to stop Irielle and Mira from moving forward. He picked up a big rock from the ground. It was maybe the size of his torso. Without pause, he threw the whole thing over the edge with a grunt of effort. The rock shot through the air in a clean arc. However, as soon as it got halfway across the gap, a force suddenly took over. The large rock shot toward the ground like it had been yanked down by invisible hands. There was no splash as the shadows at the bottom extended outward and consumed the rock completely. It vanished like it had never existed. Azel saw a tab instantly appear in his vision. [Darkness Harvester, Rank 2] ’So there is a monster here.’ He thought, his jaw tightening. The girls as well as Rene looked scared. That could happen to any one of them. One wrong step and they’d be pulled down into that darkness. ’Another Rank 2? How many are there in this damn place?’ Gwendolyn floated closer to him, her ghostly form flickering nervously. "Azel, maybe we should find another way around?" "There is no other way." He looked over the edge once more, peering into the shadows below. "This is the shortcut. Every other path takes us through settlements." He turned back to Irielle while handing Rene to Mira. The boy went to her easily, though his eyes were worried. "There’s a monster underneath, we have to defeat it to pass. I’m going to summon light and go down there so when I call your name, you’ll use your lance." Azel said, already planning the attack sequence in his head. Irielle was against the idea immediately. "Master, I am your servant... you need to send me out instead." She stepped forward, her green eyes looked intense and her grip tightened on her lance. "Let me fight for you. That’s what I’m here for." "You don’t know what you’re fighting yet." Azel said. "I don’t need to know. I just need to kill it." He almost smiled at that. The woman had confidence at least. But he jumped the next moment without responding to her protest. He fell through the air and reached where the rock had reached and a force began pulling him downward, it felt stronger than gravity. The Grimoire of Light began flipping pages as it appeared behind him, manifesting from his soul. The book glowed with golden light as pages turned on their own. It stopped at a specific page. "Let..." He was pulled to the ground faster. His Bone sword that had been enhanced with Aurum Hand appeared in his hand, the weapon gleaming with reinforced durability. "There..." Light began sprouting from the grimoire, pouring out in waves. It banished the shadows immediately, pushing them back like dawn breaking through night. Several tendrils made of pure darkness shot in his direction from below, writhing like living things. "Be..." He landed on one tendril and ran along it. His boots found purchase on the shadowy surface even though it looked insubstantial. With these long tentacles reaching up toward him, the monster had to be big. Probably massive. "Light." From the top of the cliff, the three watching were forced to shut their eyes. An immense amount of light poured from the hole completely, turning the darkness into day. It was followed by the screaming of the monster, a sound like metal scraping on metal. The darkness was completely banished in seconds. Azel sighted the real monster through the light. It was smaller than he expected, maybe only three meters across. It was just a mass of shadows with something solid at its center. He closed the distance, running along another tendril as it tried to grab him. He cut through one that got too close. The core was visible through its transparent shadowy body... it was a crystal that pulsed with dark energy. He stabbed into it with his Bone sword, putting all his strength behind the thrust. The crystal shattered with a sound like breaking glass. Immediately the darkness that existed in this hole completely died down and the tendrils evaporated making the shadows retreat into nothing. He jumped up using the last remnants of the tendrils as platforms and landed on the other side of the cliff with a heavy thud. "There was no need for that... the monster was quite weak." He said, brushing dust off his pants then he noticed that his right hand suddenly felt strange. It was cold and numb. "Papa... your arm!" Rene cried out from across the gap, his voice high with panic. Azel looked at his own hand. He saw that it had turned into shadows. Black tendrils were spreading up from his fingertips, crawling toward his wrist like living ink. They moved fast. [Darkness Possession is bein-] He cut off his own arm without hesitation. The Bone sword flashed and his hand fell to the ground, severed cleanly at the wrist. Blood sprayed but he didn’t make a sound. Then he blasted it with light from the Grimoire, watching it reduce to ash in seconds. The shadows writhed and screamed as they burned. [You have defeated Darkness Harvester, Rank 2] ’Fuck.’ He thought as the stub of his hand bled, crimson drops hitting the black stone. However, he used healing magic immediately. Golden light covered the wound and completely regenerated it... flesh grew back, bones reformed and skin sealed over. In seconds he had a new hand. ’It spread itself on me...’ He flexed his new fingers, testing them. They worked fine and were as good as the original. Regardless, he focused on the girls across the gap. "You guys can come over to this side." He called out. Soon, the girls had leapt over with Rene. Mira jumped first with the boy in her arms, landing gracefully. Irielle followed with her lance in hand, touching down beside them. They were reunited once more. Immediately Irielle looked at his new hand, her green eyes scanning it with concern. She grabbed it before he could pull away. "Master... are you okay?" She asked as she knelt down and ran her fingers through his hand, checking every finger. She pressed on the palm and bent each knuckle slightly. "It feels okay..." "Because it is okay." He said while pulling his hand back. "You don’t need to be worried." "N-no! You only got hurt because of my uselessness as your servant Master." She intervened and lowered herself further, practically prostrating. Her breasts shook with the movement. "Please punish me. I failed to protect you." "You didn’t fail anything. I didn’t call you." "But I should have insisted! I should have jumped down myself!" "Uh—" "Please focus." Mira interrupted sharply. She dragged Azel by the hand and Rene by the other, pulling them both away from Irielle’s dramatics. "We don’t have time for this." Irielle stood up quickly and followed, looking chastised but still worried. They came down from the cliff and finally landed on a field of black grass. The blades were thin and dry, crunching under their boots. It was the first plant life they’d seen in the Underworld. This was the Soul Sea. There was a sea of souls above them, flowing through the air like a river. The blue orbs glowed and moved in the north direction. Thousands of them and they were all drifting in the same direction. They moved in currents and eddies, swirling around each other. This would lead to the castle. ’I purposely chose this route to avoid settlements.’ Azel thought, watching the souls flow overhead. There were settlements that handled the conversion of souls in the Underworld. Processing centers where souls were judged and sorted. They had Grim Reapers stationed with them, maintaining order and enforcing the underworld’s laws. Everything in the underworld was dead and they were alive. So if they got to a settlement, they would be attacked by the Grim Reapers immediately. ’I don’t know how strong one is but all I know is that they can reap souls out of the bodies of the living.’ He thought, recalling the information from the map. It had a whole section on them with warnings in red text. ’Well, we just have to follow the sea of soul—’ He leaned his head to the right completely and something shot past his head with a whistling sound. It collided with the cliff wall behind him, embedding itself in the stone with a crack. His eyes widened as a strange aura covered the weapon. It yanked itself free and shot back into the hands of someone that stood about ten meters away from them. Azel hadn’t even noticed him. It was a skeleton wearing a black robe with a badge pinned to the chest. The badge had a skull symbol on it and the robe fluttered in wind that didn’t exist. The holes that could be mistaken as its eyes glowed with pale blue light. "There are living beings... in the underworld?" He wondered aloud. His voice sounded bold, echoing slightly. His weapon glowed even more and he took a stance, holding it in both hands. "I thought we were destroying them in the world above." Azel walked forward slowly, positioning himself between the skeleton and his group. His hand went to his Bone sword. The Grim Reaper’s eyes widened or at least tried to. The blue lights in his sockets flared brighter and he looked at Rene standing behind Azel and then back to Azel himself. His skeletal head tilted. "What are you doing... with the Prince of the Underworld?" The Grim Reaper asked. His voice changed, becoming more cautious. Azel didn’t answer but he grinned. He held his Bone Sword in a specific stance, the blade angled just right. "I’ve decided on what I will do. I will kill you and retrieve the Prince. King Bael’zaroth will be very pleased." The Reaper said, adjusting its grip on its weapon. It took a stance with his knees bent and weapon ready. "He’s been searching for the boy." In the next instant, Azel pushed off the ground. The world turned white around him as starlight poured from his body. His speed increased dramatically. He made a bee-line for the Grim Reaper and slashed through it with starlight trailing behind his blade. The sword cut through bone and robe alike, meeting almost no resistance. The world returned to normal as the Reaper fell into two halves. The pieces scattered on the ground, bones clattering against black stone. ’I doubt it will be that eas—’ He couldn’t even finish the thought. He flipped backward instinctively, trusting his combat sense. The Grim Reaper emerged from the ground directly beneath where he’d been standing. Its body reformed from shadows and bone, pulling itself together from nothing. It slashed its weapon upward in a vicious arc. He dodged it, feeling the blade pass through the air near his face and it was close enough to feel the cold coming off it. He landed in a crouch and took a stance as the sea of souls continued flowing above them, indifferent to the fight below. "You are a very peculiar living being..." The Reaper said as it took a fighting stance, its bones clicking together as it moved. Its grip on the weapon shifted. "Fast. Skilled. But your time ends now." With that, it dashed in Azel’s direction. Its speed was incredible... much faster than the speed of the previous attack making the ground crack under its feet as it moved. Azel raised his hand up and signaled to Irielle with two fingers. She delivered immediately, reading his intent perfectly. She threw her lance at the back of the Reaper that wasn’t paying attention to her. The weapon turned ethereal mid-flight, becoming translucent. It shot forward like a bullet. Azel moved out of the way at the last second, dodging both the Reaper’s weapon and Irielle’s lance. The lance pierced the reaper from behind. It went straight through its ribcage and stuck him to a rocky wall behind them, pinning him there completely. The ethereal weapon passed through bone like it was nothing. It pierced through his chest and he struggled with it, his skeletal hands grabbing at the shaft. His fingers couldn’t get purchase on the ethereal surface. His Reaper weapon fell out of his skeleton hand, clattering to the ground uselessly. "What... what kind of weapon..." The Reaper’s voice was strained and maybe even afraid. "This isn’t... normal..." It was not only attacking his physical form but the soul itself. His bones were merely a vessel after all. The real damage was happening on a deeper level, tearing at whatever animated him. Then what followed was an ethereal explosion.