Chapter 91

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Chapter 91: First Contact

"Don’t go!" Victor shouted sternly.

Tasha abruptly stopped the car, a nearby piece of gravel moved a step ahead, demonstrating the consequences of rushing over at this moment. Under an invisible force, large, hard rocks the size of a head surged towards the Angry Demon, disintegrating abruptly just half a meter away from the Angry Demon’s skull. The stones turned into dust, disappearing instantly, whether swept away by chaotic air currents or transformed into invisible tiny fragments.

The forcibly squeezed gap was distorting, with nearby spatial turbulence. The area where the Angry Demon was located was completely inaccessible, indicating the terrifying hardness of the Angry Demon Form.

"It’s okay, they can’t get through!" Victor awkwardly reassured, not sure if he was comforting Tasha or himself. "If spatial barriers were so easily broken, the Abyss and the Primary Material Plane would have been turned into a sieve long ago! Even if the main body is used, it would be stuck in the middle, waiting to die, with a 99.9% chance of failure!"

"Shut up!" Tasha quickly interrupted him.

Whenever Victor said "unless this or that," that less than one percent "unless" was likely to be encouraged to a 99.9% chance of occurrence, might as well have said nothing at all.

"I also want to say it will absolutely not succeed!" Victor grasped Tasha’s meaning and protested, "But that would be lying and concealing the truth, and our contract doesn’t allow me to do that!"

As he spoke, the Angry Demon Lord’s main body was wildly shaking its neck, veins bulging on its neck, like a wild bull with a noose around its neck. With a chilling and eerie sound, more parts of the Angry Demon appeared in midair.

However, there is a certain power that is stopping it.

The wild attacks from Ragehorn Simon hit the air with great force, but couldn’t make much of a dent. As the bodies trying to drill through fluctuated in number, the space itself seemed to resist the intruders, creating a tug-of-war.

Tasha tried to add more force against the Angry Demon.

The nearby ground and walls were occasionally lifted by strong gravity, becoming uneven and unable to hold any runes. Even if the Pope of Saro had not left, Samuel was far from being able to activate the Prideful Sun Rod again after using the Divine Artifact. In the chaotic space, melee attacks were ineffective against the Angry Demon, but ranged attacks were worth a try.

Manipulated by the hand of the dungeon, rocks and soil were hurled at the Angry Demon.

A broken pillar a few meters high crashed into Simon’s head, which had recently pressed down the Book of Dungeons and was now used as a weapon. Gnomes quickly gathered nearby, working energetically to produce a large amount of ammunition. The shattered pillar crumbled, but the dust lingered, surrounding the Angry Demon as it roared in increased fury.

It seemed there was no effective way to attack now. Tasha clicked her tongue, creating more gnomes whose movements became faster.

Even if they were helpless against the approaching Angry Demon at this moment, there was still one thing they could do.

The gnomes’ digging was not only to create ammunition for throwing.

Before the cracks opened, the gnomes gathered and continuously adjusted the terrain. Even when Victor’s plan failed, they didn’t stop. The gnomes dug out a separate space for the Dungeon Core and Magic Pool, ensuring that demons coming here wouldn’t collide with others. The connection between the Magic Pool, Dungeon Core, and the rest of the building was minimal, like a fruit hanging on a thin stem. Just cut the stem, and the fruit would fall easily.

The gnomes working quickly were cutting the stems of the fruit.

Just a few steps away from the Angry Demon, the Magic Pool and Dungeon Core slowly collapsed. The most important part of the dungeon was rapidly moving away from danger. In a short while, it would completely detach from the hall like an escape pod being ejected.

"Don’t even think about leaving!" Ragehorn Simon shouted furiously.

It realized that anyone could see the building’s escape route. Nest Mother, who had just been defeated, stood cautiously near the Magic Pool, and Victor, who had just been defeated, floated in the Magic Pool looking unharmed. The Angry Demon Lord’s intelligence quickly understood what had fixed Victor’s pages. The Demon Lords are not fools, Angry Demons are smart too. They are not stupid, just easily angered, like Simon at this moment.

Simon was enraged.

Its face was a mix of black and red, despite its tough iron-like exterior, it still showed signs of wear and tear in the turbulent space. The Angry Demon’s skin peeled off like wall paint, pitted, but regenerating constantly. Its black blood covered its whole face, the red patterns continuously flickering like a hot boiler, about to explode under high pressure. With a roar, Simon’s struggle intensified.

The space became more unstable, and the storm confined to a small area intensified. Tasha could see the distortion of space reflected on the Angry Demon Lord’s face: the tearing of the skin worsened in the struggle, not just the outer layer, but even the flesh was exposed. An invisible blade cut through Simon’s face, a thin layer of skin disappeared into thin air. From cheekbones to mouth corners, a large piece of flesh vanished, revealing bare teeth, a chilling sight.

"Don’t — try — to — leave —!"

The long howl grew louder and changed pitch.

The first half could still be considered some language, even if it sounded like a creepy demon tongue that gives you goosebumps. The second half, however, seemed completely from some kind of monster, no coherence left, only pure anger. It was something you would hear standing at the entrance of an abandoned tunnel, sounding like wind but not quite, seeming like language but not really. It was roaring, vibrating, an emotion radiating out.

The speed of Angry Demon became incredibly frightening.

The horned head shook wildly, its outline casting shadows as if fast-forwarded many times over, like a glitching game model spasming randomly. When this sight appeared in reality, onlookers couldn’t help but feel physically uncomfortable. The escalating frequency wasn’t the root cause, at this moment, Ragehorn Simon was still caught in chaotic spatial currents.

It was like struggling in a space filled with blades, such intense resistance only made its wounds rapidly worsen.

The rate at which the wounds increased far surpassed the rate of healing. In the blink of an eye, Angry Demon’s head turned into a bloody gourd. The blood mist even momentarily lingered in the air, resembling broken earth and stones thrown by Tasha just now.

"It’s gone mad," Victor murmured, "the bigger the movement, the heavier the injury, the quicker the death, how senseless. Only the bold and cautious, patient and meticulous can possibly get through – but if it were a bit more patient and careful, it wouldn’t be here in the first place…"

Tasha halted Victor’s speech.

The more he spoke, the lighter Victor’s tone became, as if he was already convinced that Simon was about to fail. By the sound of it, he might continue with sarcasm, like "If you refuse to leave, we’ll lose face," or "Even if you reveal your ultimate move, it won’t turn the tide instantly, do you think you’re able to curse? Sorry, Angry Demon seems to lack that skill" and so on. If Simon heard these words, he would definitely be fuming.

Tasha thought it’s best not to anger the Angry Demon unless it’s absolutely necessary to provoke it.

Victor relaxed, but Tasha was still tense. She stood by the slightly sinking Magic Pool, staring intensively at the raging Angry Demon before her.

Simon was already very angry, no need to make things worse.

With a crack, the remaining horn shattered in its frantic struggles.

This was the true form of the Angry Demon Lord, and once the horn was broken, it couldn’t grow back. "Ragehorn Simon" would become "Hornless Simon" from then on, if it could still make it back alive. It was quite a sacrifice, but Victor had no intention of mocking the situation.

There was a subtle change in the atmosphere.

Something was brewing, the air felt different from the moment before. Although it seemed like nothing had changed, something was definitely different.

It was the breath.

The breath of the abyss suddenly exploded, and it was at this moment that Tasha realized the breath could actually intensify. The arrival of the Angry Demon Form felt like throwing a powder keg in front of Tasha, which was now ignited.

Boom!

There was no sound, no light, no smell, no texture. If an ordinary person who couldn’t feel anything was there, they might just feel uncomfortable, like before a summer storm. But for Tasha and Victor, what they saw was like a huge explosion.

"&%*@——!" Angry Demon roared.

It was not even a coherent sentence, just a mix of noises, like a scratching sound on a broken tape, piercing their minds, making them shiver. In that moment, Tasha could feel Victor’s intense fear through their connection.

Even though Paladin had invaded the Dungeon Core, and Victor might be killed along with Tasha; even though demons were about to appear because of Victor, worrying that Tasha might turn against him, his fear was stronger than ever. It was like a bird facing a formidable enemy, or a child from a concentration camp hearing the boots of a guard – a deep, uncontrollable fear.

"Abyss," he murmured, "why do you favor my enemies…"

At that moment, Angry Demon Lord Simon received the favor of the Abyss.

Was it because of the determination to kill at any cost? Was it because of the chaotic rage that ignored rules? The Abyssal Will was so unpredictable, a terrible rule different from the primary material plane. The chaotic and irrational Angry Demon was favored by the Abyss.

Oh, come on! Tasha sighed in her heart. Suddenly leveling up in the middle of a battle – what kind of protagonist treatment is this?

Complaining is no use now.

Just now, the seam that was stuck at the Angry Demon’s neck suddenly split open, as if it were shattered glass. The broken edges regenerated, Simon’s fierce smile widened to his ears, a huge claw reached out from one side, followed by another.

Two strong arms inserted into the air on one side, waving and swinging as if trying to shake off a window frame tied to their body. Crash! Simon drilled out.

Rather than say it drilled out, it smashed what was holding it.

A strong wind swept through the entire hall.

Dim light shimmered at the fractured area, Angry Demon tore open a black hole, looking into it, nothing could be seen, as if the light was also swallowed. It was as if a hole was torn in the hull of a spaceship, an empty space appeared with a suction force hundreds of times stronger than before, in an instant, everything not firmly fixed flew up.

Debris from the entire hall swiftly flew past, dust, broken soil, and even large rocks all rose up as if a powerful vacuum cleaner appeared in mid-air. Several gnomes who didn’t hold on securely floated up, their bodies looking similar to the rocks, effortlessly rushing towards the void, disappearing behind the Angry Demon Lord. Tasha flapped her wings to keep her balance, one hand firmly gripping the Magic Pool, biting the back of the blessed silver dagger, while the other hand grabbed Victor who almost flew out of the pool. What was unsettling was that the water in the Magic Pool was also trembling, as if it would float up in the next moment.

Ragehorn Simon took a step forward.

The chaotic space flow did not disappear with the appearance of the Abyssal Gaze, as the rift was torn open, making the chaos even worse. Every step Ragehorn Simon took was very difficult, his body was cut by countless wind blades, unable to heal in time. Another large piece of flesh was peeled off, the wound deep enough to see the bone, but Simon continued to walk. It seemed completely indifferent to pain, resembling the monsters that would appear in a child’s nightmare.

Tasha struggled to lift her head in the strong wind, she looked at Simon, her pupils shrinking.

No, the Angry Demon walking towards her like a terminator did not scare her, but what horrified her was behind Simon.

The black hole was expanding.

It was sucking in all sorts of things, from sand to gnomes, anything no matter how big or heavy, it accepted them all. The hole was almost round, very unstable, and in its terrifying suction, the surrounding space continued to collapse.

The black hole swallowed its edges.

"Hurry! The farther, the better!" Victor said nervously, "The Primary Material Plane can’t withstand the true form of the big demon, this place is about to collapse!"

"We should have left as soon as we could!" Tasha gritted her teeth, the dragon-winged body and Dungeon Core were too close to the black hole, and they had already used up all their strength to not be sucked in.

Hundreds of years ago, the true form of the big demon could briefly appear in the dungeon of the Primary Material Plane, but Tasha’s dungeon had not transformed to create an environment suitable for demons at all. The Angry Demon Lord forcibly descended in this world that had been separated from the abyss for hundreds of years and had changed in many ways, Aryan could no longer withstand such a presence.

For a brief moment, Tasha heard a very strange noise, one that inexplicably reminded her of a winter from childhood. In that winter, she had walked on a glacier, and just before she fell and almost lost her life, she had heard that noise.

Maybe it wasn’t the sound that was the same, but the spine-chilling instinctual reaction before encountering disaster.

The black hole shattered.

The edge shattered silently, what would a hollow become after it shatters? It turns into a terrifying gap without edges. The Angry Demon, approaching step by step, fell backward, flying back into the gap, futilely waving its hands trying to stay, unable to find anything to grab onto. It suddenly disappeared into the gap, while Tasha flew out, taking Victor in her hand. The Dungeon Core fixed in the air above the Magic Pool, as well as the heavy droplets in the Magic Pool, were both uprooted and sucked into the passage. The only thing Tasha could do was to let the droplets wrap around the Dungeon Core, without shattering into countless pieces.

The familiar environment of the dungeon disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the next moment, Tasha was surrounded by an unseen environment.

Darkness surrounded on all sides, mixed light scattered everywhere, light without a source constantly illuminating small areas. There was nothing around, this vast emptiness, without any reference point to measure one’s location, chaotic within ten meters just like a hundred meters away – if there really was a "hundred meters away" here.

The gravity that pulled Tasha in had vanished, the dungeon inside and outside the gap were only a dozen meters away, yet it felt like a completely different world in an instant.

Maybe it wasn’t just a feeling.

Tasha felt the abyss.

There was no second hole nearby, no other gap that seemed to lead to the abyss, but shadows of the abyss were everywhere. The opening leading to the Primary Material Plane, leading to the dungeon, was within reach, but the abyss might be even closer.

A strange breath of the abyss came from many beams of light, from a few streams of air, from all directions, the abyss was everywhere. Tasha immediately realized that this was the gap between the Primary Material Plane and the abyss, with the abyss existing on the other side of the passage – not a normal person’s concept of a passage, where space overlapped, with only a thin layer of barrier separating them, the abyss just across.

Strangely, Tasha did not feel disgust or danger.

Before she could think carefully, a sharp wind came rushing towards her.

Angry Demon, who arrived here earlier, already stabilized its body, it roared and charged like a runaway train. Tasha suddenly flapped her wings, her body soaring in the space where directions were unclear, narrowly dodging the Angry Demon’s claws. Only a foot away from the claws did Tasha’s head feel the forceful wind as she got close to the Demon Lord.

Once again, the breath of the abyss, but this time not coming from Angry Demon itself. As Simon made a move, the thin barrier was torn wider, and for a moment, Tasha directly touched the abyss for the first time.

Suddenly, she understood that what made her sick when digesting the Angry Demon’s minion was the power of the Angry Demon, not the abyss itself. Despite being chaotic and obscure, the abyss was "colorless".

It was strange that the abyss gave birth to so much evil, yet it was not evil itself – is an earthquake, a tsunami, a hurricane evil? Even if it destroyed countless lives, even if it devoured countless souls, the abyss itself had no good or evil. Abyssal Will is consciousness, even unconscious; the essence of the abyss breath is not much different from Natural Aura, although the rules of the two are completely different.

In this brief contact, Tasha connected with the abyss.

The Dungeon Core, which had been disconnected from the abyss for centuries, reconnected with its homeland, the inevitable connection already completed in that moment of contact, naturally and unavoidably. But before she could worry, Tasha first realized that she had no reaction: no higher will was erasing her self-awareness.

Tasha didn’t feel danger, resistance, submission, or fear. Is it because she’s not native to the abyss? Is it because every soul’s abyss is different? Anyway, nothing happened.

Wait, something did happen.

The abyss’s energy flooded into the Dungeon Core during a brief contact, the demons were right, the dungeon naturally connects to the abyss. The incomplete Dungeon Core received a gift from its homeland, and at that moment, there was finally a reaction in the silent merging and restructuring.

[Incomplete dungeon-Tasha]

Progress in merging and restructuring: 25/100

Attributes: Nature – You have gained the approval of the Heart of Nature, the Will of Nature is watching you / Dragon – You have gained the approval of the residual will of the Legendary Ancient Dragon, a distant dragon glanced at you / Abyss – The prodigal child returning home, the attention of the Abyssal Will is on you – the attention of this great entity is easily redirected, please please it. Besides the name, progress bar, and attributes, Tasha’s card did not show anything. But the little it revealed was enough to suggest something.

A burst of blood rain exploded.

It wasn’t Tasha who got hurt, but Ragehorn Simon instead. The twisted space tore through its arms, upon closer inspection, the spatial turbulence did not vanish but clung to Simon like maggots on a bone.

"The space here is very fragile, can’t bear a big demon at all!" Victor quickly said, "The more it moves, the stronger its power, and the greater the damage it receives!"

Indeed, as Tasha dodged clumsily, Simon, who was on the attacking side, also kept getting hurt. But even as he got hurt, his wounds kept healing.

Should we wait for it to destroy itself?

Tasha quickly made a decision.

The woman with dragon wings tightened her grip on the handle of the knife, dodged another dangerous attack, turned around, swung her knife, and moved towards the enemy.