The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 368 - 382: Reflections

Chapter 368: Chapter 382: Reflections

Lancelot “awoke.”

To be precise, only his consciousness awoke. Lancelot found himself currently nothing more than a glowing shadow with a vague outline, situated on a barren island. In the center of the island floated an object he was very familiar with—a gigantic azure bamboo scroll, which was the treasure left to him by Han Tiansun.

So it was not difficult to guess where this place was: deep within his own Sea of Consciousness. In the past, when he occasionally “descended” here unintentionally during cultivation, he struggled to stay for long. According to the bamboo scroll’s records, one must reach the Core Formation Stage to freely enter their own Sea of Consciousness space, and Divine Sense is precisely the focus of cultivation at that stage.

Lancelot tried to recall what had just happened but found his memory cut off at the moment the light veil over Cang Ye’s face was about to be lifted. He could not recall at all what the true face of the Mother of Demons looked like, but judging by his current situation, he had definitely seen it.

Kalalin had said before that Cang Ye’s true face was so horrifying that even her true body was unwilling to accept it. Those who had seen her true face had all died, and some of them, resurrected by powerful Divine Arts later, still could not remember the sight they had seen.

Clearly, Lancelot was not dead yet, and he didn’t know whether it was because there was a layer of mirror in between, or because the bamboo scroll in the Sea of Consciousness was protecting his primordial spirit. But he was obviously not in a normal state since he couldn’t allow his consciousness to “float up” and regain control of his body like normal.

...

After several futile attempts, Lancelot knew that his physical body must be in trouble at this moment, likely in some state akin to petrification or being sealed, most likely due to the Curse Power contained in the true face of the Mother of Demons. He returned to the side of the bamboo scroll and tried a little, discovering that he could still read the contents of the bamboo scroll normally, which provided some comfort in his predicament.

Since there was no other way for the time being, Lancelot simply sat down cross-legged on the ground, intent on recalling the details of this operation.

Before Bruto unintentionally opened that safe door, the operation had been going very smoothly. The trick of transforming into a Succubus and infiltrating Demon facilities always worked, so simple it was almost unbelievable. If such a Succubus could also fight well, everything would have been much easier—maybe Tijana had frequently used this strategy while establishing Twin Bridges Town?

Now he knew that the safe hidden behind the painting was a trap, simple yet very clever. Despite his Spirit Perception issuing a warning at the last moment, even if it had been him reaching for the door, he would’ve been unable to stop in time, and there were no signs of anything amiss before that.

Thinking back, this trap required the cooperation of the Mother of Demons herself. Would an Abyssal Lord pay such consistent attention to a mirror over decades? Demons have eternal lives, but they definitely are not that idle. Clearly, the Mother of Demons was aware of Lancelot’s group coming and was waiting for them at the end of their journey.

So the question arises, why did she know? Was it revealed in Gaomendikolia? Lancelot carefully reviewed every detail of his past few days and was confident such a situation did not exist. The only possible issue was during their reconnaissance of the fortress terrain; perhaps some undetectable detection magic had found them?

Or was there a traitor in the team, secretly signaling a warning to the Demon side?

This was the least acceptable reason for Lancelot, but he had to consider the possibility. Evidently, the prime suspect was Kamoen. If the Zoel Elves had betrayed them, the leak must have occurred after Alamir left the secret message and before they helped the Dark Elf eliminate the pursuers. Lancelot was certain that after returning to the inn, Kamoen exhibited no abnormal behavior.

And what about those pursuers? A coincidence, or trouble conveniently dealt with by the group?

The infiltration plan had been devised on the eve of their departure, so why had Ulgog (Lancelot couldn’t think of anyone else) been so sure that they would head straight for its office? And that trap was oddly set up too, only triggered when all defensive forces had been defeated or bypassed. But if Ulgog already knew someone was coming to steal the battle plans, there were surely better ways to respond. Why set such a trap?

Most critically, the purpose of the trap seemed more geared towards capturing, rather than killing, the intruders.

Lancelot felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his head. Capturing? Who among their party was worth capturing? Not himself, not the Scholar from the Dark Cult, nor the son of some master-level Dwarven Artisan. There was only one who might be worth the Mother of Demons stirring up such trouble—

Elothysia, the Succubus who had renounced the path of evil, a noble Succubus Paladin.

Having been in this world for a while now, Lancelot, thanks to his learned friends, had roughly grasped the two core sources of power in the Multiverse: Magic and the Soul. Unlike his own world, here, magic wasn’t shrouded in as much mystery; it could be known, studied, and mastered. Even a person lacking talent (such as Kalalin) could gain the ability to use magic with sufficient effort.

As for the myriad of demons and monsters inhabiting the Outer Layer, they focused more on exploiting souls. Demons were permitted to torture the souls of sinners, gaining energy to sustain Barto Hell; Demons were keen on corrupting the souls of the good, claiming them as their own; and even those with Divine Power tried hard to spread their faith, so that their most devout followers, upon death, would be reborn in their Divine Kingdom, eventually merging with the divinity itself.

According to the information they gathered moments before the rescue at the instant fortress, the soul of the Succubus Paladin held great power, so much so that many factions offered a handsome reward for her, with even Demons dispatching a deep-hell Demon Refinement General, an entity only second to the Archduke among the Nine Hells. They were almost certain to succeed, had it not been for Lancelot… The summoning of Nameless foiled all of Bartez’s plans.

At this thought, Lancelot realized another oddity about Ulgog’s office—it was too orderly. Acheron had once offhandedly complained that the Demon General might have an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Elothysia agreed that the room was too tidy by Tanari standards, but Lancelot had not paid it much attention at the time.

Considering further their encounters in the Great Abyss, like that conversion of Lord of Withering Satugura into a Bartez, Lancelot found himself consistently entangled in the Nine Hells’ conspiracies against the Abyss. The previous times might have been a case of accidentally messing up the Devils’ plans, but this time he wasn’t so lucky.

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Just then, a violent shaking came from above the isolated island, prompting Lancelot to look up. He saw the fog that enveloped the surroundings rapidly dissipating, a sensation akin to ‘buoyancy’ emerged, propelling his spirit body swiftly upward.