Chapter 589 440 Beginning (No Protagonist)

Chapter 589 440. The beginning (no protagonist)

The demon fell from the sky, its twisted flesh engulfed in a cloud of flies, smoke, and carrion crows. As it fell, it struggled to right itself, flapped its huge, ragged wings, and let out an incoherent laugh. .

The laughter grew louder and louder, the flying flies blotting out the sunlight, and for a moment it seemed as if the laughter was enough to stop the demon's fall. However, the fall did not stop. A giant eagle whose body was torn and broken like a demon clutched its tattered belly tightly. The knight on the eagle's back covered with Israma silver was still swinging his spear to attack. With.

As they intertwined and fell, they painted a picture on the clouds with their blood, and with jeers and screams, they crashed into the forest below.

The knight in shining armor held the reins of the giant eagle in his left hand, and held the spear in his right hand. His armor was as tattered as the flesh of the giant eagle, and his face was pale with pain. As he fell rapidly, he desperately pulled on the giant eagle's body. Reins, the bird also managed to vibrate its broken wings.

The knight and the giant eagle bumped into the sky again a second before hitting the tree crown. The knight who seized the opportunity inserted his spear into the demon's drooping head. Limbs burst from the wounds, sharp claws colliding with his silver armor. He shook his head calmly, preparing to use his spear to attack the demon again. The tip of the spear fell with a flicker, shining in the morning light, while the giant eagle flapped its broken wings harder, as if victory was right in front of him.

The demon's laughter became hysterical as the knight and the eagle rose again. The knight hesitated, looking around, trying to locate the source of the creature's laughter. A piece of rusty iron was hidden among the giant eagle's breast feathers. However, standing on the eagle's back, he couldn't see it at all. Soon the demon responded to him, blood spurted out from the giant eagle's breast feathers, and the power of Nurgle's blessing exploded vividly at this moment.

The knight and the giant eagle fell again, this time faster than last time. A few seconds later, the knight who was thrown out passed through the tree canopy and hit the ground, and the devil's laughter stopped abruptly.

The huge impact spread through ancient branches, collapsed tree trunks, scattered deer, and filled the valley with dust. After a while, there was nothing but the echoes and the screams of crows, as if the world had returned to peace.

As Asta Eltanin tried to stand up, blood flowed from the gaps in his breastplate, his legs trembling as they tried to support him, and he clutched his stomach, groaning in pain. He looked down at his ruined armor and shook his head, then his eyes widened as he thought of his comrade.

"Ladesa."

Asta gasped and shouted, squinting into the darkness of the forest. He was now in a small clearing, surrounded by an impenetrable mass of ferns and shrubs. He knew that this was the Sea of ​​Dawn Trees in Genesis, a forbidden land for the elves living in Elsin Alvin. The stench of rotting flesh hung in the air, and he frowned and twitched his nose, trying to find the source of the smell.

There was a murky and ominous-looking pond in the middle of the clearing, and Asta's eyes went directly to the rising column of smoke and flies. He tried to move, but the bushes resisted and branches wrapped around his calves, tripping him to the ground.

"Ladesa!" cried Asta, his face as long and graceful as his body, but his expression turned ugly with fear as he searched the woods for his companions. He realized it wasn't just the smell that made the air heavy, there was something else, malice! Overwhelming malice was pouring towards him from all directions.

Asta stared at the ancient yew tree and noticed something strange about him. The branches twisted into claws and were covered with thorns as long as his fingers. There was no wind, but the claws were creaking and moving, stretching toward him. He straightened up, took off the metal scepter from his belt, and used the scepter to untie the restraints on his legs. The tangled branches resisted, holding on to him until he snapped, the branches retracting like worms into the ground as the broken bush disappeared.

"Asuryan's fire, what kind of forest is this?"

Asta's voice was dull and flat. He could clearly feel the anger around him growing, but no one answered him. He murmured a long, winding word of Elsalim and raised his scepter.

The scepter is wrapped with silver silk ornaments, with a sparkling eagle head at the top and a fist-sized sapphire in its mouth. As the words are chanted, the shimmering sapphires disperse the shadows, bathing the trees in cool blue light.

At the far end of the clearing lay a huge brown figure, and Asta saw his companion, the eagle's breast broken and withered, pierced by a yew branch. He hurried towards the giant eagle, but the severe pain in his left leg caused him to kneel to the ground and fell beside the stagnant pond. He looked down at the blood pouring from deep in his thigh, confused by the pain for a moment.

As Asta watched the pond water turn red, he imagined dozens of tiny objects looking toward him, a swarm of strange human, bird, and insect faces, each no bigger than his thumb, carrying tiny bayonet. When he tried to focus on the object, it immediately disappeared, and when he reached into the water, he caught nothing but pale weeds. Cursing, he stood up, hobbled on with his staff in hand, and when he reached his companion, he laid his hand on the black feathers of the eagle.

"Ladesa...live...live! Please." Asta's voice was hoarse with emotion, and he gently rested his head on Ladesa's noble forehead. He could feel Ladesa growing cold, but he kept repeating the request over and over again. He knew that he should move on and continue to fight, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't accept the cruel reality that they had been fighting side by side for thousands of years, from the Great Invasion to the present.

When the branches and leaves reappeared around Asta, he stood motionless beside Ladesa, bound by the overwhelming grief. Finally, the sound of breaking wood pulled him out of his sorrow. He looked up at the movement in the trees, and his expression became firm again.

"Alcor!"

When Asta saw a huge, slack face grinning at him from among the trees, he roared loudly, broke away from the eagle, and limped through the bushes.

The demon made a loud noise as it turned and fled, dragging its ragged wings through the forest and disappearing from Asta's sight with a purring laugh.

"you are mine!"

Asta unleashed his fury through the head of the staff, a torrent of blue fire tearing through the trees as he screamed and staggered through the tangle of branches and roots.

No longer running away, the cackling demon pointed its huge, rusty sword at Asta, disease pouring from the jagged metal and twisted branches forming a channel lined with black decay. Roots withered, leaves shriveled, thousands of feeble larvae emerged from the ground, and the rotten chaos rushed toward Asta with the force of a landslide.

Asta tried to duck as maggots and rotting vegetation crashed into him, but his injured legs could no longer support him and he fell to the ground, rolling awkwardly into a steep ravine and falling headfirst. Into a smelly creek. The ground moved and bubbled with the spread of decay, flies swarmed into his mouth, crows pecked at his face, filthy water flooded his wounds, and he roared and groaned, turning his body and driving his scepter into the mud. , filling the ravines with flames.

"You're done! You're dead! I'll crush your rotten heart!" When the flames and rots confront each other, the flies turn into dust and the crows turn into smoke. Asta stood up again, clad in light and roaring angrily.

However, Asta was greeted with only laughter. As the demon turned and continued on through the trees, he saw Alcor's torn wings flapping uselessly, and he knew that the demon's movements were erratic and painful, as he had done to the demon with Radsa before. terrible injuries. He let out a sneer as he staggered after the demon.

Brothers and companions gave their lives to get Asta to this point, and their deeds will not be forgotten. As he limped after the demon, he swore that he would survive, that he would return home, and that after so many years of hardship, he would finally set sail back to Ulthuan. He would tell the archmages how brave their students were and how they fought heroically. He would tell the Masters of Lore how he tracked down this evil and eradicated it from the world! He would go to the crater and tell the giant eagles how tenacious Ladesa was, and that Ladesa's choices would always be the right ones.

Astaire used the roots as a ladder and climbed out of the ravine. Holding his scepter high, he projected blue light deeper into the forest.

"I found you!" Asta murmured to himself, and he caught a glimpse of the huge figure again. He staggered through the trees, the demonic disease spreading, clouds of spores gathering beneath the canopy, desolation spreading, a wall of emerald smoke rolling toward him.

Asta, who covered his mouth with his hand, dragged his bleeding legs and sprinted. As he limped and ran, he released his hand and recited another spell, using his staff to disperse the smoke. The air cleared only briefly, but it was enough for him to see the large form of the demon and something else.

Dozens of crows, cutting through the smoke, filled the air with their contemptuous clamor. Asta held up his hands as the crows slammed into him, most of them dead, hitting him with such force that their necks were broken, but others stayed alive, pecking at his face and clawing at his Arms, vibrating wings vigorously against his armor.

"What's the use? Why prolong all this!? I..." Asta roared, waving the weapon in his hand, trying to struggle forward. His words paused as he noticed movement around him, then he gasped and asked, "Who? Who's there?"

When Asta broke free from those flapping wings, he saw more figures, flashing, twisting shadows, moving at incredible speeds.

"What on earth is this place?" Asta shouted loudly, and the previous question was asked again. He plunged his cane into the soil and the staff erupted with more dazzling light. The crow in the air stopped, and then the crow's feathers Waves of flame. As the light faded, the crow dropped to the ground, and the smell of cooking meat filled the air.

"Who are you? Are you an elf? No... there can't be elves here." Forgetting his prey for a moment, Asta stared into the darkness as he stepped out of the path, trying to make out the vague shapes. It was difficult to determine what it was in the shifting smoke, and it seemed as if the trees themselves were leaning toward him. No! Not trees, some kind of giants, with tall, twisted crests and moss-covered talons.

Asta shook his head in confusion and changed the direction of the blue light, trying to see the tall figures in more detail. As the blue flames penetrated the darkness, the ghostly figures disappeared, leaving behind blurred shadows. As he prepared to investigate further, a sharp pain suddenly broke out in his back and he fell to the soft moss-covered ground. He rolled to one side and barely avoided the fatal blow.

"Stupid guy." Asta muttered to himself, and he climbed up the branch of a tree in pain when the demon jumped over.

"I can still taste them, your brother's bones are in my stomach. Is this your brother? Or which brother? There is nothing good about both of them, and I don't know if I can tolerate them more?"

Alkor's huge figure approached from the shadows, surrounded by a smoke of barren leaves and stinking flies breeding around it, and as he spoke, his nearly two-meter tongue stuck out, saliva flowing over his scarred chin. He gurgled and laughed, pulling at a loose wound on his stomach. The crimson entrails parted, revealing a circle of grey intestines, with a portion of a skull wrapped around it. Its laughter became more hysterical when it saw Asta's expression of fear.

The decay spread across the ground, quickly climbing up the tree where Asta stood. The bark rotted and fell away, and the trunk made a low creaking sound. Asta pointed the scepter at Alkor, drawing the light from the gem and throwing it at the demon.

Alkor's laughter turned into a cough, and when it fell on the tree, the tree broke apart, knocking it to the ground, and the branches spun into the air.

Asta felt his perch begin to shake as Alkor hit the ground, and he leaped from the branch, his injured leg making a bone-cracking sound, and he let out a painful howl.

As Asta howled, Alkor had sat up, pointing the worn sword at Asta, and more trees fell as the sword moved. The whimper of the enraged tree thrust a branch into its throat, piercing out of its trembling jaw like a horn.

Asta saw his chance, wielding the staff like a club, slamming it into the demon's face. The silver eagle head burrowed easily into Alkor's flesh, and his magic shone brighter.

Alkor began to spasm and struggle, its body becoming unstable, shaking the trees with its huge body and pounding the soil with its fists, and the air was filled with the sound of its slapping.

"The people you killed... their light will never be extinguished by people like you. Everything they had, everything you destroyed, will be reshaped! When I face them again..." Asta pushed the staff deeper, his voice became gentle, almost compassionate. Black smoke began to pour out of the demon's charred eyes, and just as he was about to say something else, do something else, he paused because he felt movement behind him.

"This is impossible!" Asta turned his head and shouted in surprise.

An illusion emerged from the shadows, a beautiful elf with eyes that sparkled like diamonds, and armor that was almost identical to Asta's, smiling at Asta.

"Who are you? There can't be an elf here!"

"Me? I'm the forest!"

"This is an illusion, what are you hiding!" Asta frowned and asked, confused, knowing that it was an illusion, an illusion of the shadow system.

Elves are illusory, but the existence around the elves is real. A group of wooden creatures covered with uneven bark and sharp thorns, making creaking sounds, their twisted muscles were engraved with spiral runes, and when they approached, they opened their bird-like mouths, revealing sharp branches, like the fangs of wild cats.

Asta was so surprised that he couldn't speak, he staggered back, shaking his head, and left the scepter on the demon. The elf had disappeared, and where it had stood before stood another wooden creature.

"Who are you?"

When the wooden creature began to sing, Asta's distrust deepened, and he questioned.

"Me? Daicha!"

The strange-toned Elsalin words, accompanied by malice and resentment, entered Asta's mind, but no words came out of the twisted throat of the wooden creature, only the sound of dry wind, passing through the leaves of the ancient trees.

"Wait! This creature must be exiled. I must kill it, otherwise..." Asta explained to the approaching wooden creature, but before he could finish his explanation, the wooden creature closest to him pierced his stomach with a branch-like limb, and his words stopped abruptly, and he lowered his head in shock.

"I must destroy its flesh and blood, I must avenge my brothers and partners..." Asta could no longer support himself, and fell to the ground weakly. He muttered to himself and explained, and blood continued to flow from his mouth.

Countless wooden creatures emerged from the darkness, and they lifted Asta up like a roasted pig, turning a deaf ear to the sobbing cries. More wooden creatures appeared, piercing the demon with twisted limbs and easily lifting it from the ground. Then a parade began, carrying Asta and Alkor through the woods at a rapid speed.

After a while, other creatures joined the parade, slender, flowing light creatures, crawling moths, dragonflies with faces. Asta, in control, realized that what he had seen before was real, that the shapes he had occasionally glimpsed between the pool and the woods were real, not his imagination.

"My mind has gone crazy...I will end everything...I promise..." Asta said hoarsely, he felt himself falling to the edge of unconsciousness, his thoughts began to wander, and the pain and blood loss made him unable to extricate himself. . Tiny, bright creatures grew in number, which he imagined to be the souls of his brothers, coming to demand justice.

As it moved, the wooden creature carrying Asta penetrated his armor with another jagged limb and pierced his right shoulder. After letting out a cry of pain, he fell unconscious.

I don’t know how long it took, but Asta woke up from the bumps and shaking. He squinted his eyes and looked around. He found that the wooden creatures took him to a steep valley, with a deep red hole formed by beech trees in the middle. circle.

Asta's consciousness was sometimes blurry and sometimes clear. When he approached the depression, he saw trees surrounding a huge stone tomb. Three wide crimson stones were engraved with complex circular patterns. The patterns were both familiar and unfamiliar to him, but He couldn't remember where he had seen it. He also noticed a deep hole beneath the stone, which looked like the earth had burst open and churned out from under the turf, creating a ravine.

The sudden jolt forced Asta's head to turn, and he saw the demon in extreme pain. His scepter was still stuck in the demon's face. The magic gradually withered and reduced Alcor, and the grotesque His body has shrunk by half, and the dripping green muscles have faded into pale gray.

"I must complete... my mission. The devil's soul will live forever... I must send it back to the abyss..." Asta, who was thrown into the cave by the wooden creature, was still calling hoarsely.

Instead of responding to Asta, the woody creature turned its attention to the demon, which he lowered into the pit next to Asta.

When Asta thought he had a chance to seize the scepter and finish what he started, the wooden creatures pulled the silver scepter from the demon's head. The silver scepter was passed around in the hands of the wooden creatures, with twisted Fingers manipulated carefully.

"No! I'm not done yet!"

The woody creatures did not respond to Asta's call. They stood in a circle around the entrance of the cave, singing in the same sinister creaking voice as before.

"They plan to tie us together. They feel your love for me. Do you promise to take care of me?" Alcor dragged the broken body to Asta's side, using his withered hands like claws As Asta was petted, flies and drool kept dripping from its mouth.

The helpless Asta let out an angry cry and tried to grab Alcor's neck. But he was exhausted, and before he could touch the demon he fell again, his actions causing the demon to laugh even wilder.

As the singing of the woody creatures ended, a steady stream of kudzu vines completely sealed the cave.

"Why don't they just kill me...and you?"

After hearing Asta's words, Alcor's laughter stopped, and it moved its body closer, so that Asta could feel its putrid breath falling on his cheek.

"Can't you hear their song? Yes, you can't. It would be wrong to kill us. It would break their sacred home. So... they gave us over to the forest. There is something about these ancient stones. This kind of power, although they don't understand it, they intend to use it as a prison, they..." Alcor laughed harder, but before it could finish speaking, Kudzu poured into its mouth, but it was still laughing. Non-stop.

Kudzu pressed on Asta's face. He struggled desperately, despair enveloped him. No matter what the monsters believed, Alcor would not be bound by a few old stones, no matter what the stones contained. magic. Demons never age or starve and eventually find a way to escape. Fear surged through his veins at the thought, as he realized he had failed. He tried to scream, but when he opened his mouth, the dirt rushed in, silencing him.

The singing of the wooden monsters still ringed in Asta's ears, and for a while, he could still see the sunlight above him through the gap. As another thing appeared, he gradually lost the sunshine.

The last ray of light disappeared, and Astha prayed to the gods, waiting for blessings of relief. Yet the gods did not respond to him, and he felt the insult as his life passed away, and as the last bite was withdrawn from his mouth, he felt the demon enter his mind and begin to explore, like a crow over a corpse. Same as searching memory.

"you are mine."