The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-433

Chapter 433: The Lion King (4)

…Rumble!

Amidst the collapsing ground, a gigantic horse’s head emerged, along with a body covered in pitch-black bark.

Having a horse appear in the presence of knights was not unusual, but the horse that appeared now was eerily familiar.

For those who graduated from the Colosseo Academy, it was impossible not to remember this bust.

[‘Fifth Corpse’ Amdusias]

– Danger Level: S+

– Size: ?

– Discovery Location: Depths of the Gate of Destruction, ‘Womb of the Serpent’

– Also known as the ‘Fifth Corpse’.

One of the ten corpses.

“Take away the lives of those born in that year.”

– 『Ten Commandments』 10:1 –

Amdusias, the unicorn of the abyss. The fifth corpse..

This demon, in the form of a giant horse, was roaring with its mouth wide open towards Night Walkers.

“H-How is this possible!?”

“Vikir already killed him, didn’t he?!”

Hearing Tudor and Bianca’s astonished cries, Monte chuckled and responded.

“It’s not the real one. It’s a remnant thought of Amdusias. It can’t exert the full power of the original, but it can reproduce some of its abilities similarly.”

Amdusias’s remnant thought scattered into countless fragments after he was shattered.

Monte seemed to have picked up a sizable fragment from those.

“Amdusias was always a noble steed I wanted to tame. What could be more honorable than taming a beast-class demon, who was treated as my equal? It’s all thanks to your friend.”

Monte climbed onto Amdusias’s back.

“Die, demon!”

Tudor wielded Gungnir, but…

“If you have a good horse, you need a good body and a good weapon, right? Ah, Tudor – recklessness is the privilege of the young! I’ve waited so long for your courage to mature beyond your physical form.”

This only made Monte’s grin widen further.

At the same time,

Swoosh—

The rough bark covering Amdusias’s body began to rise like tentacles.

Everyone could tell that these were not ordinary trees.

“…Abyss tree!?”

Dolores exclaimed in horror.

It seemed Monte had also obtained Amdusias’s ability to control plants.

Though only a few remnants of the Abyss Tree were present, it was enough to recreate a dream world once more.

“Abyss Tree is perfect for destroying the minds of prey. Ideal for taking over a body without leaving a single scratch. Ah, you must be well aware, having experienced it yourself?”

Monte’s voice flowed smoothly.

The remnants of the Abyss Tree extended rapidly, entwining the night walkers.

Creak—

Everything was just as it was on that day.

The roots of the abyss bound Dolores and everyone else tightly, dragging their minds to the deep, distant depths of the abyss.

“Now I understand why Amdusias was so obsessed with souls ripened within the Abyss Tree.”

Monte muttered in a low voice.

“I’ll let you slowly ripen until you are almost worn out, then I’ll pluck you. Souls are like fruit; they are sweetest and softest just before they rot.”

* * *

“…Ugh.”

Tudor clutched his throbbing head and looked up.

Dry, barren earth, a desolate wasteland, a crimson sky.

He woke up in the world within the Abyss Tree for the first time in nearly four years.

The fortunate thing was that he wasn’t separated from his companions Dolores, Sancho, Figgy, Bianca, and Sinclaire. They all woke up in the same space.

“Where are we?”

The harsh landscape they encountered upon awakening left everyone in shock.

Parched, blackened soil, skeletal dead trees, scorched earth, and thick, rising smoke blocking their view.

While they all had experienced being trapped in the Abyss Tree before, they had never been thrown into such a harsh environment from the start.

Beyond the hazy atmosphere, a shadowy figure could be seen.

It was a rather large statue, worn down by the passage of time, making it difficult to discern its original form.

Despite the many broken parts, the statue’s face was somewhat recognizable.

Bianca, with her keen eye, was the first to speak.

“It’s the figures of the Iron-Blooded Sword Clan, Baskervilles. It looks like Patriarch Hugo le Baskerville and Young Lord Osiris le Baskerville.”

This gave them a clue about whose mindscape they might be in.

“Could it be that this is a visual representation of Vikir’s inner world?”

At Tudor’s words, everyone slowly nodded.

Vikir, their friend who killed Amdusias on his own.

They had heard that Vikir fought the final battle with Amdusias in a space that visualized his inner mind.

The landscape Vikir had vaguely described from his mindscape looked exactly like this.

Every tree’s leaves burnt to ashes, the soil dry, insects dead, and animals reduced to mere bones—this desolate mountain.

Five such mountains rose tall.

Everyone instinctively knew upon entering this mindscape.

These enormous, accumulated mountains were the embodiment of the burdens and responsibilities Vikir carried in his heart.

But there was more that shocked Dolores, Tudor, Sancho, Figgy, and Sinclaire.

Mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

A swamp of flesh and blood. Mountains built from piles of bones. Rivers, lakes, and seas formed from blood.

Demon and human corpses intertwined to form hills, knolls, valleys, and canyons, with lava and sulfur continuously erupting everywhere.

Starving monsters fought over corpses, and the endless cries of despair, wails, and death throes echoed ceaselessly.

A scene beyond human comprehension. Utterly brutal and horrific.

The immense chain of chaos, the vortex of hatred—where did all these terrifying sights originate?

“What kind of world has Vikir been through?”

Dolores, filled with sorrow and pity, carefully observed everything.

Tudor, Bianca, Sancho, and Figgy were speechless as well.

“How could anyone see such a landscape in their life?”

“I always thought he wasn’t an ordinary guy… but what on earth…?”

“Having lived in such an environment, it’s no wonder his personality was so detached.”

“…I feel so sorry for Vikir.”

“…”

Sinclaire could only take in all of this with a wistful gaze.

Just then, footsteps could be heard treading upon the ground.

A scraggly horse came into view, trudging from beyond the burning horizon.

“…!”

Dolores’s eyes widened.

Amdusias, the fifth corpse.

A demon in the grand and imposing form of a horse/unicorn.

Yet now, it was walking on the ground in the guise of an old, decrepit donkey.

It looked like it might collapse at any moment, as if it was on the verge of complete exhaustion.

Tudor extended his spear and stood in Amdusias’s path.

“Hey. Stop!”

At that moment,

…Thud!

Amdusias collapsed to the ground, before Tudor could even block its path.

“…What? I didn’t do anything!”

Tudor hurriedly waved his hands, trying to dispel Bianca’s narrowing gaze beside him.

Meanwhile, Dolores inspected Amdusias’s body as it lay on the ground.

It appeared to be a minuscule fragment of the many remnants left by the real Amdusias.

Exhausted and on the verge of disappearing, it opened its mouth.

[…Run. He is coming.]

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion at these words.

Amdusias continued, tears of blood streaming from its eyes.

[This is the realm of that monster that destroyed the Abyss Tree and trapped me within his own mindscape. I don’t know how you ended up here, but you’d better run. This monster’s inner world is so desolate and barren that even a demon’s mind will break if trapped here for too long… Hehe… Heheh—]

Those were the final words of the fragment of Amdusias’s will.

Tsutsutsutsu…

Amdusias’s soul fragment crumbled into black dust and scattered.

It seemed Monte had managed to harness the fragment of Amdusias within Vikir’s inner world.

“I don’t fully understand, but… it means we’re trapped in a fragment of the Abyss Tree that copied Vikir’s inner world. This landscape is Vikir’s inner mindscape, right?”

Everyone nodded at Tudor’s summary.

It was hard to believe, but given the situation, they had no choice but to accept it.

“It seems like a result of the combined powers of the Fourth Corpse and the Fifth Corpse. Our priority is to find a way out of this world.”

No one disagreed with Dolores’s statement.

Monte intended to confine them here and gradually break their minds.

In this harsh environment that could even shatter a demon’s will, humans wouldn’t last long.

“Damn it, since this is a mindscape, we can’t even take our own lives. If we lose focus, Monte will take our bodies.”

Tudor looked around, sweating nervously.

But the bleak, monochrome landscape of this world was maddening just to behold.

‘What kind of life has Vikir lived?’

This was the only thought that ran through everyone’s mind.

Just then.

[…Demons.]

A voice came from behind, freezing everyone in place.

But their bodies didn’t react out of fear or dread.

It was a voice they longed to hear, a voice they desperately wished to hear again.

[…Demons… must….]

It was the voice of an old friend, a comrade they thought they’d never hear again.

“Vikir!?”

Figgy was the first to turn his head.

Dolores, Sinclaire, Tudor, Sancho, and Bianca quickly followed, turning to face the source of the voice.

Standing there was the person they all thought of.

Vikir.

Vikir van Baskerville.

The exemplary student who had never lost his position at the top.

And the notorious villain known as the ‘Night Hound,’ who had thrown the entire Imperial City into chaos.

[…All Demons must die..]

He stood there, looking exactly the same as he did years ago.

In this desolate and lonely place. All this time. Alone.