Chapter 93: Finding the Mirror World
As the lights dimmed, an oval portal appeared silently, a twisted swarm of colors exposed within.
From there, a petite girl almost as tall as Bella walked out, dressed in a gothic princess style with her hair split into two high buns, one being white and the other black.
Shifting shadows of leopards, one chasing after the other, kept shuttling on the surface of
her gray princess dress.
Hiro watched this scene play out, and judging by Bella's reaction, it was apparent that she couldn't see any holographic screens with system prompts.
After confirming that fact, Hiro withdrew his attention from her constellation. Looking at the decreased volume of the river of faith energy, Hiro felt a pain in his heart.
However, he quickly pushed that negative energy away. Even if he suffered a loss this time, he figured it was worth it for one of his few friends.
It would be boring if everyone he kept by his side were either a contracted servant from the system or some magical creature that couldn't harbor any complicated thoughts.
While this lifestyle had the least risk factor, it was also the most boring. Thus, adding a little color and an element of unpredictability to his daily life was much better.
After deciding that it'd be better to wait for the replenishment of faith energy, Hiro withdrew his consciousness from the immaterial domain to his real body.
…
Hiro slowly stood up and dusted off some dirt and leaves from his body. His perception spread out like a tide, and once he realized that no one was around him, he stepped out with a movement demonic art.
As usual, he continued to refine his combat instincts as a demon who relied on demonic essence, all the while absorbing whatever bits of energy the lowly demons provided.
This slow process lasted for an entire week when suddenly, the entire canyon shook.
Hiro stopped on the peak of a torn-down mountain, looking in the direction of the Valdmor Stronghold.
There, a vast swarm of darkness took to the sky. Of course, his current eyesight couldn't get so far, hence why he synchronized with one of his powerful characters.
It was only to take a look, and what he saw made him happy.
Valdmor's army is finally moving out! However, it would take some time for them to reach Asmir's Stronghold, so the boss battle would most likely have to wait…
Whatever, let me watch a good show first.
…
Hiro silently concealed himself in the canyon and watched as the demonic army marched out.
If he wasn't wrong, this army was the vanguard army and would most likely meet with resistance from Asmir's army on their way to her stronghold.
Asmir had six generals under her, one of them being suspected of treason. Thus, he advised her to use her generals in pairs while planting a hidden causality link in their bodies.
Whenever one general did something that would negatively affect the other, she would get a psychological hint remotely.
Although this might cause one of her generals to suffer a sneak attack, a fatal wound, an abduction, or even death… Finding the identity of the traitor was more important.
Soldiers and generals were meant to be tools for their rulers during times of war. Any orders, no matter how detrimental to their person, must be executed flawlessly if the interest of the ruler was in the equation.
As for whether the chess piece could maneuver its way around the chess board to survive after accomplishing the objective?
That was the ruler's concern at all.
Survivors would advance in ranks, undergo more dangerous missions, and keep advancing till the war is won or to their death.
Asmir understood this principle well, and so did her generals. If they lacked a sense of caution after climbing to the ranks of generals for so many years, then it was time to promote new generals.
Hiro sat on the mountain peak, watching silently as swarms of demons left the stronghold.
One shouldn't have any misconception about the stronghold's size being small, as each stronghold was no different from an independent country or an independent fiefdom.
There were tens of millions of demons dwelling within, and it took a lot of time for them to march out.
Luckily, the canyon wasn't in their way.
Now, I can only wait for when the tiger descends the mountain. As Hiro thought about this, he closed his eyes.
After thinking about it, Hiro decided to finish the Draconia game first. Even though he felt like this power was fake and illusory, even though he knew he might end up losing it one day, he knew that the rewards were real.
The minor realm he could potentially obtain after clearing this game was worth the risk.
A personal pocket dimension was the foundation of any power. Take the Demon Realm, the Holy Church, and the State for example.
Each of them has its foundations in the form of private domains, and Hiro aspires for the same.
Moreover, what should he do if and when Asmir agrees to join the Unfathomables?
Stay tuned with m-v l|e'm,p y r
He needed an identity of equal strength if not stronger than her to convince her.
With that thought in mind, Hiro closed his eyes and entered the {Simulation Space}, continuing his grinding in the new game.
Just like that, time gradually passed by.
Hiro sat on the same mountain spot for close to an entire month, which was more than half a year in-game, doing nothing other than observing the situation while waiting for any signs of battle.
On this day, the skies dimmed all of a sudden, and a bolt of gray lightning shot across the sky.
Hiro opened his eyes and looked up. "A retaliation from the laws? Seems like the fight has started. However, it's not too intense yet."
From Hiro's perspective, it could only be considered an intense fight when the lords in the sealed spaces were no longer capable of separating their minds towards maintaining the space.
When the frequency of the retaliation from the world increases, only then would it mean that the boss fight is at a critical point.
However, Hiro didn't care for whether the fight was at a critical point or not. Since Lord Valdmor had already left his stronghold, then it was time to act.
He slowly stood up from his position, synchronized with the Arcana Lord, and stepped out with his teleportation ability.
The next moment, Hiro found himself in one corner of the Valdmor Stronghold, his eyes sweeping through the streets.
He intently focused on every mirror, slate of iron, puddle of water, and shards of plastic or glass.
While looking around, Hiro naturally activated his treasure-scanning feature, and observed as halos of golden light surrounded a bunch of items.
However, none of them had the description of a mirror world, no matter how Hiro inspected them.
At the moment, the entire stronghold was in chaos as demons rushed about, some fighting amongst themselves while others hoping to join the war.
Just by walking less than five kilometers, Hiro had already killed at least 600 demons who had nothing better to do other than seek death.
"Where is it?" Hiro frowned, finding it difficult to locate the mirror world.
After thinking for a while, Hiro decided to pay a certain price and retreated into an abandoned building, finding his way into the basement.
Then, he raised his hand and tapped out.
Hiro's eyes glazed over, and soon, a golden book appeared in front of him.
Book of Revelations!
Hiro moved his hand and flipped the pages, quickly finding the Divination chapter.
Between paying with lifespan and faith energy, Hiro chose the latter without hesitation.
He placed his hand on the page, closed his eyes, and communicated with the immaterial domain.
In the immaterial domain's universe hall, the gentle river of faith energy boiled, tossing about like crazy as the energy flooded out.
As it splashed, streams of faith energy evaporated into thin air, crossing an untold distance and pouring into the Divination chapter of the Book of Revelations.
"Mirror world, mirror world, mirror world…"
Hiro repeated the phrase over and over again, and as more of his faith energy was consumed, the clearer an image appeared in his mind.
At first, it was a speck of light in boundless darkness. Then, the speck expanded into a gray space, then he saw an entire world zooming past, finally locating a fragmented continent.
It may have seemed small, but Hiro soon realized that the continent was the current Demon Realm.
The image zoomed in on a certain region on the continent, then an area, and not soon later—Hiro found the Decay Canyon.
Not too long after, Hiro found the Valdmor Stronghold and the desired object of his divination—an entrance node to the mirror world.
With no time to spare, Hiro's eyes snapped open and he teleported over, only to find himself in the sky above the stronghold.
"No wonder!" Hiro exclaimed, finding a shard of glass hovering in the air. As it spun about, sometimes the image reflected on the glass shard would magnify on someone, taking them into the mirror world inside.
Looking around, Hiro didn't see any other shards, and just as he was feeling confused, he felt space ripple.