Vol 4. Chapter 56: A Bold Speculation

Driving out the Abyss Demons and restoring peace to the Anqieka Continent was something countless people across the continent longed for.

And as the saying went, to eliminate weeds, one must pull them out by the roots.

To completely eradicate those disgusting creatures known as Abyss Demons, the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons, their very source, had to be utterly destroyed.

Otherwise, even if every Abyss Demon in the outside world were killed, new creatures would still become monsters under the corrupting influence of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

The combined strength of humanity's forces was nowhere near sufficient to destroy the entire Great Winter Forest. They had to concentrate their power into an exceptionally sharp spear, drive it into a critical point within the forest, and destroy the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons!

For this plan to be feasible, determining the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' precise location was absolutely essential.

To that end, the Asumos Church and numerous other forces across the continent had repeatedly attempted to send people into the Great Winter Forest to investigate the Hall's whereabouts.

Unfortunately,

After several hundred years, their explorations had produced virtually no results.

In fact, they had accomplished absolutely nothing.

After sacrificing countless lives, they hadn't even managed to find the slightest trace of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

It was only in the past few decades that the situation had begun to change.

Under Kaelrode's instructions, countless Braves had entered the Great Winter Forest over the years, doing everything in their power to locate the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons in hopes of earning an opportunity to become Heavenly Apostles.

The overwhelming majority of them,

Unsurprisingly, died beneath the claws and fangs of the Abyss Demons.

However, unlike before, the sacrifices of these Braves had meaning this time.

The Pope had planted a mark inside every Brave's body beforehand. These marks, embedded deep within their souls, would transmit certain information back to the Church through Soul Gems after their deaths.

Through analysis and calculations, the Church could determine where each Brave had died within the Great Winter Forest.

When encountering ordinary Abyss Demons, Braves would naturally possess the ability to escape.

The only existences capable of instantly killing a Brave and leaving them completely unable to send out a distress signal were, for all practical purposes, Demon King-class existences.

Thus,

Under Kaelrode's instructions, the Asumos Church began collecting and organizing information about the Braves who had died mysteriously within the Great Winter Forest over the years.

They eventually discovered that the overwhelming majority had died in the eastern region.

The frequency with which Braves encountered Demon King-class existences in the east far exceeded that of any other region.

One had to understand that Demon King-class existences were exceptionally rare.

And according to the Asumos Church's understanding, Demon King-class existences tended to linger in places where the concentration of Shadow of Silence Power was particularly high.

In other words, near the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons...

"The Hall of Ten Thousand Demons may be in the eastern Great Winter Forest!"

This was the conclusion the Church reached.

Subsequently,

After conducting a series of analyses, the clergy connected and extrapolated from the locations where all nineteen Braves had fallen. Using the Angslo Prediction Method, they calculated eight intersection points.

According to His Holiness the Pope, these eight intersection points were highly likely to contain the location of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

Thus,

Anjinuo's mission objective was quite clear.

He was to take advantage of the extraordinary speed granted by his 'Holy Battle Form' and investigate these eight points while the eastern Great Winter Forest's defenses were depleted.

——

"Rumble!"

Accompanied by a tremendous roar and dark-purple lightning scattering in every direction,

An earth-shaking collision of energy suddenly erupted in midair.

After the violent clash, Anjinuo was sent flying backward, crashing rather ungracefully into an enormous tree not far behind him.

?!

This...

What was this?

Heh... hehehe?!

Found it!

He... he'd found it!

"Looks like His Holiness and the others weren't wrong in their judgment, huh?!"

Although he had crashed into the barrier and was gradually being surrounded by the Abyss Demon hordes behind him, Anjinuo showed not the slightest trace of unease.

Instead, an expression of wild ecstasy spread across his face.

His face, already reduced to a bloody mess by the backlash from 'Holy Battle Form,' became even more hideous with that smile.

For a moment, Anjinuo had completely lost the elegance befitting a Heavenly Apostle.

Instead, he resembled a hideous, maniacally laughing demon.

"Hahahahahahaha!!! Th-this is it!"

It seemed his luck was actually quite good, wasn't it?!

He had only investigated three locations, yet he'd actually found his ultimate objective at the fourth?!

Within the Great Winter Forest?

An undetectable barrier?!

And one sturdy enough to send even him flying?!

This had to be the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons!

Having reached this conclusion,

Anjinuo ignored the hideous Abyss Demons closing in on him from every direction.

Disregarding the agony caused by the backlash, he mobilized the lightning-attributed Holy Aura within his body with all his might.

Just as the claws and fangs of the Abyss Demon hordes were about to touch the Heavenly Apostle, lightning erupted once more.

Like a starving ferocious beast suddenly freed from its shackles, Anjinuo surged forward, carrying an overwhelming force of thunder with him.

In an instant, the violent power and the lightning raging around his thunder armor blasted away the Abyss Demons that had surrounded him to kill him.

Having finished gathering his strength, Anjinuo threw everything he had into charging straight toward the invisible barrier without the slightest hesitation.

"Heavenly Thunder's Ten Thousand Calamities."

A Holy Domain magic circle outlined in dark-purple lightning suddenly appeared in Anjinuo's palm.

Under the magic circle's guidance, destructive lightning continuously gathered at the center of the formation.

An overwhelming pressure erupted from it, causing everything in the surrounding area to gradually distort.

Even the Abyss Demons, creatures that knew nothing of fear, couldn't help trembling when they sensed the power Anjinuo was releasing.

And this time,

Things were different from before.

Anjinuo had now finished gathering his strength.

Almost all his Holy Aura was being used to amplify his power rather than increase his speed as it had been earlier.

A full-powered strike from a High Eighth-Tier powerhouse was naturally not something to be underestimated.

Under Anjinuo's expectant gaze, an energy spear formed from the boundless, powerful lightning-attributed Holy Aura gathered in his right palm suddenly struck the invisible barrier in midair.

"BREAK FOR ME!!!"

Accompanied by Anjinuo's furious roar and the explosive release of his Holy Aura, countless cracks appeared across the invisible barrier suspended in midair.

"Crack~"

After another violent collision,

The barrier suddenly shattered.

Surrounded by lightning, Anjinuo charged straight through it.

And the instant Anjinuo broke through the barrier, the world before his eyes underwent a tremendous transformation.

The frozen forest floor covered in ice and snow suddenly twisted and transformed into an open clearing blanketed in white snow.

This?!

Was this... what the inside of the barrier looked like?!

The excited Anjinuo hurriedly adjusted his posture, suppressing the rampaging power surrounding his body and forcing it back inside.

He withdrew his thunder wings and hastily made an emergency landing.

Amid a burst of lightning and flying snow, the Heavenly Apostle smashed an enormous crater into the ground.

"This... is the inside of the barrier? Is this where the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons is located?! I... I've finally found it!! Hahahahahaha!!"

Anjinuo's ecstatic laughter instantly echoed throughout the entire area enclosed by the barrier.

Although he had only just entered,

The extraordinarily dense concentration of Shadow of Silence Power within the barrier, along with the lingering auras of several Demon King-class Abyss Demons, immediately confirmed Anjinuo's suspicions.

This was where the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons was located.

The precise location of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

The question countless believers had sacrificed their lives trying to answer over the past several hundred years.

At this very moment, he had finally found the source of all suffering!

Anjinuo's joy was beyond words.

He was so excited that it felt as though every drop of blood in his body had begun to boil.

The pain caused by 'Holy Battle Form' had already been completely forgotten.

Determining the location of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons,

Meant that the most important part of His Holiness the Pope's plan had already been completed.

Destroying the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons, restoring peace to the world...

These things would no longer be mere pipe dreams!

At this thought,

Anjinuo laughed wildly and impatiently leaped out of the deep crater onto the snowy ground.

He hurriedly looked around, eager to see the legendary Demon God's palace that had given birth to all Abyss Demons.

However, after flying out of the crater, Anjinuo froze.

His violet eyes filled with disbelief.

It was as though he had been struck by five bolts of lightning at once, leaving him standing there in a daze.

He blinked, beginning to question everything he thought he knew.

Because at this very moment,

The ancient palace Anjinuo had been expecting was nowhere to be seen.

All his violet eyes could see was an empty expanse of snow.

"Huh?? Wh-where... where... where's the Hall... the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons?!"

Anjinuo couldn't help crying out in astonishment, standing alone in the wind, utterly bewildered.

"Where did it go?"

...

--

Back to the present.

Inside the Asumos Church's central temple.

To avoid directly damaging Anjinuo's soul, Kaelrode slowly withdrew his finger from Anjinuo's forehead after briefly examining fragments of his memories.

After Kaelrode finished reading his memories, Anjinuo immediately collapsed into a state of utter exhaustion.

Not only was he drenched in cold sweat, but he couldn't help raising a hand to his chest and gasping frantically for breath.

Kaelrode said nothing to the weakened Anjinuo.

Instead, he slowly rose to his feet, a rare expression of solemnity appearing on his face.

"Hmm... Not only was the area concealed by a barrier, but the concentration of Shadow of Silence Power inside was extraordinarily high. The only problem is... the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons itself was nowhere to be found..."

"Y-yes."

After recovering some of his strength, Anjinuo, who was still panting beside him, hurriedly spoke.

"Your subordinate believes there was no mistake in the location I found! That place was definitely where the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons was located! The reason... the reason I didn't see the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons... is because..."

"Because of what?"

"Although it sounds somewhat unrealistic, I... I have a bold suspicion. The Hall of Ten Thousand Demons possesses a consciousness of its own, and... it has already changed its physical form and left the Great Winter Forest! That monster might have even infiltrated our human society!"

Kaelrode: ...