Within the depths of the Ayden Plains, Bella and her Rose Knights had already killed dozens of Demonic Jungle Bears, which were A-grade demonic beasts. It was actually a mission that required a regiment of more than one thousand knights to complete. However, Bella only needed less than thirty knights, which was nothing short of a miracle.
Riding high on their success, Bella and the others decided to create another miracle – to kill an S-grade demonic beast, the Demonic Jungle Bear King. Their new goal was far more challenging than simply killing dozens of Demonic Jungle Bears.
The Demonic Jungle Bear King, which found itself surrounded by enemies, frantically swung its heavy claws in all directions and constantly attacked the knights who were surrounding it. The “Dusk Knight” Daphne and the “Thunder Knight” Aurora, who were in charge of leading the main attack, had been unable to break past the Demonic Jungle Bear King’s defenses. This led to a stalemate during this hunting operation.
“Older Sister Bella, the line of sight is not clear there. Be careful!”
“Mmm, Angel, I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye out for me. I feel it too.”
Bella took advantage of the fact that Lisha was helping her to take the brunt of the attacks, and took a quick look at her surroundings. Many blurred human-like shadows could be vaguely seen hiding amongst the trees.
Under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible for the demonic beasts to turn into a human form. Even in the forest, they would remain in beast form. Furthermore, Bella could feel the vengeful thoughts emanating off those shadows.
Those shadows could be some type of demonic spirit. Bella did not have anyone from the priest profession in her team, making it rather difficult to exorcise those demonic spirits. To prevent the girls in her knight’s regiment from panicking, Bella pretended not to have seen anything strange.
Uneasy, the Demonic Jungle Bear King crashed right into the Rose Knights’ defenses. It had detected the presence of these demonic spirits as well. Somehow, this S-grade demonic beast was terrified of them.
In this moment, a few demonic spirits slowly began to drift over. Unlike departed spirits, only a blurred shadow could be seen. Without any definite facial features, those demonic spirits were much more terrifying than the departed spirits.
Fortunately, Angel’s soul magic was a little useful. As the demonic spirits closed in on the Rose Knights, a few invisible departed spirits blocked their way. As both parties were spiritual entities, none of them could do anything to each other.
Suddenly, the Demonic Jungle Bear King got into a fit of rage and sent the Holy Knight Lucy on his right flying. As Lucy retreated, the other Rose Knights did not make it in time to fill in the gap and the Demonic Jungle Bear King escaped.
This S-grade demonic beast had abandoned all its dignity. If it did not make a run for it now, it felt that it would never be able to leave in one piece.
“Annoying coward, trying to escape after all this trouble. Did it really think that it would get away this easily?”
Bella picked up a sword from the ground, and threw it like a javelin, aiming for the Demonic Jungle Bear King’s buttocks. The sword was transformed into a ray of white light and shot towards the Demonic Jungle Bear King’s behind, hitting it right at its sphincter.
The Demonic Jungle Bear King moaned in pain. If it had not tried to escape, it would not have revealed it’s “weakness” at all. However, this did not affect its ability to run away. Within moments, it was gone, leaving only a pool of blood in its wake.
“That annoying coward is surprisingly resilient. Even after… that… it’s still able to run. Hey, don’t look at me with such a strange expression. Seriously, I was not aiming for that. I was just hoping to hit it somewhere.”
Bella was about to comment on the Demonic Jungle Bear King’s resilience before she suddenly realised that the other girls were staring at her with strange looks on their faces. She hastily explained to Irene and the others that she was not a pervert and the fact that that attack had landed straight into the Demonic Jungle Bear’s a*** territory was purely an accident.
“Captain Bella, the road behind us, it’s gone…”
Another unexpected situation had arisen, taking the Rose Knights’ attention away from Bella. Behind them, the road that they had come from had mysteriously disappeared.
At Camp Polit near the Ayden Plains, the invigilators from the three academies were on high alert. The “hunting activity” which had initially gone according to plan was now experiencing some unexpected issues. The Ayden Plains, which always had clear skies and crisp weather, was now blanketed in a wave of white fog.
It was the middle of the day and it was an extremely weird time for fog to appear. The knights from Olgeria Academy and Ophelias Academy had mysteriously disappeared amidst the white fog. Tens of thousands of knights had suddenly vanished and this caused the main organizer of the event, Prince Hilton, to turn as white as a sheet due to fright.
“What is going on? Your Highness, isn’t this the Ayden Plains, the sacred land of the knights? My students…”
“Teacher Ingrid, please calm down. I will report this to the empire immediately and ask for reinforcements. Soon, things will…”
Before Prince Hilton could finish his sentence, the white fog had drifted over to Camp Polit. The teachers from the three academies didn’t even have time to react before they vanished as well. In an instant, the entirety of Ayden Plains turned into a ghost town, without a soul in sight.
Bella’s Rose Knights gathered together, protecting the few loli mages at the core of the group. The Interdimensional Controller Noesha stood in the middle of the group, silently murmuring secret spells under her breath. An invisible interdimensional defensive barrier surrounded the Rose Knights.
At the moment, except for the area where Noesha’s powers could reach, everywhere else had turned into an illusory space. Watching the area outside the defensive barrier turn blurry, Bella felt as though she had entered an interdimensional tunnel.
With the help of Noesha’s interdimensional defensive barrier, Bella’s Rose Knights had successfully managed to escape this mutation’s first round of attacks. Their biggest achievement thus far was the fact that they had not lost anyone yet. When the changes had ended, Bella and the other girls had mysteriously appeared at the edge of an ancient city.
“This place… Noesha, we didn’t travel to another world, did we?”
“No, our coordinates have not changed at all. However, I believe that this is a hidden region. Be careful though, I have a bad feeling about this.”
This ancient city appeared to be built by the Human Race. The flag that flew above the city was extremely similar to the Octavia Empire’s flag except for a few minute details.
This ancient city was completely empty. Bella and the others approached the city cautiously. They could see that the ground around the city gates was covered in armor that had been left behind and no corpses or remains could be seen anywhere.
The city gates were left open, almost as though they were unable to be closed in time. All sorts of knights’ armor could be found strewn throughout the streets of the city. Those suits of armor had been left on the ground, practically in pristine condition.
Bella and the girls found that the stall counters were still warm and filled with large glasses of beverages along with fresh cakes and bread. The most frightening thing was that some of the cakes had bites taken out of them. It was obvious that it was recently half eaten and had been left behind by customers who had met with an unexpected situation before they could finish their food.
Lisha held on tightly to Bella’s hand as she was feeling rather anxious. Similarly, the other maiden knights of the Rose Knights did not look too well either. Their eyes constantly darted towards Bella. Under such weird circumstances, the strongest female would easily end up becoming the emotional support for the other girls.
“Everyone, do not roam around. If you see anything at all, report it to me and do not leave the group. I do not wish to lose any one of you.”
Bella could feel that this ancient city had gone through something like the “mass disappearances” that she had seen in her past life, which was the version of the complete disappearance of “Other World”. Other than the remnants of the knights’ armor on the ground, no other signs of human life could be seen around the stalls in this city.
Angel shook her head. She had not found any traces of souls within this city. This also meant that she was filled with uncertainty when it came to this city. Even though there was no proof of life, it did not mean that this city was a “no man’s land” from the beginning.
The tallest structure within this mysterious ancient city was a large church. The church’s exterior looked like a typical palace, which meant that there was a possibility that it had been used for both purposes.
The doors of the church were slightly ajar, as though it was inviting Bella and the others in to explore its depths. However, Bella refused to be led by the nose and decided to march to the beat of her own drum.
“Noesha, can you connect us to the Interdimensional Door in our camp? I wish to get some cannon fodder…”
“No problem, I can do that. Is it okay to let them know…”
“It’s fine. They are all mine now.”
On the church’s highest floor, a blurry figure stood behind the window, secretly observing Bella and the other from a distance.
What made it feel the most helpless was the fact that the leading female knight was quickly leading the regiment of knights away from the city. The area around the church was full of booby traps. However, it was practically useless if they did not approach the church at all.
Within moments, a large group of Skeleton Troops came out of nowhere and swarmed in through the city gates. They streamed endlessly into the city, like ants being released and was filling the void that had been left behind after the city became devoid of life.
With the sudden influx of Skeleton Men, the initial eerie silence of this creepy no-man’s city was broken by the sounds of their activity and movement. Bella used the strategy of changing the environment to permanently get rid of the horrifying atmosphere.
The members of the Rose Knights relaxed visibly. If they had to choose between an empty city and a city filled with demonic beings, they would choose the one with the demonic beings. At least, there was some activity and it would not be as lonely.
“Bella, you’re a demon…”
“Yes, Shelly. I’m sorry for hiding this from you for so long. You don’t mind, do you?”
“I’m in too deep already, would it change anything if I did mind… forget it, just take it that I was being controlled by you.”
The Summoner Shelly stared at the Rose Knights around her who were calm. She now realized that everyone had already “turned”. Since Bella did not look evil at all, Shelly decided to surrender as well.
Before long, some of the skeleton men had unearthed some ancient texts. When those dust covered ancient texts were sent to Bella, the secrets of this ancient city were finally about to be revealed.
The name of this city was Ancient Ayr City. Thousands of years ago, it had been the territory of the Knight King Ayden. Back then, this ancient city had been renowned across the world due to the Knight King Ayden. In addition, the residents of the city were all of the Knight’s profession as well.
However, around three thousand years ago, Ancient Ayr City was swallowed by a mysterious white fog. Many of the city’s residents did not manage to escape before they were attacked. When the white fog lifted, Ancient Ayr City had been transported into this dimension and had faded from the world’s memories.
To prevent any unwanted panic, the Radiant Church and the Octavia Empire back then had worked together to erase any records of Ancient Ayr City. In addition, the Pope had announced to the world that Ancient Ayr City had never existed and the Knight King Ayden was simply a character from the legends.
Over time, many people assumed that was the truth and believed that the Knight King Ayden and Ancient Ayr City were myths.
The last time that Bella had experienced a similar Inner World like this was when she had met the Demon King of The Heart Ockham at the Doyle Hunting Grounds at Olivia Wizard Academy in the eastern campus of the Olsylvia Academy.
This must be the Inner World of the Ayden Plains. There were no detailed records of the incident that occurred in Ancient Ayr City. The only mention of it was that there had been mysterious invaders which had taken all who were alive in the city and…
The records within the ancient texts stopped there. No one knew if it was because the historian had been killed before he could finish writing. The deeper they delved into the ancient texts, the messier the handwriting got. It was clear that by the end, the historian was extremely terrified.
“Older Sister Bella, what should we do…”
“Let’s retreat. I do not wish to deal with an unknown power.”
The Ex-Twelve Demon Kings had “disappeared” after the battle more than ten thousand years before the incident. This meant that no matter what, there was no way that the blame could be placed on the Ex-Demon Kings at all.
The disappearance of more than ten thousand people in Ancient Ayr City had been named by the Radiant Church as one of the most terrifying incidents that had ever happened. As it had been a long time after the Twelve Demon Kings had dropped off the radar, the Radiant Church could not blame this weird incident on the Twelve Demon Kings. Their only choice was to seal the location of the incident from the public.
The “Empty Ancient Ayr City” was only one of many weird incidents and was not considered that terrifying at all. The more infamous incident was the “Undead Scourge of Cysi Island”. According to the ancient texts, that incident was the same as the “Other World’s Biochemical Crisis” that Bella had experienced at the Gabriel Empire.
Around three thousand to five thousand years ago, Cysi Island had a case of the “Evil Dead Incident” on an extremely large scale. That incident had caused the island to be taken over by zombies. The federation of the Cysi Duchy had been completely destroyed by that mutation.
The Radiant Church back then had sent expeditionary troops to the Cysi Island a few dozen times to attempt to suppress the mutations on the island. However, the attempts had all been unsuccessful and it had ended with the Church losing large amounts of manpower as well.
In the end, with the help of the Aldridge Empire, both parties had used extremely powerful forbidden magics to level Cysi Island to the ground and finally end the mutation. From then on, the human empires had been banned from the seas and the commoner’s fishing boats were forbidden to engage in any maritime activities.
Bella had posed this question to Bethia before. However, she was not on Cysi Island when the mutation had happened and it had nothing to do with her. When she had saved Bethia previously, the latter had refused to say who had caused her injuries.
Bella did not push for an answer either as she did not know of the existence of the The Grudges. They were Saviors who had traveled interdimensionally and had been intentionally killed by other Saviors. Their souls had been unable to return to where they came from and had reformed due to the accumulation of resentment. As this was a serious blight of dark history, none of the Creators, World Destructors, Saviors, or Chaos Bringers were willing to mention it at all.
Other than Creators, Bella had the other three types on her team. Obviously, they had attracted the attention of one of The Grudges. Even from a distance, Bella could vaguely feel the hatred and resentment directed towards her.
Bella looked out at the huge church at the center of Ayr City. That was the church that the legendary Knight King Ayden had been tasked with protecting. When the mysterious incident had happened, the Knight King Ayden had been guarding the church and the odds had definitely been against him.
The Knight King Ayden was definitely more powerful than a Dragon Knight, otherwise the title of a Knight King would be for nothing. If a Knight King could not escape the fate of being killed, then the unknown enemy was clearly powerful.
“Older Sister Bella, there are people coming down from the skies… it looks like those are students from Ophelias Academy.”
“Wait, you can’t go there…”
A large group of knights seated on flying steeds flew across the skies. Based on their silver white armor, they were clearly students from the Ophelias Academy. The strangest thing was that none of those students seemed to have heard the warnings that Bella and the others had been shouting at them as they flew towards the church in the central region of the Ayr City without hesitation.
The Ophelias Academy’s Pegasus Knights, Griffin Knights, and Wyvern Knights seemed to be in a trance as they flew in the direction of the church. The most spine chilling thing was that the students who reached the area above the church all disappeared without a trace along with their steeds.
Those students had disappeared into thin air, almost as though they had been “eaten” by the sky. They seemed to be unable to see Bella or her battalion of Skeleton Troops. Bella could see the Crimson Knight Elise’s figure among the Wyvern Knights.
This gorgeous maiden with long red hair and striking blue eyes stood out from the crowd. Furthermore, Elise was the only one with an expression on her face while the other students’ faces were completely blank.
Elise must have been fully conscious and was frantically attempting to awaken her disillusioned Wyvern steed, but to no avail. The Wyvern seemed to be led by some mysterious force that kept it going forward. A strong force kept Elise pressed to her steed, preventing her from trying to save herself by jumping off it.
Bella’s plan to retreat had now gone down the drain. No matter what, Elise was the cousin of her close friend, the Blood Demon King Eleanor, when she was a human. There was no way she could leave her to die.
“Noesha, summon more manpower. We are going to search the city.”
