Episode 433: The Lion King (4)
… Rumbling!
Poking its head through the collapsing floor was a huge horse's head and a body made of black tree bark.
Since there is a knight, it is not strange to have a horse, but the appearance of the horse that appeared just now was very familiar.
A bust that those who graduated from the Colosseo Academy cannot help but remember.
Risk level: S+
size : ?
Location of discovery: Deep inside the Gate of Destruction, 'Snake's Womb'
-aka 'Fifth Corpse'.
A natural enemy of mankind, one of the ten plagues known as incomprehensible and unkillable.
"I will take away the lives of the first born that year."
– 『Ten Commandments』 10:1 –
'Amdusias', the unicorn of the abyss. The fifth sibsangsi.
This demon, in the shape of a giant horse, was roaring with its mouth wide open at the night walkers.
"H-how!?"
"Wasn't that eliminated by Bikir!?"
Passamonte, who heard Tudor and Bianca shouting in shock, giggled and responded.
"It's not real. It is the residual thought of Amdusias that wandered the ecliptic. Of course, it cannot exert the same power as the main body, but some powers can be similarly reproduced."
After Amdusias' thoughts were shattered, numerous fragments were scattered.
Passamonte seemed to have picked up a large piece from them.
"Amdusias was a great horse that I always wanted to tame. Is there anything more honorable than taming a beast-type demon that is treated as an equal? "It's all thanks to you guys."
Passamonte climbed onto Amdusias' back.
"Die, devil!"
Tudor wielded Gungnir and swung it.
"Now that you have a good horse, you must also have a good body and good weapons, right? Ah, Tudor - recklessness is the privilege of the young! "You don't know how long I've waited for your courage to mature before your body."
Rather, it only tore Passamonte's torn mouth even more.
at the same time.
Charalalalak-
The rough tree bark that was wrapped around Amdusias' body began to bristle like tentacles.
Everyone could tell that those trees were not ordinary trees.
"… … Naraksu!?"
Dolores exclaimed in astonishment.
Passamonte seemed to have even acquired Amdusias's ability to control the power of plants.
Although there were only some roots of the Narak Tree, that alone was enough to create a dream world once again.
"The Maw Tree is perfect for destroying the mind of its prey. It is suitable to take away the body without a single wound. Oh, you must have experienced it, so you must know it well?"
Passamonte's voice flows smoothly.
The fine roots of the Maw Tree also followed the flow and spread out at an incredible speed, entangling all those walking at night.
Kiririririririk-
Everything was just as I remembered that day.
The roots of the Maw Tree tightly wrapped everyone, including Dolores, and soon dragged their minds down to the bottom of a deep and distant abyss.
"I understand why Amdusias was so fascinated by the soul that matured in the Maw Tree."
Passamonte muttered in a low voice.
"I'll let it ripen slowly and take it out when it's most worn out. "The soul is like a fruit; it is sweetest and softest just before it rots."
Only the sound of laughter filled with sticky appetite was circling in the abyss.
* * *
"… … "Sigh."
Tudor held his pounding head and lifted his head.
Parched soil, barren land with nothing, dark red sky.
After nearly four years, he opened his eyes in the world inside the Maw Tree.
The fortunate thing is that I woke up in the same space without being separated from my colleagues, including Dolores, Sancho, Piggy, Bianca, and Sinclair.
"Where am I?"
Everyone could not hide their embarrassment at the harsh environment they encountered as soon as they woke up.
Dried black soil, bare dead trees, burning earth, and thick smoke billowing from everywhere were blocking my view.
Everyone had the experience of being trapped in the abyss, but this was the first time they had been thrown into such a harsh environment from the beginning.
A vague shadow was visible through the hazy atmosphere.
It was a fairly large stone statue, but it was worn down by the winds of time and was not in perfect shape.
Although there were many broken parts here and there, the face of the statue was vaguely visible.
Bianca, who had a keen eye for attention, was the first to speak.
"These are the characters of the Iron Blooded Swordsman Baskerville. I think it's the head of the family, Marquis Hugo les Baskerville, and the head of the family, Count Osiris les Baskerville?"
If so, it is a rough guess as to who this space and this world of images are related to.
"Could it be a visual embodiment of Bikir's inner self?"
Everyone nodded slowly at Tudor's words.
Vikir went alone to catch Amdusias in the old flowing river.
Later, I heard that Vikir fought the final battle with Amdusias in a space that visualized his inner self.
The scene in the imaginary world that Bikir had vaguely heard about at that time was exactly like this.
A barren mountain where all the leaves of the trees have burned and crumbled, the soil has dried, insects have died, and only the bones of animals remain.
There were five tall mountains like that.
Everyone who entered the world of images knew instinctively.
Those huge sedimentary mountains are all manifestations of the burden and responsibility that Bikir carries in his heart.
There were many other things that shocked Dolores, Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, and Sinclair.
Sisanhyeolhae (尸山血海).
A swamp of blood and flesh. A mountain made of bones. The blood that makes up rivers, lakes, and the sea.
The corpses of demons and humans were intertwined, forming hills, hills, valleys, and canyons, and boiling lava and sulfur continued to explode in various places.
Hungry monsters compete to eat the corpse, and sorrowful screams, cries, and deathly words come from all over without end.
The world of human beings and demons. The cruelty and horror goes beyond the limit.
Where on earth do the great chains of chaos, the whirlpool of hatred, and all these terrible phenomena come from?
"… … "What kind of world have you been living in, Vikir?"
Dolores looked over all of this with a sad and pitiful heart before being surprised.
Tudor, Bianca, Sancho, and Piggy were also speechless.
"Sir, will anyone ever see a scene like this in their lifetime?"
"I thought he wasn't an ordinary guy… … "What on earth was this guy doing?"
"Having lived in this kind of environment, it's natural for my personality to be that dull."
"… … I feel so bad for Bikir."
"… … ."
Sinclair simply took in all these things with a faint gaze.
Right then.
The sound of footsteps hitting the ground was heard.
Beyond the burning horizon, I saw a shabby horse trudging along.
"… … !"
Dolores opened her eyes wide.
Amdusias. The fifth sibsangsi.
A devil in the shape of a huge, bulky horse.
But for some reason, it was now walking on the ground in the shape of an old, shabby donkey.
Seeing that it was in danger of collapsing, it looked like it would soon lose its strength and disappear.
Tudor stretched out his spear and blocked Amdusias.
"hey. Stand!"
OK.
… thud!
As soon as Tudor blocked his path, Amdusias fell to the ground and bit out his tongue.
"… … uh? "What, I didn't do anything!"
Tudor hurriedly waved his hand as Bianca narrowed her eyes next to him.
Meanwhile, Dolores examined Amdusias' body lying on the floor.
An object that appears to be an extremely fine part of the numerous fragments of thoughts left behind by the real Amdusias.
It opened its mouth with a tired look, as if it was about to disappear.
[…] … Run away. A monster is coming.]At those words, everyone tilted their heads as if they didn't understand what was going on.
Amdusias continued speaking, shedding bloody tears.
[This is the realm of the monster who destroyed the Naraksu tree and conversely trapped me in its own world of images. I don't know how you guys got here, but you'd better get away quickly. The inside of this monster is so desolate and devastated that even the devil's mind will collapse if he is trapped for a long time... … Hi-Hi… … Hehehehe-]Those were the final words of Amdusias' thought fragment.
Tsutsutsutsu… …
A piece of Amdusias' soul that turns into black powder and crumbles.
It seemed that Passamonte had taken control of Amdusias within Vikir within Amdusias and was manipulating him.
"I don't really understand what's going on, but… … Anyway, when we were trapped in the Maw Tree, we were trapped in the fragments of the Maw Tree that copied Vikir's mind. Now, this is the inner landscape of Bikir. yes?"
Everyone nodded at Tudor's summary.
I wonder if this makes sense, but either way, the situation is like this and I have no choice but to accept it.
"I think it's the result of the combination of the abilities of the Saban City and the Auburn City. "It must be urgent to get out of this world first."
No one disagreed with Dolores' words.
Passamonte's intention is to trap everyone here and gradually break their minds.
It was obvious that humans would not be able to survive for long in this harsh environment, where even the devil lost his sense of self and collapsed.
"Damn it, this is a world of images, so you can't even commit suicide. "If I don't come to my senses, will my body be taken away by Passamonte?"
Tudor looked around, sweating coldly.
However, the scenery of this world, completely filled with red and black, is so bleak that you can go crazy just by looking at it.
'What kind of life has Bikir led?'
This is the only thought that commonly appears in everyone's mind.
Right then.
[…] … devil.]Behind your back. Suddenly, a voice was heard that made everyone's bodies stiffen.
But the body did not react in a negative sense.
The voice I longed for so much, the voice I longed to hear.
[…] … The devil is.]It was the voice of an old classmate, a close friend, who had gone away to a place where we could never meet again.
"Bikir!?"
Piggy was the first to turn his head.
Dolores, Sinclair, Tudor, Sancho, and Bianca also hurriedly turned their heads to look at the place where the voice was coming from.
And there stood a person who matched everyone's thoughts.
Bikir.
Bikir van Baskerville.
A first year student at Colosseo Academy.
A model student who never missed the top honors.
And the worst villain, 'The Hound of the Night', who turned the entire ecliptic into an uproar.
[…] … The devil kills.]He remained the same, unchanged from four years ago.
In this desolate and lonely place. Until now. alone.