After Orsaga signed the Abyssal Contract with the high-ranking officials of the Elsella Kingdom, the situation across the Myling World continued to deteriorate.
The massive barrier that enveloped the entire Material Plane was constantly under siege due to the gods losing their upper hand.
More and more often, Demons from the outer realms were forcing their way through.
It could be said that the decline had entered an irreversible phase.
Many nations—and even the upper echelons of powerful factions—had come to understand a grim truth: if things continued this way, they would all die.
So they began desperately seeking every possible fallback, trying to escape the coming catastrophe.
Then came the awkward reality: from the perspective of Ignarok's faction, the native inhabitants of this world were already like fish in a barrel. There was no point in accepting their surrender. As for other rogue demons, it wasn't just a question of whether they had Orsaga's capability to lead an exodus—their erratic and treacherous behavior made it impossible to trust them. They could barely communicate properly, let alone uphold promises.
So attention turned to various Dark Gods. After all, many of them didn't care for life, only faith or riches.
Suddenly, cultists skilled in summoning Dark Gods became hot commodities. Once hunted and forced into hiding, they now became honored guests at the tables of the elite.
Countless sealed tomes of forbidden knowledge were dug up by the ruling classes, who then ordered scholars to study them relentlessly.
Watching all this unfold, Orsaga felt deeply gratified.
"Wonderful."
—Ten years passed—
By now, the structure of nations had largely fallen apart.
Civil wars and territorial splits became commonplace.
Even countries bordering the Elsella Kingdom were plagued with constant reports of demons rampaging and committing atrocities.
Faced with this, the Elsella Kingdom's leadership—though still resentful of Orsaga's exorbitant labor fees—had to admit they were fortunate to have hitched a ride on his rickety wagon. Sure, it was old and cramped, and the driver was more than a bit eccentric, but it was still better than lying down and waiting to die. At least there was some hope.
At this point, because the ruling class still had some control and were forcing stability domestically, the Elsella Kingdom had become the safest nation in the region. If not for the fact that they were gradually closing off from the outside world and only accepting elven residents, this place would've become the primary destination for mass relocation.
———
Sensing that his evolution had completed, Orsaga kicked open his coffin lid and climbed out right in front of Golarial and Alison.
To fulfill the requirements of his clients from the Elsella Kingdom, he had evolved a new innate ability—after all, transporting tens of millions of souls and assorted cargo meant his self-fashioned private space just wasn't going to cut it anymore.
That's where the all-powerful Evolution System came in. As long as he had enough evolution points, it could create whatever absurd ability he needed.
For this upgrade, Orsaga burned through several billion evolution points.
Back when he had first been born, that would've been an astronomical sum. But now? Just a few rounds of soul harvesting would do—snatching a few demigods here and there was more than enough.
Besides, this was a contingency-type ability—better to have it and not need it—so he had no issue with the cost.
---
[Innate Ability – Portable Space]:
Creates a pocket dimension tethered to the host, which scales in size based on the host's strength. Greatly enhances the host's affinity with spatial abilities. The space is highly defensible and hidden, and the host holds absolute control. It blocks most space-interfering prophecy, detection, and curse-based abilities. However, it cannot generate air, energy, light, or matter on its own.
---
At the moment, the space was still expanding, having just been created, and hadn't yet reached full compatibility with his current power. But based on feedback from the ability, he could already estimate the final size.
Roughly equal to a circular space with a diameter of thirty kilometers.
The shape was customizable—even stretching it into noodle form wouldn't matter. The volume was fixed either way.
"That's enough. Souls don't take up much room, and the rest of the junk won't fill that much space anyway."
Nodding in satisfaction, he gently kicked his sliding-lid coffin shut.
This coffin was part of his vampire cosplay, and it was covered with "Fortune" talismans—meant to symbolize his happiness.
Golarial looked at him with a mixture of confusion and disdain. She couldn't understand what he was so smug about but said nonetheless,
"A Archdemon has broken through the barrier and descended into the Material Plane. Several countries have already been annihilated. The Elf King wants to know—are you ready?"
According to her intel, the descending demon's strength had far surpassed the Greater Demon Rank. With just a casual wave of its hand, it had obliterated a functioning defense line, killing over twenty demigods instantly.
Such power was far beyond their ability to resist. And more Greater-Rank demons were likely to follow. The Elsella leadership had thus decided to retreat early to avoid further unnecessary losses.
"In that case, it's time to begin."
Hearing that a Archdemon had already arrived, Orsaga understood the moment had come.
With their help, the establishment of the polluted Zone would accelerate greatly.
Soon, the space corridor connecting to the Lava Wasteland of the Abyss would be opened. And once the Demon Lord formally stepped in, everything would be over.
Receiving his confirmation, Alison nodded and disappeared to report back.
Golarial, meanwhile, gave the coffin an annoyed glance.
Don't misunderstand—she didn't object to Orsaga's sudden interest in cosplay.
It was just… as an elf who cared deeply about aesthetics, she found the decorations on the coffin tacky.
So she walked over to a nearby flowerbed, picked a few blossoms, and arranged them neatly on the coffin—making it look vaguely like a funeral wreath.
———
Over the next six months, the Elsella Kingdom began channeling massive amounts of resources to Orsaga for safekeeping.
Plants, potions, books, ores, basic materials...
His once-vast and empty portable space was now more than halfway full.
Around the same time, ordinary citizens began to hear vague whispers of what was going on. Slowly, word spread that their kingdom had a backup plan.
Excitement surged like wildfire.
Many even pulled out old heirlooms and hidden treasures to contribute.
——Several months later——
In the capital plaza of the Elsella Kingdom.
The Elf King stood in the center of a massive magical formation. Gazing at his nervous subjects, he remained solemn, though he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Turning to Orsaga, he said quietly,
"I hope your method won't fail us."
Orsaga simply smiled and replied casually,
"There's only one path left. Whether you want to take it or not doesn't matter—you have to."
"…True enough."
Knowing he had no other choice, the Elf King raised his scepter high and stepped to the front of the palace. Facing the tens of millions of his people, all staring at him with hope in their eyes, he declared:
"Our World is about to fall. We must seek another path to survival. Under the power of this ritual, we shall abandon our bodies and journey to an unknown world…"
For the sake of public morale, he refrained from revealing the truth about their destination—namely, the Abyss.
Because no matter how you looked at it… that didn't sound like a very good place to go.
____
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