"Pfft!"
Nabu came to his senses and took a deep breath.
He bolted upright, looking around in confusion.
"What, where is this?"
He had definitely been heading toward the underwater city in the depths of Rʼlyeh just moments ago.
But then a massive whirlpool had suddenly swallowed them, and now, when he came to, a completely different landscape stretched out before him.
Nabu looked up at the sky. A clear blue expanse filled the heavens above.
"Crazy? When did we get back to the surface?"
He stood up properly and surveyed his surroundings. Buildings in an unfamiliar style lined the area.
The most striking feature among them was the floating tower that hovered in the center of the city.
A circular canal encircled the city in concentric rings, centered around the floating tower. The tower floated nobly, emitting a brilliant light.
Nabu examined the city's layout and pondered for a moment before something clicked.
"Wait a second! This shape... no way..."
He summoned a book and hurriedly checked something inside it.
Then he clapped his hands and let out an exclamation.
"Oh my god! Isn't this the legendary city of Atlantis?"
Hundreds of years ago, a certain sage had described an ultra-ancient civilization in one of his works.
That civilization had possessed a magical system and technology far superior to the present, but it had been sunk entirely into the sea in an instant due to the wrath of the constellations, according to the records.
Nabu double-checked the account and gaped.
"Wait, if this is Atlantis, then... what the hell happened? How did we end up here from Rʼlyeh all of a sudden...?"
At that moment, Nigel emerged from between the buildings.
Nabu ran toward her.
"Nigel! Look at this. It seems like..."
"Atlantis, right?"
Nabu's face lit up with surprise at Nigel's words.
"Huh? How did you know?"
Without a word, Nigel pulled something from her bosom and handed it over.
It was fragments of white metal, shattered pieces. Nabu examined them closely with a puzzled expression, then recoiled in shock once more.
"This is orichalcum?" Nigel nodded.
"Yeah, stuff like this was scattered all over the city. The legends say Atlantis built their ultra-ancient civilization by freely manipulating orichalcum."
Nabu nodded at Nigel's words.
"That's right. But how did we end up in Atlantis, which is supposed to have been destroyed long ago?"
Suddenly, Nabu's face paled.
"N-No way, did our lord... die?"
Nigel smacked the panicking Nabu on the head.
"You idiot. And you call yourself a sage?"
Nigel clicked her tongue and pointed to the floating tower in the air.
"Look at that. Doesn't it ring a bell?"
Rubbing the spot on his head where Nigel had hit him, Nabu looked up.
"Ow, you old hag with the bad temper. Ring a bell? What would..."
As he tilted his head at the floating tower, his eyes suddenly widened in realization.
"W-Wait. That's... the tower from Rʼlyeh, the one we crossed the deep sea to reach, right?"
Incredibly, the tower from Rʼlyeh that they had traversed through the ocean depths now floated in the air above the city.
Nigel nodded as she looked at it.
"Yeah, it seems this is Rʼlyeh after all. More precisely, it's the time period of Atlantis, the past of Rʼlyeh."
Nabu scratched his head with a bewildered expression.
"Whoa, insane... Is this even possible? No, if the entire city is under a unique barrier and this place is a fragmented dimension where time is frozen..."
True to his sage nature, Nabu racked his brain, recalling various theories to explain the phenomenon.
He soon reached a conclusion.
"Ah! So this is the secure zone where the Book of the Lion is sealed. They isolated the city's dimension itself to prevent any external intrusion." Nigel agreed with Nabu's words.
"I think so too. And yet we made it here, which means..." Nigel trailed off before continuing.
"The demon king sealed within the Book of the Lion must have drawn us here." Nabu's expression hardened at the mention of the demon king.
"The demon king..."
Nigel turned her head again and gazed toward the center of the city.
"I haven't explored the whole city, but as always, the most important things are at the center."
She pointed to the center as she spoke.
"Right below the floating tower. The heart of the city—that's likely where the Book of the
Lion is sealed. Baron Draker must have headed there too."
Nabu stood up, steadied his breathing, and said,
"Whew, let's hurry and stop him before he gets his hands on the Book of the Lion." He summoned a magic carpet again.
Nigel and Nabu rose into the air on the carpet and flew toward the center of the city.
A short while after they left, a ripple appeared in the air where they had been.
Tss tss tss—
A black silhouette shifted into the form of a crustacean-like insect, its mouth gaping wide as it sent some kind of signal into the sky. Kiiiiii—
The signal soon spread throughout the entire city.
The insect spread its wings and let out a long cry as it flew upward into the air. *
Sasasasak!
Thousands of black insects swarmed into a building in Atlantis.
The interior of the building was filled with a dark aura.
Baron sat in a chair on one side of the building. He had removed his gauntlets, and black energy dripped from his hands onto the floor as he stared at something.
Before him hung a black cocoon wrapped in black energy, suspended from the ceiling.
As Baron continued injecting black energy into the cocoon, the black insects gathered in front of him.
Sasasasak—
The insects crawled toward Baron and burrowed into the black swamp that had formed at his feet.
One of the insects, however, approached Baron instead of the swamp.
Kiiiiing—
It wiggled its antennae, conveying something to Baron.
Baron, who had been forming the cocoon, turned his head and interpreted the signal from the insect.
"The High Table has made it here too."
Having been drawn to Atlantis by the call of the Book of the Lion, Baron frowned, knowing that interlopers still pursued him.
He stood from his seat and looked at the cocoon he had created.
Something inside the cocoon writhed, causing the surface to bulge outward.
Baron stepped back, slipped his gauntlets back on, and closely observed the cocoon's movements.
Soon, tentacles began to extend from the bulging section on the cocoon's surface.
Kiiiiiiii—
The tentacles stretched out in all directions across the building, anchoring the cocoon firmly in place.
Then, the center of the cocoon split open wide, like a massive mouth yawning.
Krr rrr r—
The enormous mouth, lined with sharp teeth, pulsed and moved.
It was as if the thing itself were a living creature.
Then, something began to emerge from the massive mouth, wriggling.
Kurr rrr ruk!
Accompanied by viscous fluid, the enormous mouth gaped fully, and an unidentified being clad in black armor stepped out.
The tentacles gathered to form stairs in front, and the black-armored entity slowly descended them.
But it wasn't just one—others in black armor followed in a line.
Baron addressed the dozen or so dark knights.
"You, the forgotten heroes who lost your world and vanished. The god has granted you a new opportunity."
At his words, red light gleamed in the eyes of the dark knights.
"The enemies seek to obstruct the god's great undertaking. As knights of the god, stop them."
The dark knights nodded in unison at Baron's command and then bowed toward him.
Baron gazed at them with cold, flashing eyes.
*
"Is this it?"
Nabu and Nigel flew into the center of the city on the magic carpet.
The heart of the city, where the floating tower hovered, felt distinctly different from the surroundings.
A powerful mana field enveloped everything, palpable throughout their bodies.
At that moment, Nigel said to Nabu,
"The structure of this mana field suggests it's the custodian's doing."
The custodian had layered multiple security measures to hide the Book of the Lion, where the demon king's soul was sealed.
Nabu nodded and steadied his breath.
"Hmm, so we have to break through that?"
At his words, Nigel stood and drew her sword.
"Dive in. I'll slash the mana field with my full power technique, and you slip through the gap."
Nabu swallowed hard at Nigel's words and maneuvered the carpet straight downward.
Pajijijijik—
As they approached, the intense mana field, layered dozens of times thick, became visible to the naked eye.
Moreover, it began to react as the carpet drew near.
Seeing this, Nabu shouted in disbelief.
"Uwaaak! Wait, this is insane! Even so, this is too much!"
Pajijijijik!
The mana field swelled violently toward them, unleashing a mana storm.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa!
A gale infused with mana surged up, attacking the magic carpet carrying Nigel and Nabu.
Nabu quickly conjured a protective barrier with a word of power, barely blocking the gale, and yelled at Nigel.
"Old hag, what are you doing!"
Beside him, Nigel held her sword aloft, concentrating her mind.
She had received treatment from Zeke after breaking the seal once, but her internal injuries weren't fully healed yet.
Thus, she carefully regulated her breathing and infused her sword with the power of her full power technique.
Her eyes snapped open, and she thrust her sword toward the mana gale.
Chwaa a a aak—
Her single stroke cleaved not only the mana gale but also the dozens of layered mana fields cleanly.
Tss tss tss—
The problem was that the densely woven mana field, like a net, quickly reconnected and healed itself.
Nabu gritted his teeth and shouted,
"Damn it! Old hag! Hit it harder! I'll dive in!"
Nigel nodded and prepared to focus her power again.
But then— Sasasasasa sak—
Thousands of insects swarmed toward them from the air.
They weren't ordinary bugs but magical beasts with sharp teeth, claws, and venomous stingers on their tails.
Nabu recoiled at the sight.
"Kek! Where did these come from!"
Nigel turned her sword and swung at the incoming swarm.
Chwaa a a aak—
The insects fell like rain under the strike infused with her full power technique.
The remains of the fallen insects turned to ash upon touching the mana field net and scattered completely.
Yet the black horde pressed on relentlessly.
Nabu adjusted the carpet with one hand while pulling out a book with the other and shouted,
"Arrows of light!"
With a brief incantation, dozens of arrows made of light materialized behind him.
The arrows shot toward the insects at high speed.
Pababababa pak!
The insects struck by the arrows scattered and fell toward the mana field net.
But there were too many; this wasn't enough.
Then Nigel said,
"Nabu, steer the carpet straight into the mana field." Nabu freaked out at her words.
"What? If we crash, we're done for!"
"If we keep fighting these bugs, we'll run out of strength. We need to take a gamble." Nabu hesitated at Nigel's words but soon nodded.
He took a deep breath and plunged the carpet toward the mana field net.
The gale from before erupted again.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa!
The insects pursuing Nabu and Nigel were swept away in an instant by the gale.
Nigel's desperate measure had worked.
The issue was that the dozens of layered mana fields were just as dangerous to them.
Nabu yelled at Nigel,
"Ooooold haaaaag!"
Nigel thrust her sword directly at the mana field net.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa!
The power of her full power technique sliced through dozens of layers in one go. As Nabu cheered and prepared to dive through the gap—
Pajijijik!
Incredibly, another protective barrier lay within.
Nabu ground his teeth and shouted,
"You crazy custodian bastard!"
Nigel's strike hadn't reached the inner solid barrier.
Just as the carpet carrying the two was about to collide with the barrier— Ziiiiiiing—
The barrier suddenly parted horizontally, opening a path to the central city of Atlantis.
Nabu flinched in surprise and glanced back on a sudden thought.
"Zeke!"
Zeke had appeared behind Nigel, sword raised.
He shouted to Nabu,
"Sage! Now!"
At Zeke's words, Nabu drove the carpet at full speed through the opening.