Tower of Heaven

It was a tame reaction.

Horus never spoke much about his past. He gave Atlas a rough overview, enough for him to understand his cause, but that was the extent of it.

He didn't speak about what he experienced in the world before he was able to escape into the Tower.

Horus did not experience anything like an easy life. When he experienced torture, he only wondered how anyone could possibly contend with his uncle's skills.

In his mind, it was more important to escape than to feel pain, so the pain he felt was marginalized and set to the side.

But that was only because he'd lived such a hard life.

He was wrong about Atlas being in the underworld because there was no way for him to predict the "damn treasure's" interference.

However, Artemia was indeed there with him. She was in a very similar place that was nowhere close whatsoever, trapped in the exact same position that he was held in.

There was no difference in their predicaments at all.

"Khhh…!"

When she awoke, it was to the feeling of pain all over her body.

Thousands of needles pierced her every pore. They moved slowly so she could feel their every movement clearly. At the same time, wave after wave of deep pain emanated from her very core as if someone had wrapped their hand around her soul and strangled it.

"AAAARGH!"

She let out a great scream as the pain entered her mind. Waking up to it made it worse, as she was unable to locate its source or understand where it came from.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The chains that held her ankles to the earth and her arms to the sky clanged against each other as she thrashed around. Her body flailed wildly, but it was to no avail.

The more she struggled, the more her pain grew.

"KEEEUUURGH…!"

Her body started to act in ways she could not control. She vomited from the sheer overload of sensation. She tried to think about anything else, but the pain was just too overbearing.

She couldn't think. Only the instinctive understandings in her mind gave her any sort of information.

She was chained. She was in an unknown place. All of this started randomly, out of nowhere.

She couldn't even remember the last thing she remembered. The shock didn't let her brain function.

Even as that person appeared from the distance, a woman with a single horn and sclera as black as the sky, she was unable to sense their presence.

Her eyes rolled back into her head and foam oozed from her mouth. She had lost consciousness again.

"Again."

A silent voice came from the one-horned woman.

"This one is weak."

"This one was our original target. Though her mind is weak, her body is not. The talent she possesses, if extracted properly, will become monumental in our plans."

The one-horned woman spoke to a disembodied voice as she looked at Artemia's body. It was hard to see past the blood that covered her, but the expression on her face was quite peaceful. It wouldn't change until she woke up again.

"It's good that she remains asleep, but…"

The one-horned woman looked at Artemia for a moment before shaking her head. She had decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

'Sister, I hope you are making the right decision…'

With that quiet sentence echoing in her mind, she turned her attention away from the prisoner.

This realm they were in had claimed the souls of many. Those who were designated to this place were all forced to suffer from unbearable torture while bearing the curse of immortality until their souls were prepared for reincarnation.

The actual length of their stay depended on the gravity of their sins. However, it was certain that every single soul trapped here was chained just like Horus and Artemia.

That was why it was strange that this woman was able to move around uninhibited.

Artemia, the person who would have questioned such an existence, was cleanly unconscious. If she remained chained in this prison, she was bound to go insane eventually.

Because she was a rare material that never appeared in this realm.

She was a "living person."

She was an invaluable material that anyone or anything in the underworld would lust after because of the flesh and blood protecting her soul.

Such things were considered nutrients for the undead, after all.

Artemia was in one of the most dangerous positions she'd ever been in, but for the current moment at the very least, she was safe.

Because she was so invaluable, those who captured her and brought her here were doing their utmost to keep her hidden from others.

However, whether it be by their hands or by the hands of stray spirits, it seemed that Artemia's fate was already sealed. She was going to be killed and used as materials for someone else's cultivation.

At a time like this, she desperately needed to pull herself together. If she couldn't desperately pull herself together, then it was already over.

The Artemia who had been raised by a protective family of powerful Ascenders, the Artemia who had only really started to experience the world in full when she left for the Tower…

Was she able to form such a resolve?

As it was the only thing potentially standing between her and death, it was a daunting question that her mind did not want to ask.

Yes, it was a daunting question, but even as she slept, her instincts guided her in that direction.

Because Artemia was a dragon.

A Heavenly Dragon of Divine Lineage.

Every bone in her body, her boiling blood, and the very roots of her soul told her to fight, so she had more than enough opportunity to forge her resolve.

It was only a matter of seeing if she was able to do it.

In their first moments in the underworld, Horus contemplated escape and Artemia succumbed to her pain. In the first few moments, the two of them had already understood that they were in a world of trouble.

However, it had been six months since then in the outside world. Atlas had been moving busily, though his friends were unaware, and he was finally approaching the nearest possible moment in time when he could challenge the Hell Guardian and charge into the underworld after them.

In six months, a lot of things had happened in the outside world. The Tower that seemed peaceful and filled with adventure when they were on the 40th Floor was now wrapped in a subtle aura of chaos that was spreading further and further with every passing moment.

So, in the underworld, a place where time didn't flow…

Just how much time had passed?

Just how much had Artemia and Horus experienced since their first day in the underworld?

Atlas, who was unaware of even these secluded events in the flow of time, would have to wait until he reached them to find out.

But, once again, perhaps things were best that way.

Because the current situations of those two certainly weren't anywhere near as relatively calm as they used to be.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om