Chapter 82 : The Interstitial Space Between Two Layers of the World
Damp and cold. Deathly silent.
Walking within the underground drainage system, a faint glow flickered in Sylvia’s eyes, the irises showing a slight difference in hue between left and right.
This place lay deep underground, and with the constant flowing water, it had not completely frozen over.
When the soles of her leather boots touched the moist ground, they produced a sticky sound that made Sylvia frown from time to time.
Occasionally, the rustling noises intertwined with the sound of dripping water, adding a trace of horror to the scene.
In her homeland, she had been afraid of the dark.
She had always felt as if countless eyes were watching her from within the darkness, waiting to drag her into the boundless depths when she let down her guard.
But that was then, and this was now.
All fear stemmed from inadequate firepower.
No—it should be called not being strong enough.
Now, she instead wished there truly were monsters in the dark watching her, if only to bring her a bit of amusement.
At that thought, her gaze toward the darkness ahead gradually softened.
"Any discoveries?"
No one knew how long she had been walking before she suddenly asked this question.
"I am very sorry, my master. I have not discovered anything. In my eyes, there is nothing abnormal here."
Lakdevo’s voice carried a trace of dejection, but Sylvia merely shook her head slowly.
"Let’s walk a bit further. If there is still nothing, then today’s investigation ends here."
As soon as she finished speaking, her head rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, her eyes locking directly onto the space behind her.
"Ga!"
The sudden movement startled Lakdevo.
But in the next instant, he understood the reason behind Sylvia’s action—
Behind them, the space seemed to ripple gently.
And from those ripples, an unknown spiritual fluctuation slowly began to emerge.
Seeing this, Sylvia narrowed her eyes and softly uttered a single word:
"Border demon."
"It does appear so."
Lakdevo tilted his head, his voice filled with agreement as his crimson eyeball was tinged with a deep purple.
Sylvia did the same, only she kept her head in that unnatural posture while letting her body slowly rotate back to face front.
At this moment, compared to the silhouette of the border demon gradually taking shape behind them, this puppet girl’s manner seemed even more sinister and terrifying.
Just then, Sylvia indulged her little impulse to play around—her feet, hidden beneath the darkness and her cloak, were adjusting her body’s direction with tiny, delicate steps.
But when her body finally faced forward again, her gaze turned blank for an instant.
Hm? What was this?
She reached up to steady her head, only to discover that the place where it connected to her neck had grown exceedingly loose.
With the slightest pressure, her entire head detached, just like that.
"……"
Not good—she might have taken things too far this time.
"You are…?"
At this moment, Lakdevo stared at the top of Sylvia’s head, his voice colored by confusion and the faintest trace of suppressed laughter.
"……"
Her fingers twitched slightly as she tilted the head cradled in her hands to look up at him.
Sensing the exceedingly rare, icy gaze from his master, Lakdevo shivered and fell instantly silent.
"This body is still somewhat inconvenient."
She offered this explanation in an indifferent tone.
Hearing it, Lakdevo hurriedly voiced his agreement:
"Yes, Master."
Seeing this, Sylvia finally nodded in satisfaction, using her fingertip to tap her head.
Then she lifted her left hand to hold her head while her right hand reached up to feel the ball joint connecting head and torso.
In the next second, she realized that the surface of the joint—no longer a fully intact sphere—had already become somewhat damaged.
This was a special design made by Lady Camonel. To preserve the puppet-like texture while also emphasizing realism, the joints had been specially treated to prevent too many inhuman movements.
Adela had complained about this issue for quite some time.
In her view, her grandmother’s idea was simply incomprehensible.
At the time, Sylvia had neither agreed nor disagreed, but now she wholeheartedly sided with Adela.
Although just before rotating she had felt a hint of stiffness and obstruction, she had chosen to trust herself and give it a go—"use enough force and miracles will happen"—only to turn what should have been a terrifying scene into a comedic spectacle.
Of course, one had to know the truth behind it; to an ordinary observer, such a transformation would only appear even more horrifying.
Still, even as this occurred, she felt no panic. Never mind that there was a puppeteer at home who could provide repairs at any time, this body, infused with large quantities of spiritual materials, also possessed a self-repairing ability that would allow the entire "joint" to regrow on its own.
Naturally, that would take a bit of time.
While she was addressing her little mishap, the body of the border demon before her gradually came fully into view.
It was a border demon shaped like a rat, but its size was enormous, nearly that of a grown bull.
Yet the spiritual fluctuations emanating from it were identical to a normal border demon’s, without any of that pitch-black aura rising from its form.
Hm… She wondered whether the one from that day had been an exception, or whether this one before her was the anomaly.
Just as she decided to wait for it to fully manifest before harvesting it, her expression abruptly changed.
Because right in front of her, the space seemed to form a faint fold.
In the area where the Material Realm and the Manifest Realm had briefly overlapped due to spiritual activity, a third space was appearing!
That was not the Spiritual Realm!
In that instant, black miasma crawled forth from within it, surging at high speed into the body of the border demon.
At the same time, a wisp of aura—at once eerie and sacred—spread outward along with that strand of blackness.
Seeing this, Lakdevo reacted immediately.
In his crimson eyes, the silhouette of the border demon was reflected.
The next moment, before it had even truly stepped into reality, the border demon met its death.
Sylvia, meanwhile, set her head upon one hand, and with her now free right hand, let starlight bloom across her palm as she reached toward that interstitial space which had appeared with the overlapping of the two realms.
Yet halfway there, she froze her hand in place.
Because at that moment, she recalled her earlier speculation about the origin of the anomaly in the sewers—and in the next breath, she formed a new suspicion about the nature of this interstitial space:
Could it be that beyond it lay the Divinity Realm?
It was not impossible!
At that thought, she withdrew her arm, her gaze solemn as she stared at the gradually vanishing interstitial space and the space fold that was slowly smoothing itself out.
Just then, Lakdevo’s expression was equally grave.
"Praise be to your prudence, my master."
"That you chose not to rashly touch that layer of space was the wisest decision."
"Of course, you would never fear whatever might dwell within it—but it would increase the risk of exposing yourself to the gaze of the gods."
Sylvia now cradled her head in both hands, her tone calm as she asked:
"What did you sense?"
Lakdevo fell silent for a moment before replying in an exceedingly peculiar voice:
"I cannot say clearly, because I myself do not know what it truly means."
"But that wisp of aura leaking out of the interstitial space felt almost identical to the God of Death’s kingdom."
"Only, it was distinctly much weaker."
"……"
Sylvia did not speak. She simply watched the border demon rot away swiftly into nothingness, and saw a heart-shaped crimson object drop to the ground.
"Let’s go."
With a sigh, she gave her command.