Chapter 74 : Tartarux
The soldier froze, stunned by the question.
The others who heard it imdiately fell silent.
The air around them grew tense as though Axton had just ntioned sothing forbidden.
"Sir..." the soldier said hesitantly, glancing at his comrades. "Why do you ask about that place?"
Axton didn’t answer imdiately.
His mind flashed back to the events of God Domain.
He t the soldier’s nervous gaze. "Because I have to go there."
A few of the n exchanged shocked glances.
"Sir," another soldier spoke up quickly, shaking his head, "the demon realm isn’t sowhere mortals like us can go. It’s chaos itself. Even the strongest of us rarely return from there alive."
Axton’s eyes narrowed.
"I didn’t ask whether it’s dangerous," he said quietly. "I asked where it is."
The soldiers fell completely silent, their faces pale.
None of them dared to speak further.
Axton could tell from their reactions that they knew sothing about it. Sothing they were too afraid to say out loud.
He clenched his fists again, his gaze cold and determined.
"I’ll find it myself then," he muttered under his breath.
The wind howled softly across the clouds, carrying his voice into the distance.
One of the soldiers abruptly chipped in seeing how determined Axton was about finding it whether they wished to help him or not. "The demon realm is not a place for our kind to even dream of venturing."
"What does that even an?" Axton asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.
"Our world is called Xearth, and the demon realm is known as Tartarux," one of the soldiers explained, his tone filled with unease. "Naturally, the beings from Tartarux are far stronger than us. It’s not wise for humans or anything from Xearth to enter there."
’Xearth? Tartarux?’ Axton repeated inwardly, his expression hardening as he absorbed those strange words.
None of it made sense.
He had never heard those nas before. Not once.
But as he stood there in silence, sothing cold and unsettling began creeping through his mind.
The more he thought about it, the more the pieces started connecting in ways he didn’t like.
’No... no way.’
Axton’s eyes widened slightly as his thoughts spiraled. ’Xearth? Could that be... a version of Earth?’
The realization hit him like a sudden jolt of electricity.
If Xearth existed as a counterpart or perhaps a parallel version of his old world, then what exactly was this place?
Was he truly inside a virtual world... or had he stumbled into sothing far beyond digital boundaries?
’Is this really just a ga?’ he thought, his chest tightening. ’Or... is it an accumulation of different worlds rging together?’
The deeper he thought about it, the more the lines between fiction and reality blurred. It was as if the world itself was trying to tell him sothing he wasn’t ready to understand.
Shaking his head violently, Axton forced the thoughts away. "Not now," he muttered under his breath.
"Focus."
He glanced back at the n waiting behind him.
Despite their hesitation, they stood firm, trusting in his command.
The sa soldier who had spoken earlier took a deep breath and said, "But if the Commander wishes to go to the demon realm, then to the demon realm we shall go."
Axton gave a faint, almost forced smile. "Good. Then let’s move."
Following his lead, the group began retracing their steps out of the dungeon.
When they finally erged back to the open air, Axton scanned the surroundings carefully.
He needed a place quiet enough and secluded enough to use the Hell’s Key.
He walked for a little while more until he found a rocky clearing surrounded by tall, dead trees. The atmosphere was unsettlingly still, as though even the wind refused to blow there.
"This should do," he muttered.
Reaching into his inventory, Axton summoned the Hell’s Key into his hand. The black tal shimred faintly, pulsing with crimson veins of energy.
He stared at it for a mont, rembering the horrific condition required to earn another one. His face twisted in discomfort as his stomach churned.
The image of what he had to do to acquire it flashed before his mind. His throat tightened, and for a second, he thought he might throw up.
"Are you alright, sir?" one of the soldiers asked, concerned.
"Yes!" Axton replied a little too quickly. "I’m fine. Don’t worry about ."
He cleared his throat and steadied his breathing before focusing on the key.
*Shing*
The key vibrated in his grasp before a surge of black energy burst forth from it, forming a twisting vortex in front of him.
The portal grew rapidly, swirling with dark red mist and waves of heat.
Axton felt a strange pull from the other side... sothing ancient, malevolent, and alive.
"Well," he muttered, staring into the abyss. "Here goes nothing."
And with that, he stepped through.
******
[You have entered the demon realm]
[Current location: Demon Ox Empire]
The world around him shifted violently. The air grew thick and heavy, filled with a tallic scent.
He could hear distant roars echoing through the forest that surrounded him, a forest unlike anything from Xearth.
The trees were enormous, with bark the color of dried blood and leaves that glowed faintly in the dark.
Strange black mist coiled around the roots, giving off the scent of decay and sulfur.
Axton took a step forward and imdiately felt the pressure of the realm weighing on his body. His breathing grew heavy, and his heartbeat slowed for a mont before stabilizing.
"Damn... the air here is dense."
Then, a familiar notification tone chid in his ears.
*Ding*
[You will be tagged as an outsider]
[Your actions in this realm will be monitored. If significant to the survival of Xearth, they will be rewarded.]
Axton frowned slightly. "An outsider, huh?"
He read the ssage again and exhaled. "At least it’s not a death sentence."
At least, that’s what he thought.
What Axton didn’t know was that on the other side of the realm, a very different ssage had been broadcast to every demon in existence.
[Tartarux World Announcent]
[Alert: Citizens of Xearth have entered Tartarux, triggering a World Event — Human Invasion!]
[Quest: Stop the human invasion!]
[Rewards will be distributed according to individual contribution scores.]
The announcent echoed across the entire realm like thunder. From the desolate plains to the molten cities, every demon, beast, and overlord heard the sa ssage.
And they all reacted the sa way.
...Chaos.
"Humans? Did I hear that right?" one demon laughed, its eyes glowing brighter. "The pathetic species dares to enter our realm?"
"Hah! Isn’t that the sa world we invaded not long ago?" another growled.
"Yes! Seems they’ve grown bold."
"They sure have a lot of nerve coming here!"
"Hahaha! This will be fun. Let’s hunt them down!"
All across Tartarux, laughter, bloodlust, and chaos erupted like wildfire. Armies began to mobilize. Beasts roared. The skies themselves turned crimson as the scent of blood filled the realm.
anwhile, Axton stood quietly beneath the blood-red canopy, unaware of the catastrophe he had just triggered.
He took a deep breath and looked around the eerie forest, his hand resting on his weapon. "Alright... Tartarux," he murmured, his expression sharpening.
"Let’s see what kind of nightmare you’ve got for ."
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