Castorice left the outer regions of the Demiplane and cautiously ventured toward its center, the likely site of the final battle between the Hero and the Demon Lord.
As she approached the center, the ground became increasingly scarred. In addition to the natural cracks in the earth, numerous craters pockmarked the landscape, resembling a land ravaged by artillery fire. The largest crater Castorice encountered measured over twenty meters in diameter and five meters in depth.
When Castorice reached the edge of this massive pit and peered inside, she was startled to see a golden humanoid figure standing at the bottom. Resembling a fully armored soldier, the figure looked up and met her gaze.
Castorice froze, bewildered. This Demiplane was three centuries old—how could anyone still be alive here?
"No, that's not a person at all," Aisha exclaimed in surprise. "It's a... Guardian of Faith!"
Douglas had once used this Divine Magic, which summoned a guardian spirit that would obey the summoner's commands until its divine power was depleted.
The Guardian of Faith summoned by Douglas was crude, consisting of only an upper torso and a hollow suit of armor. In stark contrast, the Guardian of Faith before Castorice was exquisitely detailed, with clear facial expressions and intricate patterns on its armor, making it almost indistinguishable from a living being.
"This is a Guardian of Faith summoned by a priest of the God of Forging," Aisha explained. "They are exceptionally skilled in this type of Divine Magic, creating guardians that are not only more refined and powerful, but also... more enduring."
"Holy Maiden," another companion cautioned, "we don't know the final command this Guardian received. It's best to proceed cautiously and avoid provoking it."
A Divine Magic spell cast three centuries ago, persisting to this day—the very existence of this Guardian of Faith gave Castorice the sensation of a legend materializing into reality.
The scene before her seemed to whisper, "This history is real. It's not some fabricated tale."
Castorice glanced one last time into the depths of the pit, confirming that the Guardian of Faith was the only presence there. She then began circling the pit's edge, keeping a safe distance from the guardian. Since its final command remained unknown, the safest course of action was to maintain as much separation as possible.
As Castorice walked, the Guardian of Faith's gaze remained fixed on her. The moment she passed a certain spot, the guardian suddenly sprang into action.
It transformed into a golden streak of light, teleporting directly in front of Castorice, a longsword radiating the same golden light in its hand. With a resounding clang, it brought the blade down in a heavy overhead strike.
Castorice swiftly raised her scythe, using the haft to block the blow.
The entire sequence unfolded so suddenly that Aisha, standing nearby, barely registered it. One moment, the Holy Maiden had been walking casually; the next, it was as if the scene had glitched like a lagging video game. When Aisha looked again, she saw Castorice defending against the Guardian of Faith's attack.
"Huh?!" Aisha froze, utterly bewildered. In that instant, amidst the clashing of metal, Castorice and the guardian exchanged several more blows.
Or, more accurately, Castorice precisely parried each of the guardian's attacks.
The Guardian of Faith wielded a longsword, but whether it slashed or thrust, Castorice effortlessly deflected each strike with the haft of her scythe.
To Aisha, the Guardian of Faith's speed was astonishing, a blur she could barely track. But for Castorice, with her Demigod physique, it was nothing special. Possessing superior speed and strength, defending against such simple, straightforward slashes was effortless, even for a novice like her.
After parrying several attacks, Castorice swung her scythe in a clumsy, unrefined horizontal slash—a desperate attempt to counterattack. Unsurprisingly, the Guardian of Faith dodged it easily.
Her scythe proficiency was simply too low. The long wind-up and telegraphed movements allowed the Guardian of Faith to anticipate her strike the moment she began to move. Leaping high into the air to evade, the Guardian delivered a downward vertical slash while still airborne.
Castorice had no time to retract her weapon and defend. She was forced to retreat a few steps to avoid the blow. But the instant she moved, the Guardian of Faith's movements froze mid-action, as if someone had pressed the pause button—even its descending slash halted mid-swing.
The Guardian of Faith landed silently on the ground, motionless as before, silently observing Castorice.
So that's how it works, Castorice realized instantly. The Guardian likely operated on a simple command: Prevent passage through this area.
She tentatively extended a small foot forward, taking a step. As expected, the Guardian immediately raised its weapon, ready to strike. But the moment Castorice withdrew her foot, the Guardian paused, slowly lowering its weapon.
In truth, the Guardian of Faith possessed formidable power. Aisha would likely be annihilated in a single blow if forced to fight it. But despite Aisha's apparent abnormality, she was a genuine top-tier Gold-Rank Adventurer.
Yet above Gold lay Legendary, and beyond Legendary still lay the strength of the Seven Heroes from three centuries past. Even a single Divine Magic spell from that era, preserved by the Priest among those heroes, could instantly obliterate Aisha.
The gap in power between Gold-rank adventurers and true Heroes was simply staggering.
Though formidable, the Guardian of Faith was ultimately just a Divine Magic construct, and predictably simple-minded.
Castorice stood at a safe distance, swung her scythe at the Guardian, and... missed again.
Fine, she thought, retracting her earlier assessment. Just because it wouldn't attack her didn't mean it would stand still and take a beating. The thing was as slippery as an eel. After several more attempts, she still couldn't even graze its robes.
This scythe... it's so hard to use...
Castorice took a deep breath, planted the scythe in the ground, and extended her right hand. A dense stream of deep purple "liquid" surged from her palm, coalescing into a slender, serpentine "rope" that coiled toward the Guardian. Evading a scythe strike was one thing, but dodging a sudden splash of liquid was another entirely.
The Guardian of Faith was quickly bound tightly. Only then did Castorice pick up her scythe again, take aim, and deliver a swift, horizontal slash.
CRACK!
This time, the immobilized Guardian had no chance. With a sound like shattering glass, Castorice cleaved it in two.
Instantly, golden light erupted from the shattered remains of the Guardian of Faith, bursting outward in all directions. After a brief moment of stunned silence, Castorice swiftly realized, "This thing... is going to self-destruct?!"
The moment the thought struck her, more dark purple liquid surged from the ground around her feet. Remembering Aisha, Castorice yanked her close. The viscous liquid then formed an inverted bowl-shaped barrier, enveloping them both.
A deafening explosion followed, shaking the ground violently beneath their feet. Yet the purple liquid shield merely rippled slightly.
In truth, this dark purple liquid was the water of the Styx River from the Underworld. Its remarkable plasticity allowed it to be molded like clay into a scythe, a Round Sparrow, or any other form.
Theoretically, Castorice could use the Styx's waters to sculpt a new body, insert a deceased soul into it, and effectively resurrect them. As an Ancient God wielding the Authority of Death, such a feat would pose little difficulty for her.
Furthermore, as the waters of the Styx, they were naturally composed entirely of pure Negative Energy. The Guardian of Faith she had just summoned, on the other hand, was a Divine Magic construct made entirely of pure Positive Energy, and the force of its explosion was a Positive Energy attack.
The opposing energies directly neutralized each other. Since Castorice had deployed a significantly greater volume of Styx water, only minor ripples had resulted. In truth, the Styx water's defensive strength wasn't particularly impressive; it simply happened to be exceptionally well-suited for the current situation.
After waiting a few moments longer, Castorice dispersed the Styx water. When she looked around again, she discovered that the ground in front of her had completely shattered during the explosion, revealing the endless void beneath.
Castorice quickly retreated a few steps, preparing to take a slightly wider detour. At that moment, Aisha, standing beside her, spoke in a dejected tone: "Holy Maiden, am I truly useless? I couldn't help at all in the recent battle."
"Perhaps... perhaps I should lead the way from now on and scout for you! If there are any more traps, at least I'll be the one to die, reducing the chance of you getting hurt!"
Castorice remained silent, at a loss for words.
To be honest, Castorice was stunned by Aisha's sentiment. Surely a life was more precious than a few minor injuries! Yet Aisha would rather die herself than let Castorice get hurt.
Castorice quickly reassured her, "It's alright. Just stay close behind me. I'm strong, and if things get too tough, Pollux is here too. She'll protect me."
At that moment, the Round Sparrow perched on Castorice's shoulder fluttered its tiny wings and chirped a few times. Earlier, during Castorice's battle with the Guardian of Faith, Pollux had conveyed her desire to send her true form to assist, but Castorice had refused.
The Demiplane itself was fragile, teetering on the brink of collapse. If Castorice were to open a rift to the Underworld and let Pollux through, the Demiplane would likely explode before Pollux could even unleash a single breath attack.
While comforting Aisha, Castorice continued toward the center of the Demiplane. After navigating several more pits of varying depths, a shattered skeleton finally came into view.
The bones were covered in a dense network of hairline fractures, like a spiderweb. The ribs on the left side of the ribcage were completely missing, clearly indicating a fatal attack.
Beside the skeleton lay an open backpack, its contents scattered across the ground: potion bottles, a Magic Book, and several scrolls.
Castorice approached the skeleton and slowly crouched down. She picked up a potion bottle and found the liquid inside had thickened into a viscous sludge, likely spoiled after centuries of storage. It was almost certainly unusable.
When she touched the Magic Book and scrolls, they crumbled into dust, victims of time.
Finally, Castorice rummaged through the backpack. Inside, she found only a handful of fist-sized gemstones of various colors, their purpose unknown.
It was clear that this skeleton was most likely the Summoner Wizard, one of the Seven Heroes and the master of this Demiplane, who had perished here during the battle against the Demon Lord.
Yet, apart from the skeleton and the backpack, Castorice carefully examined the surroundings but found nothing else of interest.
If the body of the Wizard, one of the Seven Heroes, lay here, where was his Divine Artifact?
There were only two possibilities: either his companions had retrieved it after his death—after all, a Divine Artifact couldn't simply be left lying around—or it had fallen into the void, lost forever within this Demiplane.
Aisha joined Castorice beside the skeleton, her voice filled with astonishment. "I can still feel the profound shock and despair clinging to this corpse. Even after three centuries, these emotions haven't dissipated? What horrors did he witness before his death?"
This was no ordinary warrior; he was a Hero whose strength far surpassed even Legendary standards. Just how formidable was that Demon Lord to drive such a figure to utter despair?
Finally, Castorice collected the mysterious gems of unknown purpose. She lingered in the Demiplane a little longer, circling the area one last time to ensure nothing had been overlooked, before returning to the spatial rift through which she had entered.
The rift had shrunk to the size of a fist. Castorice slashed at it with her scythe, successfully widening the gap enough to escape back into the cellar.
Looking back at the empty cellar, the swirling blue mist still drifted aimlessly. Castorice couldn't help but wonder: could the bizarre phenomena of Extreme Cold and Divine Concealment be effects of a Wizard Divine Artifact? But the artifact wasn't here. Why were these anomalies occurring so frequently in this cellar?