299 Sealed Exit
As we walked onward, the scenery started changing drastically.
Before, the surroundings were overflowing with black, red, and yellow colors—a hellish scene. However, now, the path starts to have greenery and even a blue sky above. It was a little baffling to see the black and blue sky have a definite circular division.
“Is this place really still inside the Otherside?”
I asked out loud to nobody in particular.
Walking an entire 100-kilometer distance should take more or less 20 hours, so we decided to run at a moderate pace of roughly 40 kilometers per hour. It wasn’t fast, but it wasn’t too slow either, considering the top speed of the slowest within our group. It was at this speed that we could ensure the fidelity of the barriers protecting us from detection.
Two and a half hours later, we finally reached the space that’s presumably the exit.
A large red double door with intricate carvings, about ten meters tall and half as wide, stood alone in the middle of nowhere. It was closed tight and wrapped with chains as thick as my arms. Obviously, it was the “exit” that Namia told us about.
However, the problem was that the door was apparently sealed by those thick chains. Furthermore, that was just the start of the problem.
“That is…”
Ember’s face was filled with shock as she muttered absentmindedly. I guess everyone had similar faces except Fatima and Threya.
Before the door, a large being, about as large as the door itself, knelt silently. It was of a pure white color, seemingly luminescent as faint light exuded from its entire body. The six wings on its back were tied tight by chains, along with its arms, legs, body, and neck.
The ends of the chains seemed to be embedded in the ground itself. With a rough count, there were several hundred of those chains, creating a complex and tight seal blocking the exit.
At a glance, it seemed like a gigantic blonde angel that was bound by the chains together with the exit. I can’t determine if it was a female or male given the extremely gender-neutral face, but who cares anyway?
“First, let’s try to see if we can reach the exit.”
After all, if we can escape this place as is, then there’s no need to waste our energy fighting this giant, beyond-god-level monster.
As insurance, we circled to the back, where the door was closer than the angel. We carefully maneuvered ourselves through the forest of black chains, slowly making our way to the door. I was keeping vigilance for the monster’s reaction, but it didn’t move even a little.
“…”
Soon, with nothing happening, we reached the door. It was large, now that we’re up close. The carvings on the door also seem to be depicting something, probably the history of this Otherside, but we have no time to decipher it.
I moved closer to the door and tried to push it open. I heard creaking sounds immediately… coming from my shoulder joints.
“D*mn! This door’s shut too tight!”
I quickly gave up pushing it open and instead started inspecting the black chains that were tied around it. However, other than the weird energy I could see flowing from the ground and around the system of chains, there was nothing else that I could find.
Touching the chains gave me the impression that they were tough, probably near indestructible. Meaning we can’t just cut the chains and exit as is.
“Will… I think I know these chains…”
Fatima, who was following quietly the whole time, muttered with a serious face.
“I’m sure these chains are part of a long-lost sealing technique, the [666 Chains of Demon’s Grasp]. Even I have only read about it in history books.”
“You know about it? Then perhaps how to partially unseal it too?”
If we could unseal only the parts that were covering the door, then we would be saving all the trouble of risking to fight the angel. However, Fatima shook her head slowly.
“Unfortunately, the seal won’t weaken no matter what we do. We can unseal it, however, if we destroy all the 666 chains from their bases, their weak points.”
I turned to the angel and started pondering. We need to release the seal to exit through the sealed door. However, doing so would mean unsealing this beyond-god-level monster too.
“… Why was it sealed in the first place?”
I couldn’t help but mutter, in doubt.
After all, as far as my knowledge goes, this is the only beyond-god-level monster that I currently know of. I was sure of its rank as I could see the enormous amount of energy it had, surpassing god-level easily.
“Someone able to seal a beyond-god powerhouse…”
Just thinking about that possibility was enough to send shivers down my spine.
Anyway, nothing can start unless we unseal this monster, so with that in mind, I went closer to one of the chain’s bases. I drew my sword, which Ember made during her spare time while training, ready to swing against the chain. But suddenly, warning signals blared inside my head.
“EVERYONE GET OUTSIDE OF ITS RANGE!”
I roared to the top of my lungs, making everyone fall back immediately. However, I wasn’t able to get out of the forest of chains in time.
“…!”
A javelin, about two meters long and made of condensed light, suddenly started manifesting in the air. Half a second later, the hundreds of javelins started falling down, raining above our heads.
The girls were already outside of the range of the chains, quick on their feet after my warning, and also due to them being closer to the outer perimeter of the seal’s range, so they were safe. On the other hand, I was right in the middle of the attack.
It was too late to dodge, so I swung my sword against it.
*Ping!*
“Kuh!”
The impact was enough to numb my entire arm. The force behind each javelin was equivalent to the full-power attack of a 9th-stage demon! To cope, I was forced to activate Lifeblood at half the maximum output, letting me clear all the incoming attacks just in time before I managed to jump outside the range of the seal.
“Leader, be careful!”
Just as I was about to relax, Fang’s voice echoed, making me turn to face the space where I came from. Other than the hundreds of spears I destroyed and deflected earlier, thousands more were starting to condense and were about to launch.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
Before I could even stand up, Fatima had already started firing away using her pistol forms. It was a little bit weaker compared to the sniper form, but it’s definitely higher in terms of firing rate.
It wasn’t only Fatima, but the rest also started launching their own attacks, clearing the incoming javelins before they even reached us. As they did, everyone slowly backed away, trying to get out of the “range” of this defense mechanism.
About a minute later, after fending off tens of thousands of javelins, we were finally about twenty meters away from the edge of the black chains. As we reached that far, the javelins stopped attacking us, letting everyone breathe sighs of relief.
“Nobody was injured, right?”
I asked just in case, but nobody raised their hands in reply. Despite the intensity of the attacks, we were able to completely fend off everything. I guess if we didn’t upgrade our strength before coming here, that barrage alone was enough to put a period in our life’s story.
“Fatima, you know what happened back there?”
“That… I think it’s the defense mechanism incorporated with the seal. It uses the excess power of the sealed monster as fuel.”
“So that attack was technically from that angel?!”
Wow, to think we were able to block that beyond-god-level monster’s attack. Or was it weakened because it was controlled by the seal?
“Either way, we can’t unseal it unless we can find a way to overcome those attacks.”
If we want to exit through the gate, then we need to unlock the chains. If we unlock the chains, the light spears will attack us. And if we succeed, then there’s the unknown danger of releasing the beyond-god-level monster together.
“… This… There’s nothing but risks.”
I can’t help but feel a headache approaching.
“Master, what should we do?”
“Leader…”
Ember and Fang pulled on both my arms, their faces covered in a worried expression.
“Right…”
What kind of leader am I, making these girls worry like this? There’s no time to wallow in thinking pessimistically.
“First, we need to unlock the seal! Everyone, prepare to fight!”
The seal chains were activated when I tried to unseal them earlier. We’ve tried it already, and it seems like just approaching 20 meters from it now would earn an attack.
I could use [Echoing Thunderclap] to bypass all defenses and unseal the entire thing, but doing that would mean I would be losing a trump card for later battles.
“So for now, we need to clear this hurdle while preserving most of our fighting strength!”
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