"Here..." Azel said about thirty minutes later.
He handed Mira a bowl of steaming spaghetti with chunks of at in it. The steam rose in visible curls, carrying the scent of garlic, tomato sauce, and herbs he’d managed to get from his storage ring.
Mira sat up imdiately, almost too quickly.
Her pale face gained color as the scent hit her nose.
It was amazing... better than anything she’d slled in weeks and she felt the overwhelming need to gobble it up right now.
"Is this... for ?" She asked, staring at the bowl like it was the most precious treasure in the world.
Azel gave her a look.
The kind that said ’who else would it be for?’
"Do you want to..." He didn’t finish, reaching like he might take it back.
She instantly snatched it from his hands, barely caring that the ceramic plate was hot against her palms.
"Thank you. With how powerful I am, I don’t technically need to eat for months." Mira said as she licked her lips and grabbed the fork with her free hand. "My body can sustain itself on mana alone. But that doesn’t an I don’t get hungry..."
With that, she began eating and she completely demolished the food.
Taking it down like she hadn’t eaten a proper al in weeks... which was accurate and getting the red sauce all over her lips and not caring even slightly.
It tasted like heaven.
After days of choking down nothing but saliva that made her stomach cramp, this was salvation.
She grabbed a canteen of water sitting near her, popped it open with one hand, and drank deeply between massive bites of pasta.
"This is so good," she mumbled with her mouth full, completely abandoning any pretense of manners. "So good."
Azel smiled slightly and turned to Rene. He handed the boy a bowl next.
Rene’s eyes widened imdiately as he accepted it.
’I haven’t had Papa’s cooking before...’ he thought, looking down at the perfectly plated spaghetti. The presentation was actually nice despite being camp cooking. ’Mama Edna said he was good, but...’
He slled it first and then his eyes widened even further as he took his first bite.
It tasted sensational. better than anything he’d ever eaten. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauce had depth and complexity, and the at was tender.
’Papa can cook better than Mama Veyra...’ Rene thought in awe. ’Though I’ll never, ever tell her that.’
She’d probably smack him across the head... Hard, it would be with love, but still hard.
He ate more slowly than Mira, savoring each bite while Azel rose to his feet while they ate, dusting off his hands.
"While you guys are eating, I’ll check outside the barrier. Make sure nothing’s lurking nearby." He walked toward the edge of the do with purposeful strides.
The radius of the barrier was quite large... maybe twenty ters across. With so quick walking, he reached the translucent edge and stepped through carefully.
The mont he passed through, another set of conditional runes activated automatically with a soft glow.
They were keyed specifically to anyone who was already inside the barrier, ensuring they could re-enter without triggering the explosion runes.
Otherwise he’d blow himself up.
That would be quite embarrassing.
Once he got outside, he looked around properly at the aftermath. There were corpses everywhere and dozens of them were in various states of destruction.
"These monsters don’t have red blood... instead their blood is black," he muttered under his breath, crouching to examine one closer.
The area around the barrier was absolutely stained with it. Not just corpses and body parts, but massive pools of thick black blood that looked almost like oil.
The sll was horrendous... like rotting at mixed with sulfur and sothing else he couldn’t na which was probably better that way.
He stood and walked over to that horse-sized monster that had tried jumping on the barrier first during the initial attack.
Its body was disfigured beyond any recognition. Not that it had looked normal before... it had twisted limbs, too many joints, and wrong proportions but now it was just blown-out at barely held together by charred skin.
It was definitely dead.
He moved to another corpse nearby that didn’t seem quite as burned. Maybe he could learn sothing from examining it more closely.
The mont he got within a few feet, a screen appeared in front of his eyes unbidden.
[Hellspawn cannot be consud by Living Beings]
[Hellspawn Flesh contains Type-4 Corruption]
[Consumption will result in: Madness, Organ Failure, Death]
’Fuck.’ Azel sighed heavily. ’I was hoping I could harvest so at and try so food variations. Maybe make sothing Underworld-thed.’
Just then, he saw sothing strange not too far away.
There was movent where there wasn’t supposed to be and the cause of that movent was a human eye with purple pupils.
It was just there on the black stone and staring directly at him then it blinked.
It branched into several hundred eyes, all appearing simultaneously in a spreading pattern and all of them were completely focused on him.
It made his skin crawl seeing so many eyes in one place, moving like that.
A screen appeared.
[Illu-Mansion, Rank Two]
’A Rank 2 monster?’ Azel’s mind raced, taking a defensive stance. ’But how is this actually classified as Rank 2 when it’s just—’
He understood imdiately as the transformation began.
Those hundreds of smaller eyes closed simultaneously in perfect synchronization.
When they opened again, they were the pupils of a bigger eye. That bigger eye closed. When it opened, it was the pupil of an even bigger eye. The pattern continued, layer after layer, each iteration growing larger.
Eye within eye within eye within eye.
Until a truly massive, grotesque eyeball stared at him from the darkness. Each layer containing its own complete set of eyes, all the way down to the smallest ones he’d first seen.
It was easily three ters across, maybe more.
Screens began flashing rapidly in front of him, appearing and disappearing so fast they blurred together.
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
The screens kept coming... over and over and over. The monster was spamming its signature ability relentlessly, trying to break through his ntal defenses.
The anti-illusion tag on his chest grew warm at first then burning hot as it worked overti to block the assault.
’Shit. That’s not good.’
Azel blinked hard to clear his vision and started running back to the barrier at full speed.
Behind him, the Illu-Mansion began rolling.
Actually rolling toward him like a massive boulder made entirely of layered eyeballs. It moved with terrifying speed, covering the distance in seconds.
It was far faster than sothing that size and shape should be able to move and the ground shook with each rotation.
Azel pushed his legs harder and leapt through the barrier with a final burst of speed.
The mont he was inside, he made quick hand motions with his fingers. Runes forming in the air as he moved.
Being an elf made him able to use runes naturally, as easily as breathing.
The Illu-Mansion crashed against the barrier.
BOOM.
The entire do shook violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface before repairing themselves.
Mira and Rene looked up at the sound.
They imdiately regretted it.
The large eyeball was looking at them through the translucent barrier. All those layers of eyes, all those pupils were staring directly at them.
Runes began forming across the monster’s surface automatically as it pressed against the barrier.
Azel bit his lip.
"Spread..."
The runes spread even more, covering every inch of the creature’s massive body. Layer upon layer of explosive symbols.
The monster seed to understand what was happening and it backed off suddenly, trying to retreat but it was too late.
"Gather."
’I’m so fucking glad I can stack conditions.’
He’d set another condition atop the existing ones. This one was for when he wanted a truly massive explosion. "Gather" made the runes pull ambient mana from the surrounding air before detonating.
And the Underworld’s ambient mana was violent.
More screens flashed.
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
[Illu-Mansion has used Hell’s Illusion]
[It failed]
The monster was panicking now and spamming its ability desperately.
"Blow!"
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion was catastrophic and far larger than before.
The gathered mana detonated with apocalyptic force, creating a shockwave that rippled outward and obliterated every monster corpse in the surrounding area.
A mushroom cloud of black smoke rose into the darkness.
[Your tag has broken]
Azel felt the anti-illusion tag on his chest shatter from the overwhelming number of attempts. Too many illusions in too short a ti had burned it out completely.
He imdiately opened the System shop and bought a new tag, pressing it to his chest.
The tags weren’t invulnerable and enough of a concentrated assault would destroy them.
The smoke began to clear slowly.
The Illu-Mansion was revealed a few ters away, still burning. Most of the eyes within eyes had detonated, leaving gaping holes in its structure.
It looked imnsely wounded and was barely holding together but it was still alive and still rolling slowly toward them.
’The mana in the Underworld’s air really is violent,’ Azel thought. ’Good to know.’
He aid at the remnants of the monster from inside the barrier and extended his hand. He drew upon the new mana core in his chest... rek’s destruction affinity.
"Destroy."
A fla of pure destruction erupted from his palm and landed on the monster.
What followed was an ear-piercing screech.
Even though the monster didn’t have a mouth, the sound tore through the air. Destruction magic consud it completely, burning through flesh and eyeballs alike until there was barely a corpse left.
It was just ash and a few charred fragnts.
[Congratulations for killing a Rank 2 Monster]
[Your reward is being generated...]
Azel stared at what remained.
’If I’d decided to fight that thing hand-to-hand, I would’ve been royally fucked. Especially after my tag burned out. It was just spamming illusions while rolling around trying to crush .’
Close-quarters combat would’ve been a death sentence.
[You have received a Special Card: Underworld Summoning Card]
[This card will only be available for the next 24 hours and using it will give you a summon that will be very useful for this Calamity]
A card materialized in Azel’s hand, appearing from nothing with a faint shimr.
It was pure black, like a piece of the void itself had been cut out and shaped into a rectangle. Red markings covered its surface... intricate patterns that seed to shift when he wasn’t looking directly at them.
The primary design was a skull with hollow eye sockets that seed to stare at him accusingly.
He turned it over in his hands, examining it curiously.
"What is that?" Gwendolyn’s voice ca from beside him.
She finally crawled out of his soul and manifested in her ghostly form, floating at his shoulder. Her translucent body looked more solid than usual down here, like the Underworld agreed with her nature.
"This Underworld place... it feels wrong," she continued, looking around nervously. Her arms wrapped around herself. "Even for . Even though I’m already dead."
Even though she was a ghost, a spirit without physical form, there was a certain feeling licking at her spiritual body.
It scared her more than she wanted to admit but Azel being here made her feel calm and protected.
"It’s a summoning card," Azel explained simply, still examining the skull design. "How I summon."
He had about two or three summoning cards total in his inventory, rewards from previous quests and achievents but he hadn’t used any of them yet despite having them for weeks.
There was no way he was going to cram more summons... who could potentially be won who’d inevitably fall in love with him because that’s how his life worked apparently into that small house in Lepreun Town.
The place was already crowded enough with Edna, dusa, Veyra, Rene, Anya, Lillia, Isolde, Lorraine and the twins. Plus Feng and Alvinus who was stopping by constantly.
He needed to be living in a proper castle first or at least a mansion.
Maybe after this Calamity was dealt with, he’d look into buying a proper property.
He pressed ’Yes’ ntally on the System prompt that was hovering in his vision.
The card flew out of his hand on its own and began spinning in the air rapidly, rotating faster and faster like a coin flipped skyward.
What followed was a kaleidoscope of colors pouring from it... red, black, purple, gold, silver swirling together like a vortex or a miniature galaxy.
The colors ford a portal of pure energy that crackled and humd with power.
Rene and Mira stopped eating imdiately to watch from inside the barrier, their forks frozen halfway to their mouths.
Their eyes were wide with curiosity mixed with caution.
Gwendolyn drifted backward slightly, instinctively putting distance between herself and the unknown.
The portal stabilized, becoming a swirling doorway of light and shadow then soone stepped through.
A woman.
She looked middle-aged, probably in her mid thirties with long black hair that fell past her shoulders in a straight cascade.
Scars marked her exposed arms visibly... thin white lines crisscrossing her forearms and biceps.
A few scars crossed her face as well: one over her left eyebrow, another along her jaw, and a third cutting through her bottom lip.
But they didn’t make her less attractive. If anything, they added character. They spoke of experience.
Her armor followed her through the portal. It was completely dark, almost black, and covered in a layer of fine dust like it had been buried for years or stored away in a forgotten tomb.
In her right hand was a black lance.
The weapon felt... strange.
Like a normal physical lance, but at the sa ti ethereal and weightless, it felt like Gwendolyn...
Azel didn’t recognize the woman at all, she was a completely new summon.
The colorful light from the portal faded completely, dissipating like morning mist.
The woman fell gracefully to one knee with her lance held horizontally across her body.
She bowed her head deeply, and her long black hair cascaded over her shoulder and onto the black stone ground.
"I pledge my allegiance to you, Master." Her voice was clear and unwavering despite her kneeling position. "I will be the sword that clears your path, the shield that guards your back, and the lance that pierces through your enemies. Until death finally claims , or until you release from service... I am yours to command. My life, my blade, my loyalty, my body... all belong to you now."
A screen appeared.
[Congratulations, you have summoned Irielle White Ashpier, Ghost Lance]
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