episode_0272

“It’s the ancient Demon temple!!”

As the cloaking gradually faded, the exterior of a considerably large structure revealed itself before Elizabeth’s eyes.

Elizabeth’s wide-eyed expression became even more astonished.

The ancient Demon temple,

For Elizabeth, who came all the way to the Iskandar mountain range of eternal snow to find the Demon priestess, it couldn’t be anything but a strong hunch.

Surely, a Demon priestess who knows about the incident that occurred in Enclema about 20 years ago will be present there.

[Come in, stranger.]

Faaaaaa…!!!!

Soon, the ancient Demon temple took on a complete form, and the door, filled with mysterious patterns, opened on its own. And from within, it emitted a dark red flash.

At the same time, a heavy telepathic message transformed into the voice of a dignified woman, calling out to Elizabeth.

“Hoo…!”

Elizabeth took a deep breath,

‘I will go in! For my brother!’

The opponent is a Demon priestess. And she appears to be an existence with tremendous magical power.

No matter how much of a genius magician Elizabeth is, if the opponent is a Demon priestess, her safety cannot be guaranteed,

But for the sake of her beloved brother, Eugene Schneider, this fourth-dimensional lady began to enter the red flash.

‘Oooooh…!’

Elizabeth entered with a determined spirit, but soon her expression changed to one full of curiosity.

‘This is the style of the era when the Demon race was at its peak! I know that they all disappeared towards the end of the ancient era and have only been passed down in paintings and records! Why is that ancient thing located here???’

As she entered the ancient Demon temple, she was able to more clearly grasp the quality of the space she had stepped into.

The Demon race is the second oldest race in the otherworld Gaia, after the Elf race.

Among the times since the creation of the world, the ancient era, from its beginning to its mid-point, was the Demon race’s golden age.

Naturally, the culture of the Demon race also developed during that period, and civilization flourished in step with it.

Elizabeth, who had diligently studied black magic, was quite knowledgeable about such information.

‘Perhaps the owner of this place is an even more amazing existence than I thought.’

As she grasped such circumstances, Elizabeth’s mind raced.

She thought that while it was possible to imitate the exterior of the temple to some extent, if the interior was also a reproduction of the ancient era, then the owner of this place was a person with considerable knowledge and depth.

‘I think it’s someone who has been staying in a dimension in between for quite a long time and has lived until now.’

Furthermore, when linked to the cloaking magic of unimaginable level that she had previously experienced, an extraordinary scale was analyzed.

A dimension in between refers to the space between the other world where so-called gods, spirits, etc. exist, and the present world where humans reside.

It can be seen as a subtle dimension that forms a buffer between completely different dimensions.

It can be said that dimensional rifts occur because of the existence of this dimension.

In that in-between dimension, the flow of time is relatively slower than in the present world, and occasionally special beings enter the in-between dimension and live for a long time.

‘This is the place! I can feel the energy that created a huge barrier and commanded the Snowmen!’

Elizabeth diligently racked her brains and traversed the interior of the ancient Demon temple.

She did not traverse it recklessly, but rather chased the source of the energy that had fiercely competed with her magic power until recently.

When she reached the end of that energy, or rather, the source, Elizabeth arrived in front of a door that was truly simple yet somehow dignified.

“Come in.”

And from behind that door, unlike the voice that had been recited as an incantation, a plain voice that did not convey any necromantic energy at all was heard.

“I, I will go in!”

Squeak…!

A very relaxed voice,

Elizabeth, who was so confident and didn’t care about others, opened the door with a slightly stuttering voice.

“Oh… a very beautiful young lady. Such outstanding features were hidden behind the witch’s hat.”

Elizabeth opened the door and entered.

What she saw in front of her was a fireplace with firewood crackling, and next to the fireplace was a middle-aged woman sitting in a rocking chair.

The middle-aged woman was looking at the burning fireplace,

Nevertheless, she admired Elizabeth’s beauty, as if she could see her face.

“My name is Anastasia…”

After that, she turned her head towards Elizabeth.

“I am the last high priestess of Amon, the ancient empire of the Demon race.”

Then she revealed her identity to Elizabeth.

The middle-aged woman’s identity was the last high priestess of Amon, the empire of the Demon race’s golden age.

“I have grasped the situation of other regional defense forces through carrier pigeons. And among them, there are friends who have considerable connections with the empire’s direct aristocratic knight order, so I have heard about the situation that Great Swordsman Eugene mentioned.”

The next day, Eugene Schneider visited the Bahad defense force headquarters with Charlotte as always.

However, today’s purpose is not a strategy meeting, but to confirm what was requested.

Therefore, Memphis, the commander-in-chief of the defense force, welcomed Eugene and Charlotte and started the conversation.

“The situation was grasped faster than expected.”

At Memphis’s words, Eugene Schneider made a quite welcome expression and sat down.

‘I heard about the external situation from Vivian, and I had a strange dream yesterday at dawn, so I became impatient.’

Until a few days ago, he was busy taking care of the inside of Bahad.

Then, Eugene Schneider received a letter from Elizabeth and heard about an unusual situation.

The information was that Tyranos was planning to attack the empire and the empire was aware of it and trying to respond.

Therefore, Eugene asked Memphis if he could find out what was going on in other regions, and Memphis told him that he had the capacity to find out because he had received contact from several other regional defense forces.

So, he was going to wait a few more days, but the impact of the dream he had at dawn was so strong that Eugene Schneider came to see if there was any information that had arrived.

“However, according to the contents of the letters being obtained here, the situation was slightly different from what Great Swordsman Eugene expressed concern about.”

Memphis, who had poured tea for Eugene and Charlotte, also sat down on the strategy table chair, held the letter in his hand, and continued speaking with a slightly puzzled expression.

“Rather, it seems that the central forces of the imperial knight order, who were protecting the imperial family, have begun to go out to support the outskirts.”

If Tyranos was aiming for the imperial family or the empire’s core institutions, it would be right to maintain at least the current forces, but the imperial knight order was readily responding to requests for support from the outer regions where it was difficult to cope with monsters.

‘Is there confusion inside?

Eugene Schneider, who heard those words, made a slightly thoughtful expression.

Unlike Memphis, he knows the infighting within the imperial knight order.

There is a gap between the leadership elites and the field personnel of the imperial knight order.

At a time like now, that will become even more pronounced.

Therefore, Eugene thinks that Victoria, who has a lot of interaction with the field personnel, talked about the imperial knight order’s active response to Tyranos, while the aristocratic knight order, from whom Memphis obtained information, seems to have referred to the opposite position.

‘Was I overreacting?’

After hearing a story different from his own thoughts from Memphis, Eugene Schneider left the defense force headquarters with Charlotte to look around Bahad again.

Eugene Schneider tilted his head, thinking that the impact of the dream was so great that he thought he would catch something, but he might have been barking up the wrong tree.

“I didn’t want to say it in front of Commander Memphis, so I saved it, Eugene.”

At that moment, Charlotte, who was walking side by side with Eugene, opened her mouth.

“If it’s my father that I know, I think that the current appearance is closer to the appearance of preparing something.”

After Duchess Marianne, Charlotte is the one who has seen the most of her father Antoine de Cell Obelian’s social life within the family.

From her perspective, the current appearance of the imperial knight order seems unusual.

However, because it is such a sensitive issue, she refrained from speaking in front of Memphis.

“What do you mean, sister?”

Charlotte’s cautious tone, which is rarely seen,

Therefore, Eugene also looked at Charlotte with a fairly focused expression.

“My father has the mindset of deceiving the enemy and deceiving allies if he judges that he really has to fight an opponent. He prefers surprise preemptive attacks. From what I see, I think that apart from sending imperial knight order troops to support the outside, he is definitely preparing something to neutralize Tyranos.”

Within the family, Antoine de Cell Obelian is strict, but basically a kind father.

However, he shows a completely different aspect when it comes to his work.

A thorough pragmatist. And he prefers effective methods.

He has performed 1v1 battles, politics, and led the imperial knight order in that way.

‘That’s right, that’s right. Now that I hear what Sister Charlotte is saying, I remember.’

For a moment, Eugene made a sympathetic expression.

‘In the end, that was the way he attacked Vivian’s father, Alexis. He created a trap, lured him in, and then finished him off with a preemptive attack.’

Another side of his stepfather Antoine, which he learned through Vivian,

If you think about it, Charlotte’s current words are understandable.

“I will complete the mission and come back, Kaiser.”

The quest team building to subjugate the core of the sophist was completed.

In fact, it wasn’t going to take that long.

Victoria had already organized a team on her own,

And Antoine had no reason to put a brake on the team members that Victoria had put together at her discretion.

Antoine’s trust in Victoria is that great.

As if to live up to that trust, Victoria pledged to complete the mission with a resolute appearance.

“…..”

Antoine silently looked at Victoria with a subtle expression.

“You are so admirable and beautiful, Victoria.”

The words of encouragement he took out later were also very subtle.

“Your sister would be very happy if she saw this side of you…”

Smile…!

Then he mentioned Victoria’s mother, Antoine’s own cousin Adrian, and gave a faint smile.

“The high priestess of Amon, the ancient empire of the Demon race???”

The empire’s situation is turning around quite urgently,

But Elizabeth was still in her first meeting with Anastasia.

This is because, as she thought, Anastasia’s temple has its feet in the in-between dimension where time flows slowly.

Anastasia’s identity, which she heard in that way, was truly shocking.