Last night in his dream, the Ferryman appeared and spoke.
"Be grateful."
Or something like that.
His tone, as always, was as gloomy and grave as a cloudy winter sky.
It also carried a calm stillness like old dust in an abandoned house, but Enkrid sensed a faint playfulness in those words.
'Strange.'
So the owner of the ferry drifting on the black river could also joke. That's what he'd thought.
But whether that remark was a joke or sincere, whatever it was, Enkrid bowed his head with genuine sincerity.
Respectfully and with reverence, he did so. His chest became level with the ferry and his head lowered.
Slosh.
The ferry swayed gently along the river.
As always, the Ferryman sang of frustration and despair, wishing for Enkrid to give up on life and remain in today, but regardless of what he desired, Enkrid had gained quite a bit thanks to the Ferryman. That was the truth, or so he thought.
Lately, he even felt the Ferryman was actually helping him.
"Yes."
He answered with his head still bowed.
"Don't answer so obediently."
The Ferryman seemed to grimace. Of course, his expression remained blank as usual, but the mental resonance made it feel that way.
"Yes."
He answered again.
"Don't, no. Stop answering."
This time the Ferryman's head visibly moved from side to side. It was slow head-shaking, out of rhythm like a broken clock.
Still, the meaning contained within was clear.
It was a head shake that said he wouldn't exchange any more words of this kind with him.
Enkrid raised his head. He didn't walk along the riverbank like before. Perhaps that's why, even though the ship's rail had transformed to resemble a riverbank, it felt different from walking by the river, yet somehow familiar.
The atmosphere the Ferryman exuded made him feel that way.
At this moment, Enkrid felt a strange peace. It seemed as though he were exchanging pleasantries with the Ferryman, and though the content was separate, the Ferryman's tone was just that. Of course, it was conveyed mentally.
"You don't think what's inside will be easy, do you?"
The Ferryman asked. His lips didn't even twitch as he spoke, which remained fascinating.
His lips were like a gray wasteland. A wasteland so dry and cracked from lack of rain.
"Do I seem to underestimate the Demonic Realm?"
Enkrid answered while listening to the rippling sound of waves behind the ship's rail.
Did it really look that way to the Ferryman's eyes? That he was doing this because he underestimated the Demonic Realm?
"Be grateful you are not answering my question with a question, or I would have sewn your mouth shut."
The Ferryman spoke while mentally conveying something like a light laugh.
This is also a joke, I see.
Staring intently into the Ferryman's eyes that showed only black holes, Enkrid tried to answer faithfully instead of questioning.
It was an answer conveying that while he didn't view the Demonic Realm lightly, he did have expectations about what would emerge from within it.
"Yes."
It was an answer given with his head half-bowed.
"Somehow I feel I'm losing ground the longer this conversation goes."
"I see."
"Don't answer."
"...."
The Ferryman realized anew he couldn't win with words. This bastard had been this way from the start.
"The Demonic Realm is different from this place. Your senses will be different, your instincts, your body's reactions will all be different. Don't expect your five senses and sixth sense to work exactly as they do here."
The Ferryman said what needed to be said. It wouldn't be bad to add a little more 'consideration' to this.
The Ferryman shook the lamp once, then waved his opposite hand and extended it forward. The gesture was peculiar. It was close to showing his palm frontward and making a pushing motion.
As the lamp swayed, the light scattered and disoriented his vision. That palm was like the Ferryman's lips. A gray wasteland, and the lines within it—whether wrinkles or palm lines—were like crevices in a cliff with no visible bottom.
Had his gaze been captured for a moment?
Before he knew it, the Ferryman had approached right before Enkrid's nose.
'When?'
It must be a trick possible because this wasn't reality.
Before the realm of instinct could react, the Ferryman's hand touched Enkrid's chest. And just like that, he pushed him outside the ship's rail. The gesture that began far ahead finished here.
Regardless of his sense of balance or anything else, his body toppled backward on its own. Behind him was the river. Black, endless, and ominous river.
Just before falling, Enkrid hooked his calves on the ship's rail and held on, tensing his abs and lower back.
His body, tempered in reality, influenced even his mind.
His falling body stopped abruptly midway. It looked more like a trick than the Ferryman's gesture.
He curled his toes and tensed from his calves to his thighs, glutes, and abs, holding his back straight like a rigid rod.
Thanks to that, he stopped at a diagonal angle instead of falling completely.
The Ferryman's black eye sockets widened. Was what those large holes showed surprise?
This time his will wasn't conveyed mentally, so he could only guess.
However, violet flames flickered inside the Ferryman's black eyes. Was it annoyance rather than surprise? That could be.
"Holding on?"
The Ferryman said.
"Isn't this about holding on?"
Enkrid shot back.
"Fall."
His gaze was either annoyance or surprise, but a subtle goodwill seeped through his words. Also, Enkrid knew very well that even if he fell into the river here, this was just a dream.
"Hurry."
The Ferryman urged. Enkrid released the tension in his body. As his muscles relaxed, his body fell backward as the Ferryman intended.
Splash.
His body submerged into the black water. Enkrid felt a light shock against his back while sensing the texture of water filling around his body.
Naturally his breath was cut off, but this river water wrapped around his body heavy and solid like molten iron. Such texture couldn't simply be called water.
Even forcing his eyes open, the surroundings were so black he couldn't see anything. Through it, the Ferryman's words reached him.
"Adapt."
There was no thought of asking why he was doing this. How could one question the Ferryman's whims?
Even human whims were meaningless to question, as he knew.
If one looked at the facts alone, this was close to a terrible nightmare.
One couldn't call repeatedly gasping while drowning in water a pleasant dream.
'My breath is cut off, but I don't think I'll die.'
Enkrid calmly swam through the molten iron. Heavy was heavy, but shouldn't he at least try to rise upward? So he endured and endured and struggled.
How much time passed? To his senses, it felt like he'd been flailing for months.
When he barely hooked his fingertips over the ship's rail and climbed up, the air felt awkward. That's how long it felt he'd been flailing in the water.
Separate from his breath being cut off, he wouldn't die, but it was agonizing. The pressure wasn't easy to endure.
While mentally exhausted, the Ferryman's words reached him.
"The air of the Demonic Realm is like that."
Now it was time to part with the Ferryman. His form blurred and scattered like grains of sand.
Just before opening his eyes, Enkrid saw dozens of phantoms flicker across the Ferryman's face.
The scattering, swaying grains of sand drew shapes on their own.
Among them was an angry Ferryman, an indifferent Ferryman, a smiling Ferryman, and even a crying Ferryman.
It also seemed like the Ferryman was split in two, fighting.
Internal conflict? Right after that thought came to mind, he woke. That was last night's events.
And when he crossed the boundary of the Demonic Realm, Enkrid realized what the Ferryman had done yesterday was both practice and training.
Thanks to that, when his five senses twisted and his body reacted heavier than before, he was ready.
Pivoting on his left foot, he spun his body and swung Dawnforge vertically toward the Demonic Realm's sky, striking the incoming lightning bolt. The identity of the rippling lightning bolt was a single arrow.
An arrow with a pitch-black tip, twice as long as a normal arrow.
Clang!
It was an arrow made entirely of metal, not just the tip but the shaft as well.
Wouldn't it be fair to call this a small ballista at this point?
The arrow he struck with Dawnforge deflected sideways and embedded into the ground with a boom.
Not thud, but boom. The ground caved in and dirt shot up as though struck by lightning.
It happened because though he struck the arrow, he couldn't perfectly dissipate its force.
'An arrow imbued with Will or something similar.'
It was a fact he could tell just from deflecting it once.
Everyone in the party flinched. Enkrid's grip tingled and vibrated.
At this level, it was truly no different from blocking a large crossbow's bolt.
Enough to make him worry whether the blade had been damaged.
But he didn't have the leisure to inspect the blade.
There was no reason someone who could shoot such arrows would shoot just one and stop.
"Brace."
Jaxen muttered. Everyone reacted to those words. That was sufficient.
Enkrid steadied his breathing using the method he'd trained through the Ferryman last night, while the rest braced themselves in their own ways.
Lawford hid his body behind a thick tree, and Pel stood behind him.
"What are you doing?"
"You're my meat shield."
"You crazy bastard?"
Leaving their whispering behind, Teresa raised her shield. That shield had its outer surface coated with melted Black Gold, with Manticore hide layered inside. The hide from the Manticore that Audin had killed was used here.
Enduring with strength was possible, but when an arrow stuck like lightning struck the shield, deflecting it would work too.
Half blocking, half deflecting would do.
It wasn't an easy technique, but Teresa also had such skills.
A faint light flowed across Audin's entire body. Not quite Holy Light Armor, but enough to manifest divinity by drawing it up.
Whatever came flying, he'd react and block it. If Holy Light Armor was possible, then a Holy Light Shield was also possible. Just cluster divinity and layer it for blocking.
It was a much easier technique than the Blade of Will that Ragna had shown before. He just needed to cluster it.
Of course, Audin could do this because he normally used clustered divinity often and knew how to use the technique called Holy Light Armor.
Asking Teresa to do the same would be absurd.
Luagarne and Shinar retreated to stand behind Enkrid.
Shinar was a fairy, and fairies were a species that needed the forest's energy. For her, this place was like fighting underwater as a fish.
If they fought in the heart of a forest, the fairy race would display abilities superior to usual, but anyway, there was no forest energy here.
The Demonic Realm was a lethal location for fairies.
Luagarne knew her abilities couldn't block that lightning bolt. Her judgment was quick and her actions natural.
'Behind someone who'll block it.'
That was behind Enkrid. That's why Shinar and Luagarne stood using Enkrid as a shield.
Meanwhile, Rem and Ragna merely glared ahead from where they stood.
Though their five senses were slightly dulled and an unpleasant pressure and foul air filled the place, if they were 'prepared' like now, they could sufficiently react to arrows like the one before.
Everyone's reactions occurred simultaneously, and arrows flew in as if they'd been waiting.
Enkrid's ears caught the fwooong sound overlapping twice from far away.
The arrows targeted the two who were clearly visible.
Rem and Ragna.
What Enkrid perceived, Rem also perceived. His hand moved. Thought Optimization—the axe work that became the foundation for the sword technique Enkrid created called Flash.
He raised the axe diagonally to receive the arrow with the axe blade and push it aside.
To someone unfamiliar, it would just look like swinging the axe with all his might, but the process occurring internally was deflecting axe work.
Ta-tang!
Sparks flew above Rem's axe. Even though he deflected the arrow with near-perfect technique, the force transmitted to his grip was heavy.
It wasn't much different from receiving and deflecting a boulder. The weight was like that.
Ragna showed similar technique to Rem. Naturally, he also knew how to use a flowing sword. He held his greatsword Sunrise perpendicular to the ground like a shield, receiving the arrow's force while deflecting it sideways.
Ta-ang!
The only difference was that while Rem flexibly deflected using his wrist as an axis, Ragna predicted the impact point using the greatsword's surface and spun his entire body.
The noise proved the difference. Sparks flew from both.
The two arrows passed them and flew backward.
Boom! Boom!
The successive explosions let one estimate the force contained in those arrows.
Arrows that dug up earth and shattered giant trees. No different from massive javelins flying in.
"Will, imbued and shot arrows."
Rem said while rotating his axe-wielding wrist. He meant Will was imbued. What Enkrid noticed, Rem couldn't fail to notice.
"So?"
Ragna received those words with an indifferent tone.
"I'm informing you. You insane lazy bastard."
"It's up ahead. I'll take the lead."
"Are you trying to be funny? Shall we all tour the continent together? No, if we start from here, it'd be a Demonic Realm tour. Well, it would be entertaining."
Enkrid also heard the sound and blocked the incoming arrow, so he'd caught the direction.
Right, it was ahead.
Beyond the barrier formed by densely packed trees mixed with deep red and reddish-brown hues.
In other words, arrows had flown through the trees and leaves of what could fairly be called a barrier.