The following morning, Gwen and Wong left the house early to visit a law firm to finalize a contract. After a detailed discussion, Gwen and the finance lawyer agreed that establishing a trust fund was the best approach to secure her wealth and maintain her privacy. However, to ensure Gwen wasn’t scammed by dubious lawyers and their colleagues, Wong accompanied her, posing as a protective relative.
Meanwhile, Carn was left alone with his crew. He wasted no time initiating his plan. With Gwen and her mother’s safety as his top priority, he decided to construct a dungeon beneath Gwen’s house to serve as both a stronghold and a protective barrier.
Transforming into a sentry gargoyle, Carn’s body disappeared in a flash of energy, teleporting him a kilometer underground. In his place, a humanoid-shaped mass of rock and dirt materialized and collapsed onto the floor as he couldn’t simply materialize within compressed Earth soil.
Reappearing in the pitch-black depths of the earth, Carn found himself surrounded by layers of ancient minerals, compressed dirt, and immovable bedrock. He examined the density and composition of the subterranean environment, scanning for any potential man-made structures or geological instabilities that could interfere with his plans.
Fortunately, nothing man-made was within his detection range. Satisfied with the location, Carn concluded that this untouched expanse would make the perfect heart of his dungeon.
He activated the dungeon core, and the egg glowed in bloody red light. As the core pulsed, the surrounding minerals and rock within a 500-meter diameter disintegrated into raw Aether, which the dungeon core absorbed.
The core grew slightly larger, now the size of a small melon, and hovered in the hollowed-out chamber. Under its influence, the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cavern were transformed and reinforced with a crystalline structure imbued with Aether.
The dungeon’s foundation was now impervious to external pressures. Whether it was the weight of Gwen’s house above, tectonic shifts, or even Mount Everest on top, this sanctuary would stand firm.
But Carn wasn’t finished. This underground chamber was merely the heart of his dungeon, the core that anchored his domain. The true purpose of the dungeon lay in its influence over the surface territory. By establishing this domain, Carn could justify defensive measures, granting him the legitimate authority to eliminate intruding humans without fear of holy power repercussions or moral dilemmas.
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Channeling more energy into the core, a crimson beam erupted skyward, piercing through layers of soil and stone until it broke through the surface. The beam then shifted to a luminous white, forming a rectangular beacon that stretched skyward and pierced the clouds.
The domain’s boundaries expanded, encompassing a 100-meter radius around Gwen’s house. Everything within this perimeter, including the land, the house, and the air above, was now under Carn’s control.
For now, the basic structure was complete. This secure foundation would serve as a sanctuary for Gwen and her mother, as well as a strategic base of operations for Carn. The labyrinthine passages, traps, and intricate chambers could be excavated and developed later.
Satisfied with the initial setup, Carn took a break and teleported back to the house. He also cleaned the dirt and minerals that he had pulled out from the soil, removing the evidence.
While Carn busied himself cleaning the house, Rosa, Gawain, and Merlin stepped outside to examine the dungeon’s new boundary. The transparent beacon emanating from the dungeon core surrounded the front yard and backyard. However, a portion of the land spilled over onto the neighbor’s property.
Gawain stared at the boundary with a worried frown. "Won’t this cause a commotion if the neighbors notice?"
Rosa remained unfazed, "Humans without Aether sensitivity can’t see this. If they can’t detect vengeful spirits’ Aether, they definitely can’t see the beacon."
"Fair enough. But what about hunters? They’re trained for this sort of thing."
"As I said, if they can’t perceive Aether residue or spiritual haze, they’re blind to this as well. Only saints, holy spirit’s incarnations, or true Aether users can see it."
Gawain sighed in relief and continued admiring the beacon’s silent radiance. Meanwhile, Merlin, the ever-curious floating grimoire, hovered closer to the boundary. The faint glow of the beacon seemed off to him, dim and uncharacteristic of what he knew about dungeons in Aether World.
"Something’s not right," Merlin murmured, prompting Gawain and Rosa to glance at him.
"What do you mean?"
"The color. According to the records in my grimoire, a dungeon core’s boundary reflects its creator’s nature. For a Demon Lord, it should glow crimson, not transparent. Transparent and white borders are… unusual."
Gawain was puzzled. "But this seems normal. Pebble’s former dungeon had the same color."
"No, no! Crimson is for Demon Lords. Blue is man-made. Green is for trial grounds, designed to help others. Yellow comes from archfiends or strong demons. There’s no record of white or transparent dungeon boundaries!"
Rosa and Gawain exchanged confused glances. From their experience, Carn’s dungeons, as well as those of his father, Overlord Impermanence, always displayed transparent or white borders. They had never paid much attention to dungeon boundary colors, as they usually relied on spiritual perception rather than physical sight.
"It’s normal, right?" Rosa laughed nervously, trying to brush off Merlin’s concerns.
Merlin wasn’t convinced. Suspecting there was more to this anomaly, he floated back into the house to question Carn directly. Inside, he found the so-called Demon Lord mopping the floor, focused on removing stubborn dirt stains.
Hovering in front of Carn, Merlin wasted no time. "Lord Pebble, I’ve been meaning to ask. What exactly was your relationship with Demon Overlord Impermanence?"
Carn didn’t bother looking up. "He’s my creator, somewhat like my father. So what?"
"Did he use his Aether to create you?"
Carn paused, leaning on the mop stick with a bemused smirk. "Probably. Never really cared to ask."
"What materials or ingredients were used in your creation?"
Carn flinched, narrowing his eyes at the floating grimoire. "Shouldn’t you, the great Akashic Record, already know? Isn’t your whole shtick knowing everything, past, present, and future?"
Merlin sighed, and his pages drooped. "I’ve told you before. My knowledge is limited to Earth. I can only access fragments of information about your world when they cross dimensional rifts. If you don’t know something, I can’t magically pull it from thin air."
Carn snorted. "Well, that’s too bad, then. If I knew every detail, shouldn’t it be recorded in your fancy grimoire in the first place?"
Merlin fell silent, unable to counter Carn’s logic. Still, a nagging theory at the back of his mind compelled him to test his hypothesis.
"Lord Pebble, do you think Overlord Impermanence used his mythical dungeon core to create you?"
Carn’s movements slowed. He glanced at his chest and his arms, then let out a dry chuckle. "If that were true, every big shot and their grandmothers, Lich Kings, Mother Tree, every Demon Lord, would be bending over backward to curry favor with me. Instead, what happened? They all tried to kill me, well except Mother Tree. I even died once. Doesn’t sound like the treatment for someone made from a mythical dungeon core, does it?"
Merlin remained silent. Carn’s dismissive attitude didn’t align with his suspicions, yet he couldn’t ignore the pieces of the puzzle that seemed to fit. For now, without definitive evidence, Merlin shelved his theory, but he couldn’t completely let it go.
As Carn returned to cleaning, Merlin floated away, silently vowing to uncover the truth.
.
.
In Wuhan, China, chaos erupted under the cover of darkness. Skeleton soldiers, zombies, ghouls, vampires, and wraiths poured out of a newly formed rift like a malevolent tide. Without warning, the undead swarmed the city, scaling buildings with unnatural agility and breaking into shelters. Screams echoed through the streets as humans were dragged into the night.
Meanwhile, in Central Park, New York, a rift tore open in broad daylight, catching the bustling city completely off guard. Undead creatures spilled forth. Zombie canines emerged first, mauling a tourist on the sidewalk without warning. More agile zombies leaped over fences, and their rotting limbs propelled them toward fleeing pedestrians and stationary cars. The chaos instantly paralyzed the city, and the local forces were deployed to intercept the onslaught.
In Paris, beneath the iconic Eiffel Tower, a massive rift disgorged waves of undead rats the size of dogs. Their piercing screeches echoed across the Champ de Mars as they swarmed the area, targeting anything that moved. The creatures tore into every carbon-based life form they encountered, leaving trails of carnage in their wake. Following the rats, armored skeleton soldiers emerged from the rift. The same as what the others had done, they broke into buildings and began hunting, reaping human souls.
At the bottom of the Ganges River in India, another rift opened, releasing hordes of skeleton soldiers armed with poison-coated swords and spears. Rising from the murky depths, they climbed onto the riverbanks. Once on land, they launched a relentless assault on the local population, cutting down humans without remorse. Sacred waters turned crimson as bodies fell, and the air filled with the stench of death.
Though only four rifts had opened, their impact was devastating. The undead swarmed through the cities like locusts, leaving ruin and despair in their wake. Because of their sudden emergence, the media caught wind of the event, and news stations unveiled the development to the world.
.
.
Entering the world through the New York Rift, Kaim Arial gazed at the chaotic city, where he used to live before his soul was transmigrated to the Aether World. He reminisced the dark past when he was unjustly murdered by a robber. He wondered if the police managed to capture the assailant yet.
Shaking the dark thought away, Kaim looked behind him. Mordred also exited the portal and gazed at the modern world.
"How dirty," Mordred complained.
"Yes, very dirty. No Aether in the air at all."
Mordred laughed, "No. I didn’t mean this world is dirty because of the air."
"What is it, then?"
Mordred grinned as he looked up. His hollow eyes found three holy spirits, who were hovering above them, glaring at the undead army.
"Them. The dirtiest scum."
"…I see," Kaim smirked as he agreed. "Let’s teach these bastards a lesson."