Chapter 38. The Spire of Arkasia (1)

*Whoosh*

The sound of giant wings cutting through the clouds echoed in my ears.

At first, it was difficult to maintain balance.

Even with my body secured in the saddle mounted on the griffon’s back, every flap of its wings sent tremors through me.

The land below, seen from the dizzying height, looked as small as a painting, and the clouds seemed close enough to touch.

Every time I saw the distant ground beneath my feet, my stomach churned slightly, but I soon got used to it.

The landscape of Blackmore looked different from above.

The dark forest stretched endlessly, then abruptly changed into a grayish wasteland, and at its edge, a thick fog settled heavily.

That was Kalmash, our destination.

‘The Spire of Arkasia…’

I quietly looked down at the ground, lost in thought.

The Spire of Arkasia.

A forgotten Magic Tower, known as the ruins of a great Necromancer who was hailed as the Dark Lord in primordial times. I

t was a Great Labyrinth, located deep within the cradle of monstrous anomalies, beyond the Border.

When a certain place is eroded by the Strange, its structure and properties become distorted, losing its original form and transforming into a space of endless chaos and darkness.

Such spaces are generally called labyrinths, but there are special cases.

Cases where, beyond mere erosion, the space itself evolves *into* the Strange.

From this point on, it's difficult to even call it a labyrinth.

It's called a Great Labyrinth because of its extremely high risk, but at that point, it was more accurate to consider it a Territory.

Naturally, there weren’t many of them on the continent, and even if there were, most were located in remote, uninhabited corners of the world.

The same was true for the Spire of Arkasia, where the Sacred Text was buried.

The reason for venturing into such a terrifying place was, of course, the utility of the Rune of Space.

All Runes had their own unique properties, but the Rune of Space was exceptional.

It had excellent harmony with other Runes, particularly because the concept of space itself was the fundamental foundation of all existence.

Of course, manipulating the source of space consumed a considerable amount of Mind’s Eye, but its versatility more than compensated for it.

It was especially compatible with Magic; with sufficient Mind’s Eye and proficiency, it was even possible to Transfer the Spell Formula itself right in front of the opponent.

‘We’re here.’

Flying swiftly on the griffon, I saw huge pillars starting to appear in the distance.

They were the Chains of Order, the only Passage to Kalmash.

The griffon, which had been soaring through the sky, lowered its altitude and landed right in front of them.

Arkan disembarked first, followed by me, Adina, and then Rudine.

“Are we going to cross like this?”

“Yeah, is there a problem?”

“I thought you’d bring a whole entourage, so it’s a bit unexpected.”

“Why bother? With the 6th Lord and me here, what more do we need?”

Well, that was true.

I was a one-trick pony with Runes, but Arkan herself was a strategic weapon.

“Step aside.”

She slowly approached the pillars and raised her hand.

As her hand touched the surface of the pillar, black light, like flowing water, swirled around it, just like when we crossed into Kalmash before.

*Clang! Crack!*

All sorts of loud visual effects erupted around the pillar, and a stench like rotting corpses filled the air, then…

*Rumble!*

The Passage opened, and beyond it, a desolate land devoid of light unfolded.

Arkan glanced at me and smiled.

“Shall we enter, 6th Lord?”

“…”

Damn it, to think I’d be back here again.

I trudged forward and crossed the Passage.

****

Several days had passed since we entered Kalmash.

The scenery that unfolded before my eyes was a repetition of a hazy, black sky, dark red rocks, and a desolate earth.

We walked, and walked, and walked endlessly in the thick darkness. E

very time we went further inside, the peculiar stench made it difficult to breathe, but the bigger problem was that it was almost impossible to see ahead.

“…Left at the bushes ahead.”

As before, guiding the way was Adina's job, thanks to her opened Spirit Eye, and she obediently fulfilled her role.

Perhaps because she had experience crossing Kalmash once before, she continued to guide us calmly without making a fuss.

However, the difference was that the deeper we went, the more unknown monstrous beasts appeared.

*Screech!*

The monstrous beasts beyond the Border were all consumed by the Strange, making it difficult to distinguish their forms, but each and every one exuded a fierce aura.

It wasn’t just one or two of them; they appeared in swarms every time we went deeper, so frankly, it was getting tedious.

There were even quite a few of them with tricky and bizarre abilities, like inducing hallucinations or spewing poisonous fumes.

Fortunately, though.

“Tsk.”

*Snap!*

As Arkan snapped her fingers, an elongated, twisted black light blossomed from her fingertips, spiraling through the ominous atmosphere and shooting out like a ray of light.

A purplish hue, different from ordinary Mana-based Magic, colored the space, then…

*Crackle!*

The launched ray drew a streamlined curve, tearing the monstrous beasts to shreds.

“…”

Monsters of at least Demon class or higher were torn apart every time she snapped her fingers.

They were considerably weaker than Calamity or Extinction-class monstrous beasts, but Demon-class monsters were inherently imbued with anti-magic properties, greatly increasing their resistance to magic.

Basically, they had a tough resistance to Mana, but in front of Arkan, they couldn’t even last a second before being torn apart.

Moreover, the speed at which the Spell Formula unfolded was so fast that it almost seemed as if it appeared already completed.

While other Magicians used incantations, willpower, or magic circles to calculate magic equations to cast magic, she didn’t need any calculations.

I knew from the original story that the Great Lord’s power was beyond common sense, but I couldn’t help but be amazed every time I saw it.

‘It’s convenient, thanks to her.’

*Screech! Screech!*

Every time the monstrous beasts attacked, she just had to snap her fingers to turn them into corpses, so it was honestly quite convenient.

Of course, I could have stepped in, but there was a need to conserve the power of the Runes.

If an Extinction-class monstrous beast appeared, like last time, then I would have no choice but to deal with it myself.

Adina, leading the way, continued to guide us, flashing her purple Spirit Eye and following the traces of Sephirot that unfolded beyond the thick death energy.

“…Right at the bushes ahead.”

“Can you even see anything?”

“Of course. I can see the traces of light you mentioned… but are we sure something will appear if we just keep following them?”

“Yeah, the path is fixed beyond the Border.”

“What does that even mean?”

Ordinary grotesqueries existed within the rules of the world.

No matter how powerful a grotesquery was, it was ultimately subordinate to the world’s order.

However, a Territory was different.

A Territory was a space with its own unique rules.

It wasn’t a space where the world’s rules applied, but rather a space where its own unique rules were imposed upon the world.

Kalmash was the same.

Kalmash, once the territory of Sephirot, the World Tree of Light, had been eroded by beings from the Outer Sea and turned into a realm of chaos.

In other words.

“This place itself is one giant Territory.”

Fortunately, traces of Sephirot still remained, and those traces were intertwined like threads, creating a path.

Only those with a Spirit Eye could see those traces, and by following them, one could reach their desired destination.

That was the rule of the Territory called Kalmash.

That’s why we needed Adina’s help to find the way.

“…You really know a lot of things, 6th Lord.”

Arkan, after hearing my explanation, let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

I ignored her and continued walking.

Then it happened.

“…There’s something ahead.”

Adina suddenly stopped.

The form of something was faintly visible beyond the thick fog. At first, it was just the silhouette of a spire, but as we walked closer, its true appearance was revealed.

Countless patterns were engraved on the surface of the spire, which resembled black marble. They looked like black snakes crawling on the black marble.

Sometimes, a red light flashed between those patterns, as if the spire itself was breathing.

The pillars were abnormally twisted, as if their skeletons were entangled, and between them, cliff-like walls soared towards the sky.

The top of the spire was hidden in the fog, but judging by its size, it must have pierced through the clouds and soared much higher.

What was even stranger was the structure of the spire.

Space was folded, ignoring the laws of geometry, and some parts were inverted, with the inside becoming the outside, and the outside becoming the inside.

A structure that created an optical illusion, like a Möbius strip, stretched infinitely upwards, piercing the sky.

An appearance that clearly distorted the world’s order.

It was an appearance that perfectly matched the title of "chaos."

The Great Labyrinth.

The Spire of Arkasia.

“…We’re here.”

It was the place where the primordial Sacred Text was sealed.