Screeeeech!
A grotesque creature bared its teeth and lunged at Baron.
Baron thrust the fist-sized, cocoon-like pod he held toward the creature.
A hole formed on the surface of the cocoon, and a tentacle shot out from within.
Splat!
The tentacle whipped out and wrapped around the charging creature in an instant.
Crunch crunch!
It began to devour the ensnared creature with a gruesome, grinding noise.
Thud thud!
Soon, remnants of the corpse, mixed with sticky fluids, dropped to the floor from the tentacle.
Ssssh.
Having fully consumed the creature, the tentacle retracted into the cocoon.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The pod, now nourished, pulsed like a beating heart.
It had grown slightly larger than before, though only by a little.
Baron pulled out a case, placed the cocoon inside, and stored it in the subspace within his robes.
He then surveyed the unique domain inside the temple.
The temple's unique domain was a labyrinth, its sturdy walls covered in moss that spewed red spores, while bizarre insects writhed between them and emitted eerie sounds.
As the place that sealed the Book of the Lion, the power of the Demon King flowed the strongest there and seemed to alter the entire ecosystem of the unique domain crafted by the Great Sage.
Consequently, the creatures within had twisted into unrecognizable horrors, far from their original forms, and the air hung thick with toxic red mist.
An ordinary person would have choked to death on the red poison the moment they entered or been torn apart by the corrupted lifeforms.
Moreover, designed from the start to block intruders who sought to steal the Book of the Lion with impure motives, it was essentially a labyrinth without an exit.
Thus, the Demon King's power, which pooled and stagnated within, appeared to influence everything present.
Originally engineered as a labyrinth, the leaked demonic energy had warped its ecosystem into something utterly nightmarish, unlike anything else.
If Baron had entered unprepared, he would have been tormented by the horrors in this exitless maze until he perished.
At that moment, a voice echoed in Baron's ear.
"Come. To this place."
The Demon King's voice guided him once more.
Even in this exitless labyrinth, Baron advanced forward, following the Demon King's call.
The monsters that lunged from every corner merely served as excellent fodder for the cocoon he carried.
Baron proceeded smoothly toward the Book of the Lion.
In the midst of this, as he pressed toward the labyrinth's core, a massive door appeared before him.
Baron examined the emblem engraved on the door.
"Two serpents entwined around a central sun."
It was none other than the emblem that symbolized the Great Sage.
Baron realized he was nearly at the Book of the Lion.
The problem was the firmly sealed door.
He approached and extended his hand toward it.
Crackle!
A powerful surge of mana repelled his touch and sparked outward.
"Enter. To this place."
The Demon King's whisper circled his ear again.
Baron reached into his robes and retrieved a black box.
It was smaller than the one that had held the cocoon earlier.
Opening it revealed a black, pearl-like object inside.
He carefully lifted the black pearl and hurled it toward the door.
Thud!
The black pearl adhered to the sealed door like a magnet.
Soon, the pearl attached to the door began to vibrate faintly.
Rumble rumble rumble—
As the black pearl trembled, the sealed door vibrated in response.
At a certain point amid the ongoing vibrations, fine cracks appeared on the pearl's surface.
Crack crack!
Black energy seeped from the fractured surface.
When it encountered the concentrated demonic energy scattered throughout the labyrinth, the black energy triggered an ominous reaction.
Rooooar!
The black energy rapidly crystallized and extended outward like metallic trees that sprouted in all directions.
Crunch crunch crunch!
The black tree's trunk rooted into the walls, ceiling, and floor, soon reaching the sealed door.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Even the door's surface began to sprout black trees.
The roots gnawed into the door's surface and burrowed deeper.
Crunch—
Crunch crunch—
The metallic black trees, like the black pearl, continued to vibrate faintly as they devoured the door.
Soon, they covered the Great Sage's emblem entirely.
At the same moment, one side of the door buckled.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Baron watched as the door's edge crumpled.
Unable to withstand the rooted black trees, one side collapsed and created a space large enough for a single person to pass.
Ssssh.
From the warped gap, far denser demonic energy flowed out like mist.
Even Baron found the concentration from within the door nearly unbearable.
He removed one glove from his right hand and extended his hand, which swirled with black energy.
The thick demonic energy parted and avoided him.
With his hand outstretched, Baron slipped through the distorted gap.
The space beyond the door was pure darkness.
It was an absolute void where nothing was visible or existent.
"It is here. Come."
In the impenetrable darkness, the voice resounded again.
Baron slowly advanced, following the voice.
Devoid of any sense of direction or goal, he ventured deeper into the darkness, guided solely by the voice.
In that profound darkness, he walked on and on, oblivious to time or space.
A knight with ordinary mental fortitude would have lost their mind in an instant there.
Yet Baron steadfastly maintained his composure and kept walking forward.
After an indeterminable time,
"You have come."
Something stood before Baron.
It was a being in a black robe, with hands so pale they seemed ghostly.
It was impossible to discern as male or female from the hands alone, but it stood before him.
"Come in."
Baron looked up at the being and spoke.
"I have come for the Book of the Lion, under the command of the god I worship."
Even guided by the Demon King's whispers, Baron's mind remained devoted to Arthur Draker.
The black-robed being addressed Baron once more.
"This way."
The pale hand beckoned him.
Baron had no choice but to follow the hand.
Passing through the darkness, ever onward, he trailed behind the black-robed figure.
Yet in this timeless, spaceless void, Baron merely pursued the being.
After an unknowable span, as they walked through the darkness, Baron spoke to the pale-handed entity.
"Where is the Book of the Lion?"
The pale-handed being gave no reply.
It simply continued walking through the darkness.
Then Baron removed the glove from his left hand as well.
Drip, drip.
Black energy dripped from his left hand.
It merged into the absolute darkness.
The black-robed guide whispered in his ear again.
"This way."
Ignoring the whisper, Baron continued to release black energy from his hand.
Ssssh.
The black energy he emitted began to envelop the black-robed figure.
The pale-handed being turned to face Baron.
"Why do you reject my guidance?"
"What I seek is only the Book of the Lion and the soul within it."
Ssssh ssssh—
The swirling black energy wrapped around the pale-handed being.
The entity spoke to Baron once more.
"Accept me. Then you shall gain power rivaling a god." The whisper tempted him persistently.
Yet Baron shook his head.
"There is but one god to me."
As Baron clenched both fists, the black energies began to rotate.
Whoooosh!
A massive vortex sucked in the pale-handed being and the surrounding darkness.
Rumble rumble rumble!
As the vortex gradually subsided, cracks formed in the enveloping darkness.
Creeeeak creeeeak—
With horrific sounds, the darkness shattered like glass.
Crack!
The black darkness that encircled them fragmented and fell away like shards of glass.
Baron looked up again.
He stood mere steps from where he had entered through the warped gap.
The surrounding darkness had vanished, replaced by a vast cavern before him.
As Baron approached the cavern, something came into view.
Whoooong—
In the cavern's center stood a glass tube that vibrated faintly.
Drawing near, Baron saw a black book floating within the glass tube.
"The Book of the Lion."
The Book of the Lion sealed the Demon King's soul.
He had known half of it was sealed here, but the sight of it filled him with overwhelming emotion.
Baron extended his hand toward the glass tube containing the book.
Crackle!
As expected, a security barrier enveloped the tube and repelled his approach.
Baron retrieved another small box from his robes.
This time, it was not the one with the pearl, but the one that had held the cocoon that fed on the monsters earlier.
He opened the box and placed the black cocoon on the floor.
Then, gripping a dagger, he sliced his palm.
Drip drip.
His black blood fell onto the cocoon.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Absorbing Baron's black blood, the cocoon began pulsing again.
The cocoon swelled gradually.
It resembled a giant's heart.
Soon, the top of the swollen cocoon split open with a crack and revealed a fourpronged maw lined with sharp teeth.
Grrrrrrk!
A gruesome sound emanated from within, accompanied by a foul stench.
But Baron, unflinching, poured more blood into the gaping maw.
Ssssh.
Fed Baron's blood, the cocoon continued to inflate and grew larger.
Grrrrrrk!
It sounded as if something boiled within the monster's belly.
Simultaneously, something surged from the maw.
Grrrrk!
Egg-like pods erupted from above.
Thud! Thud!
The eggs, writhing, piled up around them.
Soon, the eggs cracked open, and something burst forth.
Ssssh ssssh—
The entities that emerged from the eggs were mages who exuded ominous energy.
They wore grotesque robes stitched from crudely sewn hides, their faces concealed by black masks, as they rose drenched in viscous fluid.
Baron addressed the mages that had burst from the eggs.
"What our god desires lies there."
He pointed to the glass tube and commanded.
"Retrieve it. We offer it to the god."
At Baron's words, the mages lined up around the glass tube.
They drew daggers engraved with monstrous shapes from their robes, gripped them in both hands at chest level, and began chanting in an unintelligible tongue infused with sinister energy.
Ssssh ssssh—
Crimson energy surged from the mages' bodies.
The energy enveloped the glass tube and soon gave rise to a blood-red mist.
Crackle crackle!
The mist, laden with ominous energy, clashed with the glass tube.
Crackle crackle!
But in that instant, mana lightning erupted and engulfed the chanting mages.
Ssssh.
Surprisingly, the lightning dissipated like smoke before it reached them.
From behind, Baron raised both hands and nullified the attack with twisted causality.
Immediately after, the blood-red mist seeped into the glass tube and cracked its surface.
Crunch crunch crunch—
The fractured tube vibrated ceaselessly under the mages' chant.
Suddenly, unable to endure, the glass tube shattered.
Crack!
As it broke, a tentacle shot from Baron's wrist and snatched the floating Book of the Lion from the air.
Baron finally held the Book of the Lion, his body trembling with exhilaration.
"At last..."
Muttering in awe, he gripped the Book of the Lion and turned to the first page.
"...What is this?"
The page he opened was blank, utterly devoid of writing.
In that moment, Baron snapped his head up.