Episode 180
* * *
The Shadow Lord walked the Crystal Lands, following the Frost Watchers, towards the deepest part of their kingdom, a forbidden place where nothing could ever be permitted.
“Oh, what the heck. How did I get dragged into this set all of a sudden?”
Master Baro beside him asked back, and the Frost Watchers’ expressions turned hostile once again.
“Please, I beg you, don’t bother me unnecessarily.”
“Haha, these guys must be really getting on our nerves no matter what we do.”
Master Baro chuckled, and the leader of the Frost Watchers, the ‘Crystal Prince’, opened his mouth coldly.
“Shut your vulgar mouth, you disgusting human being.”
“Oh my, you said I was a disgusting human being, Prince Nari.”
Master Baro continued speaking without paying any attention.
“Oh, I’m with the elf queen from the next town. We’ve done this and that in the empire.”
Dale chimed in, taken aback by those words.
“Can I remember that word without missing a single word and repeat it in front of the old woman on the mountain?”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant.”
In the blatantly murderous air, deep within the Crystal Kingdom were ruins, literally deserted.
The ruins of the Second Empire that once ruled the continent.
“Look at my works, you mighty ones, and despair.”
The Shadow Lord continued speaking softly as he watched the scene. It was a poem from the old world that he remembered.
“──There was nothing beside it. There was only an endless, desolate, and lonely horizon of sand stretching far into the distance around the huge, blunt, rotted remains.”
“Oh my, that’s a really plausible poem.”
Leaving the ruins of the empire behind, what gaped open beyond them was the Cave of Crystal.
The cave extended to the bottom of the underground with no end in sight. Soon, even the crystals and ice that had enveloped the area disappeared, and only darkness, as if heading towards the deep sea of the earth, faced them.
This is where the ‘experimental field’ built by the old elven empire to reach the end of providence is located.
“That’s it.”
At the end, the crystal prince stopped walking.
At the deepest depths of the earth stood a temple with magnificent decorations and reliefs that gave evidence of the former empire’s stature.
“Beyond this lies a test that awaits you.”
Dale nodded silently at those words.
“The ancestors of the empire tried to reach beyond thought in order to claim themselves as providential rulers, and even after the empire fell, the unhealed, horrific ruins and wounds lie just beyond that.”
“… … .”
“We call it the Gate.”
At those words, Dale held his breath.
“Come in.”
The Prince of Crystal spoke, and at the same time the Frost Watchers breathed out their killing intent in unison, as if they were not allowed to turn back.
“If you are truly worthy of being the ‘Shadow Lord’… …you will be able to safely return with the truth in your hands, at the end of Providence.”
As he said that, the Prince of Crystal smiled coldly.
“In that case, our elven kingdom will gladly claim to be the riders of the shadows, in keeping with our ancient oath.”
From the beginning, there was no sign of any hope that Dale would return alive.
“Now, I hope you will prove your worth as a monarch.”
“I will be happy to do so.”
Dale didn’t hesitate at those words. He took a step without a moment’s hesitation.
Towards the end of providence, beyond the gate, which the ancient elven empire once sought to reach.
* * *
Dale opened the temple entrance, which was tightly sealed with chains and magic, and headed beyond without hesitation.
What was inside the temple was a radiant, indescribably beautiful radiance.
At the same time, the light was never the color of this world. When I thought it was crystal color, it turned into jade color, when I thought it was jade color, it took on a purple color, and when I thought it was purple, it became jade color.
“Are you ready, Lady Aurelia?”
Dale opened his mouth as he looked at the scenery. A tacit affirmation returned from the shadows.
So Dale reached out to the colors that were there.
Towards The Colour Out of Space.
Light enveloped Dale’s body, and a future beyond the veil once raised by the ancient elven empire unfolded before him.
* * *
It was a winter night filled with bitter cold and darkness.
It was in that winter night’s scenery that the Shadow Lord raised his head.
“… … .”
But it was never Dale’s world. A landscape of ruins stretching endlessly beyond the horizon. The end of the world, which even the Golden Emperor could not avoid, was there.
The end of providence that no empire or monarch can avoid. The frost of the apocalypse.
“I, who know hate, will say this: Ice is as capable of destroying the world as fire.”
Right there, the Shadow Lord uttered the words the Crystal Queen had once muttered.
A frost that seemed to bite the flesh and soul was sweeping across the area.
The being was there.
It was a white frost that took the shape of a human silhouette. It spread a cold air that seemed to extinguish the light and flame of this world just by existing.
“Oh, you came again?”
The pure white shadow of cold air opened its mouth.
“Who are you?”
“Winter.”
“The elves sent me here to test me.”
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
“Elf? Oh, I don’t remember the names of all the bugs. But… … Oh, how could I ever forget your existence?”
The being calling itself Winter spoke. Dale swallowed, but it wasn’t directed at Dale.
“Ia Shub Niggurath.”
─ … … .
Suddenly, the old dark mother was by Dale’s side, and Shub smiled quietly.
“Is that really what you want?”
Winter asked again. The old dark mother was silent, just wriggling the tentacles under her dress. Human communication methods would have no meaning to them.
“Show me your blood, child of shadows.”
Winter said. Without a moment’s hesitation, Dale concentrated his blue magic and slashed his wrist with a blade of ice.
Choaack!
The dark blood flowing inside his body was scattered across the floor of Winter. And Winter stretched out its arms towards the wound.
The cold rushed through Dale’s body like a living creature.
It was the cold wind of the apocalypse that brought about the end of the world.
“… … !”
It was so creepy that it literally felt like my blood was freezing all over my body, and the video played in the goosebumps.
“You said Shadow Lord?”
Winter said.
“There is no test. Just take this.”
At those words, the Shadow Lord remained silent. No, he could not say anything.
Even now, I could feel the cold air swimming through the bloodstream of my body. I felt like I would lose consciousness at any moment.
“From now on, the end from which you can never escape or escape will flow endlessly through your body.”
It was just then.
“Keeeeeek!”
A scream so chilling it was almost chilling to hear echoed through the air. The boundaries of the area Dale was standing on began to warp, splitting apart as if space and time were being torn apart.
Beyond that, ‘they’ appeared.
It was a hunting dog with a hideous and ugly appearance that was incomparable to any beast Dale knew of in the world.
“Ah, the hound has found the ‘careless traveler’.”
Winter laughed casually at that. At the same time, Dale chanted ‘Shadow Bullet’ towards them. The endless barrage of darkness projected in a Gatling style tore apart the hounds, and that was it.
Their bodies, now shreds of flesh and sprinkling pitch-black blood, squirmed and fused together again like living slime.
“The hounds have caught your scent.”
He smiled as if he was enjoying winter.
“They are so tenacious that nothing in Providence can kill them, and they can never escape. So, what are we going to do?”
Dale remained silent at those words.
A body of dark blood that cannot be called human, and furthermore, the cold of the end that is eating away at that body.
The cold air flowing through his body enveloped his heart, and the tentacles of the Shuve wrapped around it began to fuse and writhe madly.
Only then did Dale begin to accelerate the five circles.
The magic of black and blue.
But it was no longer the ‘magic power of an ordinary wizard’.
The endless abyss of darkness held by the old dark mother, and the cold of the apocalypse that will come at the end of the universe.
The darkness and coldness that existed beyond providence, and the black magic began to swirl around Dale’s feet.
“Arise, my knights.”
Dale muttered softly.
With those words, the swirling magical power began to take on human flesh and bones next to Dale.
It is not easy for a necromancer to create creatures with only one magic power, but it is not impossible. For a necromancer like Dale, it would not be such a big deal.
But the result was not like that.
A creation of the Shadow Lord who has gained power beyond providence.
There were knights there, made of primordial darkness and apocalyptic cold.
Further, the knights began to produce their ‘Auror Blades’ along the tips of their swords. They were not the Black Sword of Saxony. No, they were not any color of this world at all. They were not black, nor blood red, nor even purple or jade green.
Colors from outer space were imbued into their aura.
The Shadow Lord’s knights finally grasped their sword hilts and charged. Auror blades that held colors beyond Providence swung at the pack of hounds, and once again the most terrible scream in the world rang out.
The Shadow Lord was there.
“Shoove.”
He opened his mouth calmly, without even moving an inch.
─ Yeah, brother.
“Am I still human?”
Dale asked. Winter had not given strength for nothing. Just as he had been reborn into a bloodless body by Shuve, it was the very coldness of the apocalypse that was now gripping Dale’s heart.
The apocalyptic cold that would torment Dale’s body for the rest of his life, until the cosmic winter came.
─Why are you doing that?
Just then, young Shub lovingly cupped Dale’s cheek and asked,
“… … A very personal matter.”
Dale answered.
Leaving behind the power, desire, and fear that seemed like they would completely destroy his humanity at any moment.
* * *
The Shadow Lord was there.
Wielding the darkness of primordial times and the cold of apocalypse, holding power beyond providence.
“Uh, how… … .”
The expressions of the Crystal Prince and the Frost Watcher froze at the sight.
Yet, Dale felt no emotion as he watched them.
It was just so cold, so cold, he needed some warmth to melt his heart.
“……cold.”
Dale muttered softly.
And the Shadow Lord knew better than anyone that nothing in this world could melt his heart from the cold of the apocalypse.
