Chapter 201: Bamut Underground Prison (1)
“A portrait of Arisha?”
Chun Yeowun looked at the portrait with surprise and doubt.
The face that was a blazing flame resembled the appearance of his Advanced Awakening, but Chun Yeowun couldn’t understand why Arisha had the same form.
“Isn’t Arisha a God?”
Chun Yeowun was a member of the Sky Demon Order, meaning that he also worshipped a Demon although his God was absolute.
He was even considered the Demon God because he had a position that other humans couldn’t reach.
“God… does this term refer to the transcendent being that humans speak of?”
“Right.”
“Hmm… from whom did Master hear about Arisha?”
“Shakena.”
“Shakena? The Heart Hunter?”
The Grand Duke looked like he was trying to remember anything he knew about Shakena. Actually, although he was a Grand Duke and didn’t take note of any demons of Count title or lower, he was aware of Shakena because she was known for her Phasing ability.
“Did you bring that child?”
He asked with a bit of anticipation.
He and the other Grand Dukes coveted her, but she constantly refused to obey anyone other than the Demon King’s command.
“Master is truly blessed with talent. It is rare for that child to come under one’s command.”
“…”
He spoke calmly, but an underlying bitterness could be felt. Unexpectedly, it seemed like Grand Duke Kaliaf liked to joke around lightly. In fact, this was why the demons under his command followed him so willingly.
“Why does it matter whom I heard it from?”
“I guess the current generation thinks of Arisha’s existence that way.”
“What do you mean?”
In response to Chun Yeowun’s question, Grand Duke Kaliaf stood in front of the frame.
“We have a very close relationship with the planet Earth, probably because Earth was the first place our gate opened to.”
“I didn’t know that.”
While they talking about Arisha, the topic of Earth had come out, intriguing Chun Yeowun.
At Chun Yeowun’s response, Grand Duke approached a bookshelf near the frame and pulled out a book.
The book was written in English and not the demon language.
“Conscious beings form language and writing to express their will and leave records. And such a language system forms a culture which soon grows into a tribe or a group.”
“So?”
“It is the same with our clan. Naturally, the clan created its own language.”
And he pulled out another book, which had words Chun Yeowun couldn’t understand.
The language written looked similar to what was written on the scroll with Arisha’a armor.
“I think the current generation will soon start using the language of Earth with ours and create a natural flow.”
“What do you mean?”
“Arisha… we now call it that out of convenience, but it was supposed to be called Larisha.”
“Larisha?”
“It’s difficult to pronounce, so we naturally called it Arisha, as our warlike clan has long revered the darkness and fire.”
“Hmm.”
At that, Chun Yeowun felt a strange familiarity.
The Sky Demon Order, too, revered a Demon as its sacred image.
The word Demon meant ‘evil’ for the Sky Demon Order, but it also meant ‘of darkness’.
“Where do you think Larisha came from?”
Hearing the Grand Duke’s question, Chun Yeowun thought of ‘Risha’, which seemed familiar.
Risha was none other than the nickname that the other demons were calling him.
“Didn’t you say that Risha meant the best warrior of your clan?”
“Right. But Risha means ‘fire’, before being a warrior.”
“Fire?”
“Our clan thinks the best warrior is a hot, burning flame.”
With that, Chun Yeowun looked at the portrait again, and opened his mouth when he looked at the black flame wearing the armor.
“Then the La means darkness?”
“Correct, you’re smarter than I thought. It means darkness and fear.”
“So that’s why this being is called Larisha?”
“Right.”
Larisha, or rather Arisha, literally meant ‘Black Flame’ to the demon clan, and realizing this, Chun Yeowun could guess the Grand Duke’s intention now.
The Grand Duke had told him that Arisha’s existence didn’t mean the God he thought, but actually referred to someone who had actually existed.
“Today’s generation doesn’t know all of this. Larisha….No, Arisha is a legendary being in our clan who became a symbol.”
As if remembering something, Grand Duke Kaliaf looked at the portrait.
“Larisha used to exist… is what you’re trying to say?”
“Right, which is why i wanted to answer your question.”
“My question…”
This only made Chun Yeowun more curious.
Why was the form in this portrait in the same as his Advanced Awakening? It felt too similar to be a coincidence.
“Then, answer what I asked.”
“Even this Grand Duke doesn’t know.”
Chun Yeowun snorted at those words. It had only been a few hours since he even learned of Advanced Awakening, but now was fully engrossed in its underlying significance.
“This time I’ll ask. If a demon named Arisha actually existed—whoever they were—then why are they now a legend?”
“Arisha is the predecessor of the Demon King.”
“Predecessor the Demon King?”
Chun Yeowun didn’t see this coming.
The demons themselves were old, so of course they had age-old ancestors. However, Chun Yeowun had overlooked just one thing: their life.
“The same Demon King who has ruled the clan for eight thousand years.”
“Eight thousand?”
Chun Yeowun’s was surprised: the lifespan of the demons was unimaginable for a human.
Chun Yeowun, with his immortality, could definitely live that long, but it was still amazing to hear.
“Wow, he’s lived for a long time.”
“Huhuhu, even I, the Grand Duke, have lived for more than five thousand years.”
“Five thousand… Huh?!”
The lifespan of demons was strangely long. The reason Grand Duke Kaliaf must have thought of himself as the candidate of the Demon King was because he lived the longest.
His longevity was a sign of strength and comfort to the clan.
“Why does Master think that I wanted to have a conversation with you like this for?”
Chun Yeowun looked around. He could feel the entire castle with his senses but couldn’t hear anything; the place was soundproofed.
“Is the answer something that shouldn’t leave this place?”
Grand Duke nodded.
“Arisha is just a myth for the demons in the current generation, but for me, Arisha is a thing of the past.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Arisha suddenly disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Actually, this is something I heard from our current Demon King, who was a Grand Duke at the time.”
The current Demon King who disappeared used to hold the Grand Duke title.
The current generation of demons knew that he was someone recognized by the previous Demon King and inherited the title from them, but the truth wasn’t known by many.
“The current King had said that Arisha no longer existed and that he inherited Arisha’s power.”
The Demon King’s position was a result of ignoring all the laws and procedures.
Using the King’s precedent, Kaliaf was a candidate for the Demon King. According to the law, the greatest warrior must challenge the Demon King in a battle held by the Grand Dukes.
When the challenger’s power was recognized, the succession was then prepared.
“So what happened?”
“It’s as you can guess.”
“You just allowed it?”
“There was no way for me to to allow it or not.”
The clan was at war at the time, as they weren’t the only strong clain on their planet: there was another clan with almost as much power as them.
“We had been going through a long war with Talisha’s clan, and it was so fierce that if the balance had been shaken just a little, we would have collapsed.”
Talisha’s clan.
They were known as the white, or pure, ones.
During the war between clans for power on the planet, the demons decided that it would be dangerous if one of the Grand Duke didn't follow the rules and had a battle with the Demon King, so Kaliaf had to accept the results.
“It also wouldn’t have been a fair fight. Aside from what happened, he had inherited the spirit of Arisha within him and was already being called the Dragon King.”
Grand Duke Kalaif was smart, and it was only because of his good judgement that the clan had survived this long.
Of course, many sacrifices were made along the way.
“After the end of the third long war with that clan, I decided that I wanted to try to uncover the hidden truth.”
“Uncover the hidden truth… why would you do that?”
“Arisha was someone I truly admired. It was hard to believe that such an existence would just get up and disappear without a word.”
Out of his own curiosity, he investigated Arisha’s traces and tried to figure out all the deeds of the previous Demon King that would lead to a reason for him to disappear.
But, it was too late to find any worthy leads. Due to the long war, Arisha’s supporters were killed and those in the royal castle were all under the current Demon King.
“The Demon King noticed that I was moving differently and warned me.”
“You mean no more searching?”
“Right.”
Grand Duke Kaliaf hadn’t ignored that warning; the war was basically over, but because too many in the clan had died, rebuilding would take a long time and he needed to devote his efforts to helping the clan..
In the midst of it, Grand Duke Kaliaf knew that if he decided to look beyond his doubts and uncover the truth, the internal riots would destroy the clan.
‘He has the qualities of agood leader.’
Chun Yeowun understood that much about the Grand Duke. Although they had only known one another for a couple hours, Grand Duke Kaliaf was by no means the type to avoid fighting or death just because he was afraid of something.
Therefore, he must have been seriously worried about the clan to heed the Demon King’s warning.
“Well, you didn’t really have any leads to find Arisha anyways.”
“That’s not all.”
“What?”
“At that time, there was a strange rumor going around.”
“Rumor?”
“The rumor came from one of his aides who claimed that Arisha abandoned this planet and left for another planet.”
“Another planet?”
Upon hearing the rumor, the Grand Duke tried to find out who this information came from. However, despite the Grand Duke’s searching extensively for the source, the aide’s existence had suddenly vanished.
Because the Demon King decreed that those who spread false rumors would be punished by law, no one talked about it again.
Listening to the Grand Duke, Chun Yeowun clicked his tongue.
“So in the end, you couldn’t find anything certain about Arisha’s whereabouts?”
No solid evidence or information was found; the Grand Duke, who seemed embarrassed at his incompetence, stroked his beard.
“Ahem. Unfortunately, that was the end result. But considering the Demon King’s reaction, I thought that the rumors that Arisha disappeared made sense.”
“You mean about Arisha leaving for another planet?”
“Yes.”
At that, Chun Yeowun frowned and said,
“So where are you going with this? You think that I am that Arisha who left to another planet?”
“…”
The Grand Duke didn’t answer and just looked Chun Yeowun in the eye. His eyes weren’t confident, revealing that he did have some doubts.
“Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. I was born on Earth and my mother and father were humans,” Chun Yeowun said.
“Earth…You were born there?”
“Yes.”
Hearing Chun Yeowun’s confirmation, the Grand Duke's eyes fluttered. Seeing the seriousness in Chun Yeowun’s eyes, he was convinced that Chun Yeowun could be related to Arisha, but now he was completely flustered.
‘Ha... No way...”
With a serious expression, the Grand Duke asked.
“Then why is Master, a human from Earth, gathering Arisha’s weapons?”
This was the second reason that convinced the Grand Duke: the weapons of Arisha that Chun Yeowun had. At first he thought Chun Yeowun only had the sword and wheel, but he was shocked to learn that he in fact had five of them.
“Hmm...”
Hearing the Grand Duke’s question, Chun Yeowun fell into thought.
After seeing the drawing in Hagar's safe, Chun Yeowun had decided to collect them, and he was quite faithful to his greed.
However, it would be difficult for Chun Yeowun to explain that his desire came from greed and the way he acquired the weapons were unexpected in most cases because he never deliberately went anywhere to find them.
Everything had occurred by chance.
‘Coincidence…’
Wasn’t it said that if coincidences overlapped, then it must be fate?
As if the weapons were meant to be owned by Chun Yeowun from the beginning, they kept finding their way to him, starting with the Sky Demon Sword.
‘This is strange.’
It felt like he was unlocking something hidden inside his mind.
Grand Duke Kaliaf had inquired about it in a way that caused ripples within the calm lake that was Chun Yeowun’s mind.
Woong!
A red light flashed from the entrance of the room, causing Grand Duke Kaliaf to take a deep breath and say,
“Phew, we’ll talk about this later. It seems like a guest has arrived.”
When Grand Duke Kaliaf opened the door, Duke Bevman was standing there with a puzzled face, prompting the Grand Duke to ask.
“Bevman, didn’t you say you were going to Bamut?”
After the oath, Bevman did lead some of the forces to the underground prison to save his daughter Marquis Irene, so why he was here?
Thud!
Going down on one knee, Duke Bevman asked,
“Your Highness, please help me.”
“What happened?”
“The field to enter Bamut isn’t opening.”
“It isn’t opening?”
The field, or force field, was the location of the entrance to the prison.
The force field wasn’t artificially created but rather a natural phenomenon that occurred at the entrance to the canyon where this dungeon was naturally formed. Originally, the force field was opened using a special device.
“The force field seems to have gotten stronger.”
“Hmm...”
At those words, Grand Duke Kalaif couldn’t hide the shock on his face. The force field caused by the planet’s natural movement was a collection of energy so great that even the Grand Duke couldn’t penetrate it.
Even if they could use all of their energy to go in, they wouldn’t be able to come out.
Chun Yeowun said,
“Can’t we just use the gate?”
In reponse, Duke Bevman replied,
“It’s possible to use it to go in, but not to come out.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Inside Bamut prison, measures were taken to ensure that gates couldn’t open to the outside.”
These measures twere taken to prevent the prisoners from escaping, meaning that entry was possible but exit was not.
Unable to look at Chun Yeowun, Duke Bevman spoke in a low voice.
‘Phew.’
His daughter was trapped there because of the plan they had come up with, but now that he had taken the oath of allegiance, there was no way he could try anything. Chun Yeowun asked,
“Then should we the forcefield?”
Duke Bevman couldn’t hide his complicated feelings and exclaimed,
“Y-yes!”
Bamut Underground Prison.
It was the only entrance and was blocked by the force field, which was why the he prison had lasted for so long and no one had ever escaped.
However, that wasn’t the only thing scary about this place: the fact that the force field was at the entrance meant that a different force was acting from the inside.
The power at the source of this force field made the demons seem helpless.
Tatatak!
Someone was running through the dark dungeon: Marquis Irene.
“Gasp…”
Because the gravity inside stronger than outside, it was too hard for Marquis Irene to run. She had no more energy left to use and the air inside Bamut made her weak and exhausted.
Wheik!
She could hear footsteps following her, which only made her more anxious; Marquis Irene’s goal wasn’t to talk with those following her.
Her clothes were torn, almost looking like rags.
“Damn it!”
Curses sprang out of her mouth as she ran. This was the most terrifying situation a demon had probably ever been in, and in addition the place was so dark that she couldn’t even see anything.
Woong!
The only thing that motivated her to run was her ability that wasn’t displaying anything, meaning that no one was around.
As long as she could use her ability to scout out her pursuants, she could maneuver away from their grasp.
She glanced behind as she continued to run.
[284,000; 179,000; 234,000; 365,000; 220,000]
She was shocked at the outrageous numbers.
Every single number her ability analyzed seemed to show scarily increasing power levels. She didn’t know if this was because the prisoners were survivors here or prisoners for a long while, but she knew for sure that they were way too strong for her to handle.
‘I can’t get caught.’
If she was caught, she would turn into their toy and die: she had to survive and get out of there.
She kept running with that thought in her mind guiding her.
Bang!
Suddenly, the floor was crushed as something popped out and grabbed her ankle.
“Uak!”
Shocked, she tried to use her power to remove its gasp, but instead of moving away, the thing that grabbed her instead lifted her up.
“Ack!”
Caught upside down now, Marquis Irene screamed out of pure terror. She couldn’t see very well because she was in the dark but she knew that it was a prisoner.
And, of course, that she was upside down.
“Huhuhu, a woman.”
It looked like the prisoner was licking his lips.
Marquis Irene felt the goosebumps appear across her arms and along her body.
Chak!
Terrified, she stretched out her hand and spewed out a spider web-like substance, but the prisoner holding her tore it down.
[492,000]
This number filled her with the most fear she had ever felt, as this man was twice as strong as her. She wouldn’t be able to even put up a fight.
“D-d-do you know who I am! I…”
Tear!
Her top was ripped, revealing her bare body as she went silent out of fear.
“Yes, yes, you are a woman.”
The savage in the dark drooled out of lust; here in the prison, she was no longer Marquis Irene but just a woman.
The savage, smelling her bare body, hummed with pleasure,
“Hmm, nice fragrance.”
With that, she screamed in panic.
“Kyaaak!”
Then, in the dark space, a green flash-like beam shone and pierced the prisoner’s shoulder.
“Kuak!”
Thud!
Luckily, the Marquis was released and she fell to the floor. Pierced in shoulder, the savage prisoner seemed to be in pain as he looked back at the source of the light.
Woong!
In the darkness, a green glow was emitted as a strong presence appeared.
Seeing this, the prisoner was frightened and bowed to the newcomer, shouting,
“K-King!”
It seemed that he was afraid of the being with the green eyes.
A grotesque voice came from the green-eyed being,
“Everyone in the underground belongs to the King.”
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