CHAPTER 092
Graaaaang.
A metallic roar spread from the center of the abyss.
The enormous waves that had been surging moments before subsided as if it were all a lie, and in the blink of an eye, the seawater was sucked into the ground.
A tremendous amount of seawater disappeared beneath the floor in an instant.
Only traces of water remained as stains on the marble floor.
Drip, drip, drip.
A thick green liquid fell from the ceiling, forming small puddles on the floor.
The white panther, which had been thrown into a corner of the wet floor, slowly stood up on all fours, shaking off its soaked fur.
Caligo approached the emperor, who stood firmly in the center of the room, with unsteady legs.
His broad, muscle-bound back, made dense with strength, rose and fell with heavy breaths as he lowered the tip of his sword.
His copper-colored skin, wet from the seawater, was strangely beautiful as if he had just risen from the dead moments ago.
Who knew strength could be so dazzlingly beautiful?
The white panther unknowingly looked at the man before him with eyes of admiration.
"Are you all right?" Caligo asked, glancing at the emperor's face, from which red blood flowed between his eyebrows.
The emperor nodded without even bothering to wipe the blood from his face.
The thick, yellowish thread hanging from the emperor's sword, looking like seaweed, caught Caligo's attention.
It was the fur covering the fin of the sea monster Charybdis.
Charybdis’s fur was a weapon, tearing flesh on contact and injecting venom that killed its victims in agony.
The fin’s fur, which had been charging at the emperor and Caligo moments before, now swayed gently like sheep's wool in the emperor's hand.
When the emperor placed the fin’s fur into Caligo’s bag, Caligo cleared his throat and said, "Hmm… thanks…."
The emperor nodded once more, then began to walk toward the door on the opposite side.
Leaving water stains on the floor as he walked, the emperor moved forward with Caligo following close behind.
As soon as they stepped into the second room, the water at their ankles quickly rose, engulfing Maxwell's towering frame.
In the heart of the sea, amidst the fierce waves, was the lair of the monster Charybdis, which swallowed everything whole.
The monster, whose head was a massive maw, wielded numerous fins to threaten the emperor and Caligo.
Had the emperor not saved him…
Caligo swallowed dryly, glancing back once more.
He had been caught by Charybdis’s fin, unable to move, and was swallowed whole.
A thousand years of waiting to rescue Princess Ermia from the underground world had nearly been wasted, becoming food for a monster.
Then, swoosh.
The emperor, who had been swept away under the sea, appeared and entered Charybdis’s maw faster than Caligo.
The emperor swam into the open, black maw without hesitation and thrust the sword of Musartre forward.
Squelch,
Screeeeeeech!
Charybdis’s anguished scream burst out with thick green blood.
In an instant, Charybdis's body deflated like a punctured balloon, its energy drained, and it fell limp, absorbed into the floor along with the seawater.
"If I hadn’t known that Charybdis's heart was in its throat, neither of us would be walking out of here."
The emperor spoke, tapping his wet hair with one hand.
Caligo had meticulously studied the monsters guarding the Demon King, aiming to use the emperor's body to enter the underground world and rescue Princess Ermia.
No matter how many of Charybdis's fins were cut, new ones grew in their place.
Even more horrifying, the monster gained energy by consuming its severed fins.
'The heart is its only weak spot. The heart is in its throat!'
Realizing that Charybdis was the master of the second room, Caligo informed the emperor, who then fought with the monster’s throat as his target.
"It was worth bringing a monster instead of my skilled loyal subjects."
Although the emperor's dry tone was unappealing, Caligo glared at him slightly and then moved forward.
The second door opened, and the emperor and the white panther emerged into a dark hallway.
The salty sea smell disappeared, and a hot wind unpleasantly blew against their skin.
As the emperor advanced, the sand patterns on the walls on either side began to ripple and scatter.
Something writhed beneath the sand floor, moving toward the door in sync with their steps.
"Not bad. At least our clothes are dry."
The heat had quickly dried the emperor's body and Caligo's fur.
The green blood that had dried on their skin and fur flaked off and dispersed into the air when they brushed it off.
Standing before the third door, which bore the sun over a barren desert, the emperor raised his sword, and Caligo prepared to spring forward.
Creak,
The sun turned into a moon, and the copper door slowly opened in a circular motion.
Through the gap, a sandstorm blew into their faces, making it difficult to keep their eyes open.
***
As expected, the monster guarding the third room was a hydra.
The monster, with dozens of snake heads, slithered freely on the sand-covered floor, walls, and ceiling, attacking the emperor and Caligo.
Despite its long and massive body, it moved with incredible speed, slithering silently through the sand and revealing its snake heads unpredictably to spit venom.
"Cutting it with the sword is useless. New heads just keep growing!"
Caligo warned the emperor, who had fallen back from the unexpected hydra attack.
Dozens of heads flicked their tongues and swiftly slithered towards him.
"What are you doing? Run!"
Caligo urgently shouted as he jumped onto the hydra's tail and slashed with his sharp claws.
Momentarily flinching, the hydra swung its tail, flinging Caligo far away.
Thud, Caligo’s body hit the wall with a loud noise and slid to the floor.
The small white panther was ignored, left for later, as the hydra hissed and charged at the emperor.
At that moment, the emperor, who had been watching the heads without moving, suddenly had a sharp glint in his red eyes.
As the heads lunged for his throat, the emperor grabbed the most passive of the snakeheads, causing a choking sound.
"I guessed you were the leader. Trying to deceive me with your reptilian heads, huh? I'll have to fix that."
With a mocking tone, the emperor tightened his grip on the head, causing the other snake heads protecting the leader to lose strength and flail.
Seizing the opportunity, the emperor took each head and wrapped them around the leader’s neck.
The snake heads coiled like ropes, choking the leader snake.
The yellow reptilian eyes that had glared at the emperor slowly lost focus, and the head slumped forward.
The hydra's body shriveled like a worm, leaving only one sharp tooth that gleamed.
The emperor extracted the tooth from the dead leader’s mouth and placed it in Caligo’s leather bag.
The emperor then helped the small white panther to his feet.
"You were trying to kill me and take my body, and now you're helping me? Have you fallen for me already?"
"Don't be ridiculous! I need you alive to get to the princess. If not for her, I wouldn’t help you at all."
Caligo glared and hissed angrily at the emperor's words.
The emperor's tightly pressed lips relaxed slightly, and he spoke softly.
"Don’t do anything reckless. Just as you need my help, I need yours to get through these nine gates."
His words sounded somewhat like he was acknowledging him, and Caligo couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth twitch upward.
***
The emperor continued to defeat the monsters guarding the gates without rest.
His black hair was matted with sweat and blood, and his face and body were no different.
His clothes were so tattered they could hardly be called clothes anymore.
Covered in the blood and stench of the monsters, the emperor's appearance made it hard to tell who was the monster and who was the human.
Yet, Emperor Maxwell did not slow the hand that wielded his sword.
In the fourth room, he split the body of the chimera, a beast combining a lion, a snake, and a goat, in two and obtained the goat's horn.
In the fifth room, he faced off against five Cyclops twins and took a Cyclops's pinky nail.
In the sixth room, he battled the griffin, a creature with the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle, and plucked its beak, placing it in his bag.
When he emerged from the sixth room, Caligo, who had his leg bitten off by the lion, was perched on the emperor's shoulder.
Thud.
The emperor's knees buckled, covered in sweat and blood.
After laying Caligo down, the emperor's body collapsed to the floor.
Curled up in pain, the emperor slowly lifted his head.
He summoned strength into his trembling legs and stood up.
Lifting the small white panther, who was bleeding from his hind leg, in his wounded arms, he said,
"Leave me... I’ll only be a burden from now on."
Caligo spoke through gritted teeth.
The emperor looked down at the small white panther bleeding in his arms.
The emperor was not someone who cared about things that were useless to him.
Especially not a presumptuous monster that once tried to take over his body, now becoming a hindrance.
Naturally, it made sense to leave the panther behind.
The emperor of old would have...
The emperor slowly began to speak.
"Arabelle would be disappointed in me if she knew I left you behind. I cannot be a lousy man to my future bride."
The emperor, with Caligo draped over his shoulder, walked towards the seventh door with unwavering steps.
Only two left.
If they pass through these two gates...
The emperor's jaw clenched tightly as blood pooled from his wounds.
Even if his limbs were torn apart, he would get through the ninth gate.
Even if he became dinner for the monsters of the underworld, he would succeed in bringing Arabelle back to the human world.
The emperor's cold red eyes glared at the eighth iron door, which bore no markings.
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