A crow perched on a treetop, tilting its body. Its three eyes stared unblinkingly at the centaur girl and at Al, who was helplessly struggling in her tight embrace.
It tilted its head, flapped its wings, and vanished from the treetop.
In the distance, the unlucky forest deer corpse that had been shot through the neck suddenly twitched a few times, scattering the scavenging birds. It then shakily stood up from the ground.
Its gray-white, death-filled pupils "looked" toward Al and Alina's direction. It moved its four hooves and walked toward them with stiff steps.
Even though she was immersed in a very pleasurable yet coercive enjoyment, the centaur girl's vigilance did not relax at all. She quickly stopped her actions, no longer punishing the nearly unconscious Al, and placed him behind her.
"Undead."
A puzzled expression appeared on the centaur girl's face.
This deer was undoubtedly dead. She could not sense any heartbeat or blood flow from it.
She retrieved her longbow, nocked an arrow, and drew.
The arrow struck the deer corpse's lower jaw and exited through the back of its skull. The impact knocked its body backward.
Yet the deer corpse slowly climbed up again. The centaur girl frowned and drew a third arrow. Suddenly a sharp bird cry came from the sky.
"Caw!"
"Caw!"
A crow with lapis-lazuli tail feathers streaked across the sky and flew toward the depths of the dense forest.
The centaur girl lowered her head, looked at the forest deer standing not far away, and grabbed the handle of her hammer.
The deer corpse suddenly raised its head. Blood clots flowed from its mouth as it let out a silent cry.
Blue light shone from the deer corpse's eyes and mouth. A curtain of light projected above its head.
A dark woodland, a cave covered in vines.
Entering inside, an ancient and worn altar made of deep black material. In the center, a compass marked with an eight-pointed star slowly began to turn.
Al looked at the projection. Suddenly his left eye felt a burning sensation. He quickly raised his hand to cover it.
The scene vanished. The deer corpse stiffly twisted its head and spoke in a strange, human-like accent:
[Go find]
Then all the flesh on its body swelled and bulged like cysts, before suddenly exploding. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere, leaving only a standing bloodied skeleton that ran toward the depths of the dense forest.
Blood flowed across the grass and gradually gathered into a symbol resembling an inverted swastika with an extra horizontal line in the middle.
The Bloodmother's mark.
Alina no longer hesitated. She grabbed her warhammer and followed. But just as she took a step she stopped again. "Shall we go?"
The burning sensation had disappeared. Al believed this was indeed the Bloodmother's reminder, so he nodded.
"Go."
"Hm?"
The centaur girl did not move and let out a soft hum.
"Go. We go… Mom… Mommy."
The last two words were very soft. Al hugged the centaur girl's back, wrapping his arms around her lower abdomen, thinking that he wasn't losing out anyway.
The centaur girl carried Al and charged swiftly into the forest, following the scent of blood.
They followed for a long time. Only after the bloody smell on the skeleton deer had almost completely faded did they enter a dark and silent place.
When the skeleton deer reached the cave entrance it suddenly lost support and collapsed into a pile of scattered bones.
Along the way Alina had smashed through mountains and crossed rivers, crushing every obstacle in front of her with warhammer and curved blade. But here she was helpless.
This cave was simply too small compared to the centaur's size.
The mare cleared the vines at the cave entrance for Al. He also stepped forward to help. Finally a pitch-black cave was revealed where one could not see their own hand in front of their face. The two looked at each other.
"..."
"Wait for me… Mommy."
Al gritted his teeth and walked toward the black cave.
If even darkness was feared, how could one speak of being the Eternal Champion!
His mind buzzed as he used various phrases to motivate himself.
I will become darkness itself!
Heaven's mandate is with me!
The black donkey king should not stand. The one who should stand is Young Master Al!
Alina is a woman who can become my mother…
Darkness. Thick, endless darkness.
Al had never experienced such an environment. In all directions there was not a single ray of light or color. It was as if all light and heat had been devoured and buried.
[Disappointing]
"Who!"
Under the darkness's restraint, Al's spirit was stretched to the limit. Even the slightest movement (if there was any) would make him feel like facing a great enemy.
The voice seemed to be everywhere, yet unlike the Reveler's seductive and sweet flirtation, it carried a cold mockery.
[Ignorant]
[Fearful]
[Weak]
"Who are you?"
Al gritted his teeth and continued advancing in one direction. He could no longer tell front from back or left from right. He only knew he kept walking in this direction.
The cave that had not looked large from outside, he had already walked a very long stretch.
[Me?]
The entity issued a puzzled inquiry.
[My name is Be'lakor!]
A thunderous waterfall crashed down, illuminating the world as bright as day!
A colossal daemon with a perfect body like a giant god fully displayed its boundless, unmatched posture amid the flood of destruction.
The first mortal in the Old World to ascend to daemonhood, the Daemon Prince. Because he was too arrogant and compared himself to the gods, he was punished by the Four Gods and stripped of his physical form. From then on he could only exist in the world as a shadow.
Nicknamed the Eternal No-Champion, because every time a mortal rose as Eternal Champion, Be'lakor had to personally crown him and assist until the Eternal Champion was defeated by a mortal hero. Then Be'lakor would turn back into shadow and repeat his miserable wage-slave life.
It was said that the black donkey king Archaon was born when he possessed a Norscan chieftain and forcibly took an imperial woman. Then Be'lakor had to crown the Eternal Champion once again—this time his own son.
Overall: he had once been glorious.
[First Daemon]
[Lord of the First Step]
[Harbinger of Doom]
[King of Shadows]
[I—am Be'lakor!]
The earth groaned in pain. Mountains were ravaged and deformed by the daemon's terrifying might. The first ascended being of the mortal world stood before Al like the gap between a giant and a speck of dust.
[Submit to me! Submit to darkness! Or be destroyed by it]
The Daemon Prince's words carried both the chaotic magic of destruction and every source of temptation mortals could imagine.
Al stood up from the ground, patted his butt, and continued walking forward using the light brought by Be'lakor's entrance, quietly cursing "idiot" under his breath.
[?]
[You dare ignore me, ignore destruction itself!]
Al walked straight between the Daemon Prince's legs without any concern, only raising his head slightly. He noticed the latter seemed to lack that thing and felt slightly relieved.
[Wait, mortal]
Be'lakor's body shrank smaller and smaller until it was only a few sizes larger than Al, perfectly filling the space above the cave. The giant god from earlier had apparently been nothing but an illusion.
[Further ahead is something even more terrifying than destruction. You cannot grasp it]
[Give this opportunity to me, to the First Daemon Be'lakor. I swear on my true name: after I reclaim what belongs to me, I will establish a mortal kingdom belonging only to you on any land you desire, and guarantee that both you and it will exist eternally]
[How about these terms]
"Idiot."
Al shook his head and continued walking forward.
The shock and fear brought by the illusion lasted only an instant. The terror that could scare the bravest mortal warriors and the temptations that could corrupt zealous believers only affected Al for a short while.
He quickly saw through Be'lakor's true nature. The other party was exactly as he knew—just an aggregation of shadows, without substance, without a physical vessel.
If the daemon could carry an 180-pound warhammer like Alina and talk physics with him, he might have considered it. But the current Be'lakor was nothing more than a shadow unit in a monster game.
[Don't go! Wait…]
Be'lakor's voice suddenly became anxious. It rushed forward and threw itself in front of Al like a scammer trying to hit-and-run.
[Give me a chance. I'm willing to do anything. I don't want to continue like this, drifting alone without a body in the mortal world]
[I have realized my past mistakes, my ignorance, my arrogance]
It begged bitterly. Al didn't want to listen to its sob story and kept walking forward.
[Let me serve you again as a greater daemon. I can do it. I can do anything. I can even be a dog! As long as you let me be the Eternal Champion, or even the Eternal Vice-Champion, woof! Woof! Woof!]
Al's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
He had already realized Be'lakor wasn't talking to him.
He also wanted to see how the Four Gods would respond.
Then he saw Be'lakor suddenly raise its head and look at Al with a pair of pitiful scarlet daemon eyes.
[You're their son, right? Then I'll call you Daddy! Daddy! Can you put in a good word for me with Grandma, Daddy!]
"Pfft!"
If he had something in his hand he would definitely crush it.
Then smash it into that daemon face.