Chapter 60: Entrance to the Lost Paradise -3-

The staircase descending into the underground of Eden's royal castle was damp and dark, as though we were walking into a monster's esophagus.

With every step downward, the air sank heavier, and an ominous magical energy that seemed to prick at the skin seeped deep into my lungs.

"Arthur. I don't like this."

Morgan, following behind me, whispered with a faint furrow in her brow. Her usual composure was nowhere to be seen, and instinctive wariness clung to her voice.

"There's a smell down here that makes my skin crawl. Whatever's below us may not be something simple."

At that, Merlin also nodded with a hardened expression. A small light hung from the tip of her staff as she stared into the pitch-black darkness beyond the stairs.

"Morgan's right. I've had my clairvoyance opened as wide as I can for a while now, but... for some reason, I can't read the space beyond these stairs at all. It's as if it's another world, cut off from causality itself."

"So even clairvoyance won't work?"

I raised one eyebrow in surprise. A mystery great enough to obscure Merlin's eyes, which saw through everything in the present, was no ordinary matter.

"Going any farther is too dangerous. Even for you, you could still fall into an unknown trap..."

Morgan carefully caught hold of my sleeve as she tried to stop me. Clear anxiety and fear trembled in her eyes.

I let out a light sigh, then turned around and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Then I gently kissed her pale cheek, trembling with unease.

"Ah... A-Arthur?"

Caught off guard by the sudden contact, Morgan flushed red and stammered.

"Don't worry, sister. My instincts haven't sounded any warning at all. And if Grandot is definitely hiding down there, I can't very well tuck my tail and turn back halfway."

After lightly stroking her hair, I once more turned and strode boldly toward the stairs.

As if some of their unease had eased, Morgan and Merlin quietly followed behind me.

At last, we arrived in a corridor so vast and dark that it was hard to believe it lay beneath a castle.

And at the very end of that corridor, where the dense fog of magical energy had cleared, stood a single impossibly enormous stone door.

A door steeped in thick frost and cold, as though it had been frozen solid for all eternity.

On either side of it stood wolf statues like guardians, and above the door were carvings of two wolves howling up at a round symbol that seemed to represent the sun.

As I looked up at that huge and bizarre door, a strange sense of déjà vu brushed across my mind.

Those wolves... wolves chasing the sun? I feel like I've heard of a myth like that somewhere.... And that door's design, I swear I've seen it before.

But that vague sense was shattered to pieces by a scream of shock from behind me.

"Impossible...! H-how is that door here?!"

Morgan staggered back, her face drained white. Merlin too stared wide-eyed, the hand gripping her staff trembling violently.

"This is... no, Arthur! We have to leave right now! That place is somewhere no human being, no, no one at all should ever set foot in!"

The desperate cries of the two women rang through the corridor.

"Hahahaha! As expected, a fairy and a succubus recognized what that door is at a glance."

From the darkness before the giant stone door, a burly man strode out with a house-sized axe slung over his shoulder.

Bulging muscles, bizarre tattoos engraved all over his body, and savage eyes gleaming like a beast's.

It was Grandot, the usurper of the Kingdom of Eden.

With a nasty smile, he jerked his chin at me.

"So you're the hero who beat that idiot Rience? I thought you'd be some brat with nothing but hot blood, but you've got the spirit of someone fit to call himself the king of Britain."

Keeping one hand on the hilt of Chrysaor, I glanced past Grandot at the massive stone door sealed shut behind him.

"For a welcome, you picked a pretty ominous place. What exactly is this?"

At my question, Grandot slammed the axe on his shoulder down onto the floor with a Bam! and spread both arms wide.

"This is the entrance to the Lost Paradise."

"Paradise? You mean the Garden of Eden those Christian bastards never shut up about?"

"Hahaha! That Eden of those heathens is nothing but a shell layered over with countless myths. To put it correctly... this is the true gate of paradise, leading through Annwn, the Celtic underworld, and onward to the land of fairies, Tir na Nog!"

Grandot's mad cry echoed through the corridor.

"The Kingdom of Eden was originally a border city connected to Annwn. In this age, there are only two entrances left to the otherworld that lead to Annwn: the Kingdom of Dyfed in Wales, and this place, Eden. The reason I occupied this place instead of attacking Wales wasn't only because I didn't want to get tangled up with that troublesome fool Rience. It's because Eden's gate is the one that reaches deepest past Annwn and touches the abyss of the land of fairies itself."

"And what the hell are you trying to do by going to the land of fairies?"

I asked with a snort.

Grandot's eyes gleamed with greed.

"In the distant past... long, long before even the Age of Gods, we humans originally lived in paradise. Beside mankind lay the Root, the truth of the world itself, and everyone lived without pain, freely wielding the power of that Root. But as time passed and mystery faded, the Root grew impossibly distant, and we were cast out of paradise."

Like a fanatic, he clenched both fists tight.

"The myth of original sin and expulsion in Christianity is the very trace left behind by that lost age! I will return once more to that glorious era! In this age, when most gates to the otherworld have closed, this door alone is the only key to reaching paradise and seizing absolute power that surpasses even the gods!"

He turned his crazed gaze toward me.

"Queen Irena's bloodline has guarded this door for generations, but once Fiona's era ended, their mystery dried up with it. I couldn't stand that powerless bitch daring to sit on top of such a magnificent gate. So then, Arthur Pendragon! You killed Rience and reached this place. You are worthy to stand with me!"

Grandot stretched out a hand to me, his eyes bloodshot.

"Join me. Open this door, reach paradise, and claim the absolute power to rule the world!"

Silence settled over the corridor. After hearing Grandot's grand speech, I let out a small sigh.

"Finished spewing your bullshit?"

"What?"

Shing!

Without a moment's hesitation, I drew Chrysaor from my waist. The radiant power of lightning lit the underground darkness like broad daylight.

"Why make some fake-religion speech like that over something as simple as reaching paradise? And as for absolute power, I'll just seize it with my own hands. I have not the slightest intention of barging into some paradise someone else used and bowing my head for scraps."

To begin with, King Arthur was a being fated to reach Avalon, paradise, after death.

To me, Grandot's offer was nothing but meaningless drivel with no merit whatsoever.

"So you refuse... you fool!"

"You talk too much!"

I kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow. Pouring an enormous amount of magical energy into Chrysaor, I brought the sword down at lightning speed, aiming for Grandot's neck.

KWA-BOOOOM!!

Grandot instinctively raised his giant axe and blocked my strike. A tremendous shockwave exploded out, and the stone floor of the underground corridor shattered like a spiderweb.

"Ghk...! So this is the monstrous strength that brought down Rience!"

Clicking his tongue, Grandot thrust out the hand not holding the axe and hurled a rock-like fist at my face.

I caught his fist head-on with my free left hand.

Baaam!!

A dull sound like bones grinding. But I did not give way. Instead, I bared a savage grin.

"Not bad. That's got some weight to it. After beating on nothing but beastly trash, throwing fists like this gets the blood pumping."

As I grinned and made the lightning coiling around Chrysaor's blade surge even harder, Grandot's face twisted.

"Arthur! No! Get away from him right now and leave this chamber!"

Morgan's urgent scream rang out from behind me. Merlin too shouted, her face pale as death.

"Arthur, it's a trap! This fight is—"

"Do you think I'll let you leave?!"

Grandot burst into mad laughter and threw the full force of his body into the axe. But I did not yield. Instead, I drove him down by raising my Mana Burst to its absolute limit.

"No need to leave. Once I cut your head off here, it's over!"

Krrrack! Krrk!!

Under the overwhelming cutting force of Chrysaor's adamant blade, Grandot's giant mana-infused axe slowly began to crack and break apart.

Clear fear and bewilderment flashed across Grandot's eyes.

'Why had he waited all this time without opening that door? He longed for paradise that much... Ah, no way!'

Morgan's eyes flew wide open.

'That's it. The gate to Annwn does not open through mere physical force or spells. It is an entrance to the otherworld that only responds when the power of one possessing immense mystery and magical energy serves as the catalyst. Grandot had no right to open that gate, so when he heard that Arthur, the incarnation of the red dragon, had come to Munster carrying tremendous mystery within him, he waited for Arthur to come down here of his own accord.'

"Arthur! No! Your magical energy will open that door! Pull back your sword!"

The instant Morgan's desperate cry rang out, I was already unleashing a slash with Chrysaor, having condensed all the magical energy in my body to its utmost limit.

A gigantic golden slash bright enough to blind the eyes surged toward Grandot.

And in that very moment—

Woooooong!!

The wolf-carved stone door that had stood frozen behind him began greedily devouring the intense, immense mystery-laden magical energy I had released, like a black hole.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

A sudden reverse flow of magical energy.

But the slash I had fired did not stop, and with a thunderous roar it carved Grandot open from the chest down through the abdomen.

"Kraaaagh!!"

Mortally wounded, Grandot rolled across the floor, blood gushing like a fountain. Yet on his face spread a hideous ecstasy greater than pain.

Rumbleeeee...!!

With a deafening roar, the gap in the giant stone door slowly began to open. Between the widening cracks, a bizarre storm swirled as though space-time itself were being distorted.

"It... it opened... Hahaha! It opened!! The gate to paradise!!"

Even with his guts spilling out, Grandot clutched at his wound and crawled toward the opened gap like a madman.

"I'm not letting you get away!"

I immediately sprang after him.

But the moment the door fully opened, the storm of Annwn began sucking in everything in the underground corridor.

Grandot's body was the first to be swept up and vanish into the pitch-black beyond the door. I too felt my feet begin to lift under the monstrous pull.

By reflex, I drove Chrysaor deep into the stone floor to brace myself.

But that was the worst move I could have made.

Shhk! Shhk!

Because of Chrysaor's absurd cutting power, enough to slice through even divine-forged armaments, the stone floor offered no resistance at all and was carved apart like tofu. Losing all support, my body began to be dragged helplessly into the storm.

"Ah, you've got to be kidding me, this insane pay-to-win gear...!!"

The moment I clicked my tongue in disbelief, I caught sight of Morgan and Merlin being swept off their feet, tumbling across the floor as the storm dragged them in.

I could not let those two be pulled into an unknown world as well.

Suspended in midair, I thrust out my free left hand and released Mana Burst.

A massive shockwave of wind struck Morgan and Merlin head-on, violently shoving them out of the storm's path as it tried to drag them in.

"Arthur!!!"

"No, Arthur!!!"

With the fading screams of Morgan and Merlin as the last thing I heard, my vision was swallowed by perfect blackness.

A moment later, the massive stone door slammed shut with a Boom! and sealed tight once more.

"Ugh..."

How much time had passed?

The pressure of spatial transfer crushing my entire body finally faded, and I slowly opened my eyes at the cold sensation brushing my cheek.

"This is..."

The first thing I saw was an endless silver-white snowfield.

The sky was covered in ash-gray clouds, and a murderous blizzard howled hard enough to flay flesh from bone. It was a world steeped in the smell of death, far removed from the paradise Grandot had spoken of.

I pushed up my aching body and looked around.

"Grandot...?"

Not far away on the snow lay Grandot, who had been sucked in before me.

I tightened my grip on Chrysaor and approached cautiously. But there was no chance of him lunging at me anymore.

Grandot was dead, his eyes wide open.

In the center of his massive chest, where his heart should have been, there was a huge clean hole, as though some vicious weapon had pierced straight through it.

What is this? That's not a wound I made. Someone tore this bastard's heart out in a single strike.

The instant a cold shiver crawled down my spine—

Shuuuk!!

My instincts screamed.

Tearing through the silver-white blizzard, a crimson trail like fresh blood came flying at my throat like lightning.

"Kh!"

I twisted my body by reflex and swung Chrysaor, knocking aside that red strike.

Kaaang!!

With a blast sharp enough to tear the eardrums, a tremendous impact shot through me, enough to feel as though my whole arm would be ripped off. I slid dozens of meters across the snow before barely regaining my stance.

A crimson... demonic spear?

"Oh?"

From beyond the blizzard came the rich voice of a woman, sounding intrigued.

"To knock away my spear in one stroke. Unlike that large frame of yours suggests, you've got some rather useful reflexes, little one."

Overwhelming martial might and the scent of death were mixed into that voice.

As the blizzard slowly parted, the owner of the crimson trail revealed her elegant yet deadly figure.

The queen of the Land of Shadows, the abyssal demonic realm, and the immortal witch.

"Scathach...!"

Before I knew it, her name had slipped from my lips.

The queen of the snowfield smiled faintly at hearing her own name from my mouth, then lightly planted her crimson spear into the ground.

"I was just about to be disappointed that the toy that finally rolled in through the opened gate was too weak. But perhaps you can entertain me a little."

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