The Healing Solaris Cleric-Chapter 367: New World (2)

Kai looked down at the hole in the floor for a moment and jumped into it without hesitation.

Yoo Ha-Rin, who had been covering her ears, followed after him in surprise. “K-Kai!”

“Gravity field.”

Kai descended through the air as if stepping down invisible stairs by using Gravity Field to slow his fall. His sharp gaze quickly scanned the vast chamber.

It feels like... some kind of lab.

There were glass tanks filled with unknown liquids, corpses of various monsters, and papers covered in ancient script filled the space.

“You shouldn’t go alone.” Yoo Ha-Rin landed safely behind Kai and looked around with a grim expression. “This doesn’t seem like a pleasant place.”

“That always seems to be the case with people who do things in secret.”

Kai stepped over the debris from the collapsed ceiling and walked forward. That was when he spotted Sting, who was bewildered.

“As expected. Where the needle goes, the thread follows.”

“It’s Sting.”

Sting backed away from Kai and Yoo Ha-Rin, who radiated menacing auras.

“You monster bastards... You really came.”

However, his focus was entirely behind him.

Damn it. The demon summoning circle should’ve worked. Was it the lack of sacrifices?

The hellgate had indeed opened, but only just enough for a single finger to slip through. No demon could possibly pass with that size.

I need more sacrifices...

But there was no one left who could be used.

While Sting burned with frustration, Kai’s eyes locked onto the hellgate. It wasn’t because he wanted to, but because of the overwhelming presence it gave off.

“Hmm.”

At the same time, Kai began to show signs of caution. He hadn’t flinched even when facing Goliath at full power, yet now he was on edge.

What in the world is that?

An absurd energy leaked out from the slightly opened hellgate. It was a vile and sticky presence that made one feel sick just by being in the same space.

Yoo Ha-Rin noticed it a moment later, and her gaze began to waver. “Kai. That is...”

“Yes, it’s dangerous. Very, dangerous.”

Sting stared at the hellgate that even made those two monsters tense, unable to hide his disappointment.

If they’re reacting like that... then an archdemon will come through at the very least.

Kai slowly approached Sting, who stood helplessly. Kai was dressed for battle and held a holy sword in hand. It was clear from his appearance alone that he planned to fight Sting at full strength and destroy the hellgate afterward.

“I don’t know what you and Goliath were planning, but I know that gate must be destroyed.”

“Damn it...”

Even if it cost him his life, Sting couldn’t give up the hellgate and began summoning dark energy.

“I really wanted to avoid a fight... but I guess this is how it has to be.”

He pointed his hand straight at Kai. He was about to target him with a skill, but Kai was already gone by the time he extended his hand.

He’s so fast...!

Even though he was a Wizard, he didn’t expect to lose sight of his opponent like this.

Has this monster already adapted to that level of speed?!

In MID Online, one thing never changed no matter how much one increased their physical stats. That was cognitive ability. Even with a body that could run a hundred meters in three seconds, it meant nothing if the mind couldn’t keep up. In that sense, Kai was a near-complete player. He had been managing stats in the thousands for months already. That was more than enough time for high-end hardware to become fully optimized with its software.

Fwoosh!

Sensing a sharp killing intent from behind, Sting used a skill without hesitation. His body turned to smoke and reappeared far away.

“This is... a familiar technique,” Kai muttered as he slashed at empty air.

If his memory was correct, that aura and technique belonged to Zirukan.

“Goliath was part of the Church of Muldine... and you’re connected to the Demon Lord followers.”

That made things easier to deal with.

Sting may have a deep understanding of magic, but he’s still not on Zirukan’s level.

Kai had already defeated someone who could be considered an upgraded version of Sting. Because of that, Kai could roughly predict what kind of skills Sting would use. In fact, every skill Sting cast was something Kai had seen before.

Are these just weaker versions of Zirukan’s skills? The range and power are all weak.

Having figured everything out, Kai no longer delayed the fight. He reached out toward the wave of dark energy coming at him.

“Absolute Zero.”

The wave instantly froze, and the ice connected to Sting’s left arm.

It’s over.

Yoo Ha-Rin was already behind Sting with her sword drawn. With a soft sound, his chest opened up as a greatsword pushed out through the front.

“Kugh... Th-this can’t be...”

Before Sting could finish talking, Yoo Ha-Rin violently pulled the sword out and swung her arm. The greatsword imbued with Kal Rashya’s divine power sliced through his neck like tofu. That was the end of the fight.

“That was easier than I expected.”

“Yes. But the matchup was also in our favor. We both have Mythic classes and excel in close combat.”

Unlike with Goliath, no system messages appeared this time. Only some leftover polygons remained as proof that the enemy had died.

Yoo Ha-Rin stared at them for a moment, then said, “So now we just need to find that Soul Vessel, right?”

“Yes, but before that...”

Kai walked toward the hellgate. The Holy Sword in his grip trembled more as he approached, as if it resonated with the gate. It was like a warning that it was dangerous.

Feeling more tense, Kai stood in front of the hellgate. It had been unsettling even from afar, but staring at the gate made from human bones up close was painful.

People always waste time in front of stuff like this in movies, and then something bad happens. Let’s just hurry.

Overcome by an unexplainable unease, Kai struck the hellgate without hesitation. The skull on the gate shattered, and the bones broke into pieces as the threshold twisted. But despite that, the gate as a whole remained intact.

It’s incredibly durable.

Yet, it was still just an object.

Thud! Thud!

The more the Holy Sword struck the gate, the more the bones shattered and scattered.

However, Yoo Ha-Rin, who had been watching, approached and stopped him. “Um... Kai. Are you sure it’s okay to break this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I just feel like something might burst out from inside instead if we keep hitting it like this.” She looked at the gate with a worried expression. “And maybe I’m wrong, but didn’t the opening used to be smaller?”

Kai looked at the gate again and noticed it had definitely opened wider.

It was just enough for one finger to slip through earlier, hadn’t it?

Now it was slightly wider than that. Enough space for two fingers to go through easily.

“I think you’re right, Ha-Rin...”

Just as Kai began to speak, both of them turned their heads. They had heard something move behind them, but there was nothing there. No—more accurately, there was something.

“Are those... polygons?”

“It’s the polygons left behind when Sting died.”

The white, glimmering polygons rolled across the floor.

As Kai and Yoo Ha-Rin tilted their heads at the strange sight, a massive magic circle rose from where they stood and began to emit a blue light.

Vwooooom!

“K-Kai!”

“This is... a magic circle.”

“Sting must have done something at the very end!” Yoo Ha-Rin yelled.

She was partially right. The magic circle that was now rising had been the one Sting activated to summon a demon. Incomplete due to lack of sacrifices, it was ironically completed only after devouring the caster’s corpse.

The temple they stood in began to shake as if an earthquake had struck. The next moment, the walls and pillars collapsed and the ceiling caved in.

“Excuse me for a moment!”

Eyes wide, Kai placed a hand around Yoo Ha-Rin’s waist. With near-superhuman physical ability and mental processing to match, Kai recreated the miracle from the Aosa raid. In fact, the difficulty this time was even lower.

The gravity field lifted the collapsing ceiling and pillars upward. However, the magic circle that was satisfied after its feast, now wanted to earn its keep. It didn’t want to miss the prey right before it. The broken hellgate Kai had smashed shook violently again and again.

“Kai, the gate is shaking!”

“Damn it... Hold on tight!”

Kai poured more mana to increase the gravity field’s power and shot upward like a bullet.

The hellgate opened just a beat quicker but it did not fully open, perhaps because Kai had damaged the gate.

“Th-that’s a relief. Something’s definitely inside, but it can’t get out because the gate didn’t fully open,” Yoo Ha-Rin said while pressing a hand to her chest.

However, it wasn’t a relief. It was a disaster.

Fwoooooosh!

The being trapped inside the hellgate, unable to escape, began sucking in everything around in a fit of rage.

“Argh...?!”

As Kai’s body soared upward with force, immense pressure suddenly weighed down on him. At first he stopped in midair, then began to sink downward as if trapped in a swamp.

“Change!” Yoo Ha-Rin began her support.

She sent debris from the ceiling and shattered pillars flying toward the hellgate, but they vanished mid-air like dandelion seeds.

“N-no way.”

If the death energy of the Church of Muldine governed the death of life, then demonic energy was a little different. It was more like the battle spirit of someone desperate to fight. Separate from death, it was a force filled with a fierce grudge to crush the enemy no matter what.

“Argh, Upgrade! Holy Chains! Gravity Field!” Kai poured out his Holy Power and Mana without hesitation.

Countless Holy Chains shot out like webs and wrapped around the temple’s pillars. At the same time, he used the gravity field to force his body upward. But even then, his body continued to sink.

This pull is insane...!

In the end, the Holy Chains could no longer hold and snapped, causing Kai and Yoo Ha-Rin to fall.

***

What waited for them below was the half-open hellgate. Whatever was inside hadn’t yet escaped, but there was enough room for two humans to pass through. As they fell, Kai pulled Yoo Ha-Rin into his arms to lessen her impact. Passing through the hellgate, Kai collided hard with something. He couldn’t tell if it was a floor or a wall.

“Kugh!”

Kai rolled across the ground a few times and quickly raised his head. Contrary to his expectations, there was nothing around him. However, the emptiness was extreme. There was literally nothing. All he could see was a dark red ground like something from a lava zone, and a lifeless barren landscape with nothing but a gray sky above.

“Where are we...?”

It wasn’t Yoo Ha-Rin who answered Kai’s question, but a system message.

Ding!

[You have entered the Demon Realm.]

[You are the first to discover the Demon Realm.]

[Level increased.]

[Level increased.]

[Level increased.]

.

.

.

[Acquired 35 stat points.]

[Party leader Kai has acquired a special title: Discoverer of the Demon Realm]

[Party member Yoo Ha-Rin has acquired a special title: Demon Realm Explorer.]

[The Demon Realm is a brutal world of survival where the weak cannot live. If you want to survive, grow stronger.]

[XP gain is tripled and item drop rates are doubled for three months.]

[Connection to the Midworld is now severed.]

For some reason, the words of the cute goddess suddenly came to mind.

The Demon Realm, the land of hell where demons dwell. It’s a merciless place where the weak die and only the strong survive. A strange world where the day begins and ends with battle. Never, ever take interest in that part of the world.

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