The Demon King is unfathomable

Chapter 405 The Apostles of Chaos

"Miss Castellion?!"

The name struck Rastina like a bolt from the blue. Hidden in the shadows of the corridor, her face drained of color, and she gasped for breath.

Ophelia Castellón!

Why is she here? And with that commoner, Ilana?!

Could it be... that they are friends?

This thought plunged Rastina into an icy abyss.

Her two henchmen were so frightened that their legs went weak and they almost collapsed to the ground.

They don't care about the life or death of a commoner, but offending an imperial duke who truly holds power would ruin the future of their entire family!

Even without the Duke of Castellón speaking, their lord's lord would present their family as a political gift at the banquet.

In a flash, a crazy idea seized Rastina's mind. A ferocious glint flashed across her face, jealousy and fear intertwined into a vicious resolve.

She suddenly pulled the box wrapped in black cloth with runes from her storage bag, her fingernails almost digging into the wood, and used all her strength to pry open the lid!
Since death is inevitable either way—

Why not take a gamble and make things escalate completely!
If something is so big that even the Great Sage's Tower can't handle it, then offending Miss Castellion is nothing.

Of course, it would be even better if this blind duchess died here!

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a darkness that seemed capable of swallowing all light, which silently slithered out of the box like a venomous snake.

The black mist did not spread at all; instead, as if it had a life of its own, it silently seeped into the stone walls and ground of the labyrinth.

Before Rastina could even comprehend what had happened, the entire labyrinth groaned in pain, as if a giant beast had eaten something bad!

On the stone wall, countless blood-red lines suddenly appeared like ferocious blood vessels, pulsating like a vibrant heartbeat!

"By Saint Sith! What, what has happened?!" Had, who was following behind Ophia, was so frightened that his voice changed.

In an instant, the surrounding walls seemed to transform into the flesh and blood of living beings, writhing in a nauseating manner!

A dark red, ominous mist seeped out from every crack in the stone, quickly filling the entire corridor with a putrid stench.

The broken ice crystals on the ground began to melt, then emitted a black aura of death, merging into the eerie red mist.

They became nourishment for the labyrinth, and began to hatch new howlers!
Bain swallowed hard and answered in a trembling voice.

"I don't know... I feel... the wall... seems to be moving!"

"Run! Something's wrong here!" Without having time to explain the situation to Ilana, Ophia acted decisively, grabbed her wrist, and turned to run away.

Bain and Harder quickly snapped out of their daze and followed behind their little darling, not daring to let anything happen to her in the maze.

Otherwise, even if His Highness Colin pardons them, Duke Castellón will surely tear them apart!

Meanwhile, Rastina and her companions were also gripped by the panic they had created, screaming and trying to escape.

However, behind them, in that thick, dark red mist, a group of twisted figures emerged silently, like monsters seeping out of a nightmare, completely cutting off their escape route!
They were a group of humanoid monsters twisted to the extreme.

Their body structure is completely asymmetrical, with limbs of varying lengths as if randomly pieced together. Their skin is a deathly grayish-black, with a texture like rotten, wet mud.

They have no eyes, no nose, and the only organ on their face is a mouth that is always wide open but can never make a sound.

The howlers!
Rastina's face changed completely, turning into boundless fear.

She had only seen a description of this monster in a forbidden book, which said they were servants of Avanor, the Crown of Pride!
Unlike the "fanatics" and "madmen" who are born from the inner demons of people in the main world, these twisted monsters are demons from the outer realms!
but--

Why are they here?
She couldn't understand why the magical artifact she bought for thirty gold coins was related to chaos!
"what--!"

Ange let out a heart-wrenching scream. The fear of the unknown made her legs go weak, and the corrosiveness in the red mist was tearing at her already dwindling sanity.

She completely regretted it.

She regretted offering any schemes to please Rastina, and even more so, she shouldn't have gone to such lengths to get close to Ilana just to drag an innocent person into the mess.

But it's too late to say anything now.

Driven by her survival instinct, a venomous glint flashed in Rastina's eyes as she turned her gaze to a certain useless screamer.

This guy is a burden to her; it would be better for him to hold off these monsters for her!

“…Angie, help me one last time!” she said in an almost whispered voice, as she extended her trembling wand.

"Miss Lastina?!"

Before Anjie could react in her panic, she suddenly felt a tremendous force shove her back!

Then, she staggered forward uncontrollably, falling straight into the group of silently approaching monsters!

Anjie turned around in horror, only to see three cold and resolute faces.

Her "good friends" showed no reluctance, not even glancing at her again, before turning and fleeing in another direction like madmen.

Despair overwhelmed Anjie in an instant.

All she could see were those silent, gaping monsters, staggering closer and closer to her...

"Aaaaaah!!!" Ange let out a devastating scream, like a deflated balloon, helpless except to scream and roll around.

Just as the groans were about to silently surround her, a corrosive force, even more penetrating to the depths of her soul than pure darkness, found her first.

Generally speaking—

Chaos rarely chooses useless pieces as its chess pieces.

However, Avano is an exception.

A useless person with no sense of self becomes the perfect puppet for the chosen "ruler" after their sole belief collapses or is disillusioned!
She will become a "fanatic"!
She obeyed the master who manipulated her without question until the last embers of her life and soul were consumed.

Anjie, who was slumped on the ground, suddenly stiffened, her eyes rolled back, and the last glimmer of light in her pupils completely disappeared, making her look like a puppet whose soul had been taken away.

Immediately afterwards, her slightly plump body expanded wildly at an incredible speed, with flesh and bones making a teeth-grinding sound!
In the blink of an eye, a bloated and deformed fleshy giant almost filled half of the corridor, its fat-filled neck resembling a giant worm.

Do you know why you're in so much pain?

Because of betrayal!

"The kind-hearted and harmless Miss Ange trusted her master so much, yet her master coldly and ruthlessly betrayed her loyalty."

'Now, go and take your revenge.'

In my name—

To everyone!

Hatred surged like a tidal wave, completely overwhelming the last shred of reason in Ange's heart. She thought of Ilana, who stole her opportunity with her beauty, Colin, who leered at her, the wicked Professor Hector, and her mentor Merck, who deliberately tripped her up to get her attention.

certainly--

What angered her even more was Rastina.

She had already given all her dignity to Miss Rastina, yet the latter, without the slightest hesitation, pushed her into the abyss of nightmares when faced with danger.

If she had no power, she would probably have kept it to herself, or vented her anger on her younger schoolmates who were much weaker than her.

But unfortunately—

The evil spirits from beyond have their eyes on her. She's incredibly powerful now, even confident she can knock Colin down with a single punch—though she won't waste her potential.

Reborn, Ange looked at her bloated and powerful body with satisfaction, shook off the slime, and turned her gaze to the corridor not far away.

That was the direction Rastina fled in.

With a sinister grin, she pushed aside the trembling groans around her and strode off in the direction Rastina had fled.

"What an ugly thing." Alister, who was silent in the darkness, squinted slightly as he looked at his work, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes.

The gray mist floating beside him simply smiled and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"The power of faith was perfectly infused and transformed into strength, instantly elevating a piece of trash to the Silver rank... Isn't that perfect?"

Arist snorted coldly without saying a word, but stared straight at Ophia, who had returned, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Whatever——

Anyway, his goal was just to use someone else to do his dirty work, so let this fat pig make a big scene, then take all the blame and die.

"Roar--!"

A deafening roar echoed through the labyrinth's corridors, like that of a mad boar.

"What the hell is that!"

Rastina's henchmen turned around and saw the fleshy giant chasing after them. They were so frightened that their souls almost left their bodies, and they screamed as they fired several spells.

However, when those fireballs and wind blades hit the monster, they were like pebbles thrown into a mud pit, only creating a few ripples.

The monster grinned maliciously, completely unconcerned. With a casual wave of its enormous, fan-like hand, the violent wind easily shattered the fragile magic, and in the process, sent a female mage flying like a broken doll, crashing into the wall and knocking her unconscious.

"Die, monster!" Taking advantage of the momentary pause in its movements, another female mage roared and summoned the magic scroll tied to her waist.

Golden light formed a net in mid-air, and just as a golden holy sword was about to take shape, it was extinguished by a spit of phlegm.

"Bah—!"

The corrosive acid splattered all over the female mage. She screamed and covered her face, but the more she rubbed it, the more miserable she became. Before long, her face turned into a bloody skeleton.

She licked her lips, and Ange let out a wild, excited laugh, as if she had finally gotten her revenge. She then looked at Lastina and strode forward, her round eyes gleaming with a thirst for blood and vengeance.

"Don't come any closer!" Rastina panicked completely, screaming as she swung her wand. However, before she could finish the spell, a tremendous impact slammed into her abdomen, shattering the protection set up by the silver-grade magical ornament with overwhelming force!
"Crack——!"

The sound of the barrier shattering could be heard!
After being punched in the stomach, Lastina's eyes widened, her eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets. She coughed up blood and flew out, crashing hard into the wall not far away.

"Bam—!"

Every inch of air was squeezed out of her lungs, and Rastina felt as if her internal organs were out of place, with a sweet, metallic taste of blood gushing from the corner of her mouth.

"Hehehe..." The monster let out a chilling laugh, deliberately slowing its pace as it approached her.

Through that distorted, fleshy face, Rastina vaguely felt a sense of familiarity and uttered half a sentence in a trembling voice.

"An... Jie?"

Upon hearing the name, the monster clearly reacted, its upturned mouth widening into a wider grin.

Seeing that the monster before her was indeed Angela, Rastina felt both fear and excitement. She struggled to sit up, as if grasping at a straw, and looked at the monster approaching her step by step, pleadingly saying...

“Ange! It’s me! Lastina… Don’t you recognize me? You… how did you become like this?”

How did it become like this...?

The monster, whose emotions had been relatively calm, became even more distorted the moment it heard those words.

"Why...did it become...like this..."

A broken voice came from that swollen throat, like a demon from hell, staring at the "friend" whose face had completely lost its color.

"Isn't it...you who...made me into this state?"

Rastina was completely stunned.

Before she could react, a slap the size of a clay pot landed on her right cheek, sending her and her knocked-out teeth flying.

Clearly, the monster didn't want to kill her so easily; it planned to play with her for a while before sending her on her way.

Just as Rastina was losing consciousness and thought she was about to die, a loud explosion suddenly came from behind the monster!

"boom--!"

The violent shockwave sent the flesh giant staggering, halting its deadly attack, and causing it to angrily turn back towards the direction from which the attack had come.

As Rastina collapsed to the ground, she caught a glimpse of Ilana standing there. Instead of running away or hiding, Ilana, whom she had abandoned in the labyrinth, had returned to fight back.

Beside her stood Miss Ophia and two other unfamiliar male apprentices, who were coughing in the choking dust.

"They're... completely unharmed?"

Ophelia stared intently at the flesh giant who had only been pushed back a few steps and hadn't even been scratched, her face filled with disbelief.

Hard and Bain had the same look on their faces, as if they had seen a ghost.

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Could it be... the chosen one of Chaos?!" Realizing this, their expressions instantly turned even more grim. That was something that they, a mere few magic apprentices, could not possibly deal with!
Not only did the flesh giant cast a chilling gaze upon them, but the surrounding howling crowds also gathered around.

These creatures emerged from the pulsating, dark red wall, approaching them like mindless zombies, seemingly endless.

Faced with the critical situation, Ophia gritted her teeth and took out another thick stack of magic scrolls from her storage ring!

The pristine white scrolls were inscribed with the spell "Explosive Flame Temperature Bomb" in alchemical ink, each scroll radiating a heart-pounding energy fluctuation.

Since one isn't enough—

Let's take ten together!
Seeing Ophelia pull out the scroll, Had and Bane turned deathly pale and cried out in alarm, trying to stop her.

"Miss Castellion, no!"

"The maze can't withstand such power! If we use it all at once, this place will collapse!"

"That's perfect!" Ophia smiled wildly as she tore the scrolls in her hand open and threw them forward.

"Get out of this world, you monster!"

The world seemed to be muted at this moment.

A dazzling, fiery red sphere of light, seemingly capable of burning away the surrounding air, instantly expanded a dozen meters in front of her!

Anjie was stunned.

When faced with that scorching energy, fear appeared for the first time in its crazed eyes, and it moved its massive body in preparation for escape.

However, at that moment, a deafening roar that could tear eardrums suddenly exploded, engulfing it along with the wailing crowd around it and even the corridor beneath its feet!

"boom--!!!"

The violent energy smashed through the walls, tore apart the floor, and melted the ceiling!
Even the magic apprentices and teaching assistants on the first and second floors were nearly knocked to the ground by the shock.

"What happened?!" Coors, wrapped in a blanket, looked up in alarm, his eyes darting around before finally turning to the teaching assistant beside him for help.

However, the faces of the two young teaching assistants were also heavy with worry, their right hands gripping their wands tightly, the tips of the wands trembling slightly.

"By Saint Sith..."

"That's at least silver-level... no, it might even be gold-level magic!"

The middle-aged teaching assistant had a furrowed brow.

What worried him more than the explosion itself was that he sensed an ominous aura in the scalding dust.

That happened many years ago.

A cataclysmic event known as Chaos once swept across the desolate snowfields, and it was only through the intervention of the Great Sage that the chaos was brought to an end...

On the other side, right at the center of the explosion.

Before Rastina could react, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and fainted.

Two of her teammates also fell into a coma.

Meanwhile, at the center of the explosion, a milky white light shone, enveloping Ophia and her three teammates.

The light emanated from the necklace on Ophelia's chest.

Before she left, her father, Prince Andrei, gave her the necklace and instructed her to keep it with her at all times and never take it off, no matter what happened.

Now she's just glad she listened to her father's advice...

Anjie, located at the center of the explosion, let out a painful howl, her entire body as if it had been splashed with burning asphalt!
It is not a true Chosen One of Chaos, but merely a puppet manipulated by the Dominator, with a strength of only above Silver and below Gold!

In any case, that was not a level of destructive power it could withstand...

As the aftershocks of the explosion gradually dissipated, the scene was a complete mess. Piles of rubble and broken walls lay in heaps, and the air was thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder and dust.

The floor of the third level of the maze was completely destroyed, forming a downward slope, which was located near the core of the fourth level of the maze.

Perhaps to bring the corruption of chaos as close as possible to the core of the labyrinth, someone hiding in the shadows deliberately chose this place as the battlefield.

With his seductive whispers.

In the center of the ruins, the flesh-and-blood giant that Ange had transformed into lay on the ground, its enormous body shrinking at a visible rate, and black chaotic energy dissipating like wisps of steam.

She was on her deathbed.

Limping through the dust, Ilana gripped her wand and walked step by step to her former companion. She had noticed it earlier; the distorted face was so familiar, especially the eyes, which were practically a carbon copy of Ange's.

"Ange...is that you?" Ilana's voice trembled, with a slight sob in it. "Why...did it turn out like this?"

Ophelia told her everything and sincerely apologized, saying she had messed things up and should have told her the truth sooner instead of putting her friend in real danger for the sake of taking risks.

Ilana didn't blame her; everyone has immature moments.

But deep down, she still couldn't accept that her friend, with whom she spent every day, had been acting from the very beginning, and that everything was just to lower her guard...

A rare look of shame and pain crossed the twisted monster's face. It avoided Ilana's gaze, its voice weak and hoarse: "I...I don't know...but...it's too late...I don't ask for your forgiveness, I only beg you, give me a quick death..."

“No!” Ilana refused almost without thinking, blurting out, “There must be another way, as long as we find Mentor Merck—”

"Why can't you understand!" Anjie screamed, as if her most vulnerable nerve had been pierced. "This is the pollution of chaos! Can't you see it?! I've become this grotesque, and I can never go back! Do you really want me to lose face in front of everyone again?!"

The piercing scream was like that of a groundhog whose tail had been stepped on, and tears mixed with black, foul blood slid down her face.

In an attempt to provoke Ilana and get the guy to do something, she broke down and yelled everything out.

"Don't you understand?! I was acting under Rastina's orders! I never considered you a friend! And just now, leaving you alone in the maze was also intentional! You didn't expect that, did you? We planned this a month ago!"

Ophia, who already knew all this, silently walked to Ilana's side and gently took her cold little hand in hers.

Ilana listened quietly to Ange's entire outpouring, a trace of indescribable sadness welling up in her turquoise eyes.

However, her voice remained firm and unwavering.

Even so, I still implore you to calm down and come out with us...

Anjie screamed in despair.

"Enough! Stop with your hypocritical kindness! I will never go with you! You insist on making me fight? Fine! You just wait there until I recover—"

“This is not hypocrisy, nor is it kindness.” Ilana interrupted it earnestly, her clear voice resounding through the ruins, “but rather that we must let people know the truth, uncover the truths that have yet to see the light of day! And find out who exactly entrusted this power, which does not belong to you, into your hands…”

She took a deep breath and, with unprecedented intensity, screamed at the pile of flesh lying in the dust.

"How many more times do we have to do this—"

"Last time, the apprentices took the blame, and this time it's the same apprentices, right? How many more apprentices will have to shoulder the burdens that don't belong to them?!"

"Did we come to the Mage Tower to pursue the truth, or did we come here to be pawns on a chessboard, playing that fundamentally uninteresting game of power?"

"Answer me! Ange! Do you think this outcome is acceptable?!"

The deafening sound shocked everyone present.

Hard and Bain stared wide-eyed at their usually quiet classmate, never expecting her to speak in such a tone.

Even Ophia, who often discussed math problems with her, looked at her with surprise, as if she were getting to know this seemingly frail girl all over again.

Ange was speechless; her collapsing body trembled violently, overwhelmed by fear.

"But... what can we do... no one will be willing to help me..."

"There is one person who can."

Ilana paused, her eyes gleaming with an unprecedented light, a light called truth.

“If it were His Highness Colin, he would surely be able to see through the shadows behind the fog, even if everyone else is either tacitly approving or pretending not to know.”

The name sent a jolt through Anjie.

However, it was precisely this name that provoked someone standing in the shadows.

A slow, deliberate voice, like a chilling breeze, suddenly blew from the shadows beside them.

In the dim light, Ilana heard a creaking sound, but it wasn't the friction of undead bones; it was the grinding of jealous teeth.

"...She already said she can't go back, why don't you listen to your 'good friend's' opinion?"

Everyone felt a chill and turned to look in the direction from which the voice came. But when they saw who it was, they all widened their eyes in unison.

There stood a mage dressed in a dark blue robe.

He was thin, with meticulously groomed silver hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. He wore a monocle on his nose and looked refined and spoke politely.

No one expected to see him here, let alone that he would step out from behind the black curtain at this moment and choose to confront everyone.

"Professor Alistair?!" Bain and Hard exclaimed, while Ophia, standing next to Ilana, was pale and had cold hands and feet.

As a member of the Castellón family, she had been exposed to this from a young age and instinctively knew what it meant when a mastermind hiding behind the scenes came to the forefront.

Either that person is ready to take their final bow, or they've played their last card and are about to flip the table.

"Congratulations, you answered correctly... It's a pity there's no reward."

Arist nodded politely to everyone, like an elegant professor reviewing students' work in class.

However, immediately afterward, this gentle and refined professor uttered words in his usual casual tone that sent chills down everyone's spines.

"To be honest, this farce has started to annoy me." He smiled and looked around at the ruins, sighing softly, "If I had known things would turn out like this, I would have preferred to take matters into my own hands from the beginning... A bunch of good-for-nothings who are more likely to ruin things than get things done."

The moment he finished speaking, he casually raised his right hand and lightly pointed forward with his index finger.

There were no incantations, no magic circles, and not even the slightest fluctuation of magic power!

Ophia felt as if her heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand. Before she could react, she heard a crisp "crack" sound!
On her chest, the necklace that her father, Duke Castellón, had personally placed on her neck suddenly developed spiderweb-like cracks and then turned to dust!

Ophia instinctively reached for a life-saving magic scroll from her spatial ring.

However, to her horror, the spiritual connection between her and the storage ring was abruptly severed by an irresistible force!

"What did you do?!" Ophia was both shocked and furious. She grabbed the stunned Ilana's hand and took a trembling step back.

Alistair's smile remained unchanged, and he offered no explanation, as if he had simply done something insignificant.

"Remember to bring your life-saving items with you next time... although there won't be a next time."

With a flick of his index finger, thick red mist gathered in his palm, transforming into threads that shot towards everyone's hearts.

This is his second plan.

If the hidden cards deployed in the labyrinth are not enough to kill the lucky Lady Castellón, then he himself will purge the Duchess and everyone around her, and package them as having died at the hands of Chaos.

The scapegoats remain Lastina and Ange; they have both a motive for the crime and a reason to be targeted by Chaos...

Of course, he would repent bitterly before the great sage—

He came late.

Just at this critical moment, a brightly colored butterfly suddenly entered everyone's field of vision.

It flapped its shimmering wings, like a creature that didn't belong in this labyrinth, and leisurely flew in through the labyrinth's walls.

Arist was slightly taken aback, and a sense of unease suddenly welled up in his heart. He couldn't understand the source of that power.

Before he could react, a tall, slender figure appeared silently in front of everyone where the butterflies had been.

The countless threads seemed to have struck a clear, transparent mirror, and were forcibly severed by an unseen spell.

He simply stood there, as if suppressing an entire chaotic space and destroying all fear and evil thoughts.

The visitor was none other than Prince Colin.

He arrived at just the right time.

Almost simultaneously, all the magic apprentices present, including Ilana and Ophia, revealed a glimmer of hope on their faces!
And that relieved expression drove Alistair to the brink of madness with jealousy.

“This farce really needs to end, Mr. Alistair.”

Looking at the cold-eyed mage, Luo Yan's lips curled into a faint smile as he spoke in a slow, deliberate voice.

"However, how it ends is not up to you."

(End of this chapter)