Chapter 164: Kill me!!(fixed)
Eventually, even the demons’ cold patience had worn thin.
According to Yaroth, they had stopped the experiments entirely for a few years now, completely abandoning active research after seeing they didn’t make any significant progress.
The project had been officially put on hold, deemed a waste of resources until a new breakthrough could be found.
In fact, this particular laboratory had also been cleared out prior to Noah and Kael’s sudden arrival.
The facility was essentially an empty shell of its former self, since the demon kingdom was already expecting either the local merchant guilds or the high-ranking Magus Order to eventually track the anomalies and come here.
They had already evacuated their primary research data and top-tier personnel, leaving Yaroth behind to oversee the final disposal of the site—a site that had now become his own frozen execution grounds.
Noah’s thoughts spiraled deeper into the abyss of this global conspiracy.
’The shadows aren’t just spread across this continent though...’ he thought, a cold sweat breaking out beneath his mask as he stared at the shivering demon. ’Yaroth hadn’t just said they infiltrated the neighboring kingdoms. He said they’re all over the world...’
Normally, a global infiltration of this scale was completely impossible.
Each continent was entirely isolated, ruthlessly separated from one another by the Black Cloud—a colossal, shifting barrier of death and corrupted energy that no living being could survive crossing.
The only time people could pass through was during the few weeks they cleared every fifty years.
Besides that, the continents existed as lonely islands completely cut off from mutual trade or communication.
Surprisingly though, the laws of the world didn’t seem to apply to these abominations.
According to Yaroth, the shadows could phase through the Black Cloud without sustaining much damage!
Because their physical forms were thoroughly hollowed out and replaced by high-density shadow cores, their energetic composition closely matched the unnatural properties of the barrier itself, allowing them to slip across the dead zones without dying.
’This... is freaking crazy! ’Noah thought, his mind violently reeling from the sheer absurdity of it all,
The whiplash of his reality was staggering. One moment, he was just an ordinary teenager who didn’t know much about the world beyond his immediate surroundings, living a relatively simple life.
But now, in the span of a single day, he was learning different unbelievable secrets going on in the world—secrets that could shatter the sanity of even the wisest scholars in the capital.
They were things he hadn’t even considered possible within the realm of reality.
His common sense had been completely torn to shreds. A creature capable of devouring entire worlds as a casual hobby... a bunch of artificial monsters capable of passing through the lethal Black Cloud without sustaining much damage... it was all too much, too fast!
He clenched his fists tightly, the leather of his gloves groaning under the pressure as he grunted in pure annoyance.
The burden of this forbidden knowledge felt heavy, weighing down on his chest like a physical block of stone. He felt completely overwhelmed by the terrifying grand scale of the universe.
Yet, amidst the chaos of these revelations, a lingering mystery was finally solved.
He now understood why his Eye of Truth hadn’t worked against Yaroth initially. The spell hadn’t failed because of a simple magical countermeasure or a specialized artifact worn by Yaroth.
It had failed because it was directly clashing against the conceptual residual imprint of the Demon Lord himself.
Against a being who was so incomprehensibly powerful that they literally ate worlds as food, Noah realized the bitter truth of his own existence.
He was even lower than an ant at his current strength level. An Arch Magus might be a god among ordinary men, but in the grand cosmic food chain of the Demon Lord, his entire power base was absolutely nothing.
Noah’s gaze drifted toward the dark ceiling of the ruined laboratory as a chilling question echoed in his mind.
’I wonder if even a supreme magus could stand up to an enemy like that...’ he thought, his inner voice trembling slightly under the weight of the realization.
He had always seen the supreme magus rank as the most powerful rank of all.
Like every other aspiring mage in the human realms, he had grown up believing that reaching that legendary peak meant achieving absolute invincibility, believing nothing could ever surpass it.
To him, a supreme magus was the literal definition of a living deity, capable of altering the fate of nations with a single spell.
Now though, hearing about the demon lord who ate worlds like common food... he couldn’t help but doubt whether even a supreme magus could stand up to someone like that.
A being that consumed entire celestial bodies existed on a completely different conceptual plane. Compared to a cosmic devourer, even the ultimate peak of human magical cultivation felt suddenly, terrifyingly small.
The bitter taste of his own insignificance burned in his throat.
’I’m still too weak... too weak...’He thought, a heavy sense of urgency gripping his chest,
Every bit of pride he had possessed was completely stripped away, replaced by the stark realization that his current strength was merely a drop in a vast, dangerous ocean.
He managed to pull himself out of his spiraling thoughts, forcing his focus back to the immediate crisis.
He muttered first, his voice sounding low and urgent beneath his cat mask: "I need to inform the guild about all this... the whole world... is in grave danger!"
The information locked inside this room couldn’t be kept a secret.
If human society didn’t find out about the shadows and the looming cosmic threat immediately, they would be slaughtered without ever knowing who struck the final blow.
Beside him, Kael’s massive, reptilian head lowered in agreement. The ancient dragon nodded, saying: "Yes maste, we should hurry, and bring this... demon with us."
There was thick, venomous disgust in his tone as he spoke the word ’demon’.
The prideful dragon looked down at the three-horned supervisor as if looking at a piece of absolute filth that had stained the deep blue ice sheet of their domain.
Yaroth was far too valuable as a living witness to be executed here; the grand councils of humanity needed to see the proof with their own eyes.
On the shattered stone floor blocks, Yaroth groaned, his consciousness barely clinging to his battered body.
The mental compulsion of the Dragon’s Order had faded just enough to allow his own broken psyche to resurface.
He began muttering incoherently, his bloodshot eyes staring vacantly into the frost: "I’ve failed you... my lord... I’ve failed my world... I’ve failed myself..."
The fanatical light that had once filled him was entirely gone, replaced by the crushing realization that he had betrayally laid bare the ultimate secrets of his homeland.
He looked weakly to Kael, his mangled body trembling as he muttered: "Please... kill me... just kill me... I need to die for what I’ve done!!"
The guilt and terror of his absolute betrayal were tearing his mind apart from the inside out.
His shouts grew more frantic, the high-pitched screams echoing hollowly through the cold, ruined laboratory.
In a desperate, pathetic bid to end his own existence, he started banging his head on the floor even as weak as he was, repeatedly slamming his forehead against the blood-stained ice sheet in a frantic attempt to crack his own skull.
