Tahgweiy, Zeira, and I resumed our journey to the north, but now with the Holy Knights of Foielrhyy. Jirania told us that they were sent here to do the opposite of what Zen was trying to do. But needless to say, they've failed and now 20% of my strength is gone. One of my enchanted swords became unusable before I even had a chance to use it, but I managed to fortunately repair the rest of my equipment. Tahgweiy was also weakened because of that attack, but she's still really powerful, so it wasn't that serious. She just got knocked out, and then the knights carried her to their camp to wake her up.

Zeira was still hidden from the knights. She, as a fairy, had quite the convenient things for concealing herself, and hiding away from the human eye. Though, conversation would be difficult now that she can't reveal herself mindlessly.

A few days went by, and we were all still travelling together. Jirania had us go through many forests and places with harsh terrain, as they have agreed to help us get to the Temporal Spatial Pyramids at the north. One of their messengers have been sent out to Foielrhyy, to tell the king the truth of what happened. Despite failing their mission and causing a massive disaster, there won't be any punishments for the Holy Knights for some reason.

On one of our walks inside a forest, Quick found a clearing, so we all went there to stop for a rest.

"Sigh... When's the Blood God even coming? I'm tired of being scared, waiting for them to arrive."

"Don't say that... What if they came back suddenly right now?!"

Clar appeared to talk to me as I was standing behind a tree murmuring to myself. It was an attempt to maintain and regain control over my 12 senses, after they were all instantaneously shut down. I had to heal myself, and my brain from that sudden attack, you know?

"By the way, what are you doing here, Vixen?"

"Clar? It's been a long time since we've last talked to each other like this. How's things going for ya?"

"Fine fine... That Shark-Girl calls you- uhh... Rireith- Lilith, right? How'd you get that name? Vice-captain told me that you were the abstract circle or something... What does all of that mean, haha?"

The Abstract Circle? The Abstract Sphere?

Is she talking about my title as Crynosphere? I'm not sure what it actually means, but Veno told me it meant "Compact Sphere" or "Abstract Circle." Tahgweiy calls me Lilith too, but I don't really know why, I don't even know what that word means. It must have some connections to the Baphomet, or her group.

"Hmmm... The Abstract Sphere is my title. My master told me that I was the most vampire a vampire can be, so he gave me this title, or rather, Tahgweiy did. Well. Want to hear more about it?"

"Eh? That made no sense. Tell me more!"

During the days before Cvvoer was even made, it was said that the Demon Realm also began to fall into damnation. The rise of Cvvoer and the fall of the Demon Realm took place at the same time. It was no coincidence. The "Garden of Eden", situated somewhere at the surface of the Demon Realm, was one of the last places to be destroyed. The main attraction of that place was the Apple of Knowledge, which grew on a tree at the garden. It was known to give one knowledge of all that exists and does not exist. Basically, it was the fruit that gives all the knowledge of everything in the macrocosm.

Tahgweiy passed on this title to me, and said it to Veno before he sent me to his home. Veno, during my training days, explained to me the concept of the Abstract Circle/Sphere, and the Apple of Knowledge. Since the moment I almost gained complete omniscience, I became worthy of this title, as I have nearly achieved the effects of the Abstract Sphere, or the Apple of Knowledge. I became "Crynosphere", as I have become a being that has almost acquired the effects of the Abstract Sphere.

The true meaning of life lies within our flesh, and our souls, so as a consequence of learning it first to combat the Baphomet that time, I became a Vampire.

"Then call my master or something. Tahgweiy probably knows something about it, so you can ask her as well. Phones are common nowadays, right?"

"Bruh... Why can't you just say it?!"

"Too long. ...Also, what did you-"

Suddenly, one of the knights yelled out to us, calling everyone back to the clearing.

I thought people in this world had a language completely different from Earth, but what did she just say earlier? Was that a translation error made by my senses? That slash really did damage my senses, huh? I don't actually know the language they use in Cvvoer, because it has always been translated into English since I was born. There're subtitles near the bottom of [Blood Panel], but it's automatically translated by my eyes, so it's kind of useless for language stuff.

We all went to the knight that yelled out loud. He claimed to have found a secret passage leading into the ground. But it looks like it was just a hole dug for burying a body. There weren't any bodies around though, so we all thought that maybe the body turned into a monster because of the Bloodlust Forest.

Jirania felt something odd however, so he ordered one of the knights to dig further into the hole, and surprise, we discovered an entrance leading deep into some kind of underground facility.

"What's that? Captain?"

"Hey! Let me see!"

"Careful! The ground may loosen. Step back from the hole!"

Quick threw a rope down the hole, but we never heard it hit the floor, even though the rope was really long. Nonetheless, Jirania commanded one of the knights to go down there. After a bit of hesitating, the knight finally went down. He mumbled something not good about his captain before doing that. But it seems like noone wants to go against Jirania. He must be really powerful huh? Not as powerful as me though!

The knight safely reached the bottom and told us to follow in as well. One by one, we managed to set foot on to the unknown labyrinth that we eventually came to know as "Futhol Messy", an underground passageway supposedly leading to a nearby town. Though, I can't seem to sense any nearby Bloodlust asides from everyone's here, so I assume that we're the only creatures in this place right now.

It was a confusing place, the darkness didn't help us either. All we had was torches and light magic spells to navigate through this maze. The structure was old, meaning that this place hasn't been used for a long time. There's also this strange smell, I'm not really sure what it is.

We carefully walked around, checking for traps in case this place was a dungeon. Even after many hours later, we still haven't run into anything dangerous, but we realized that we've lost our way back to the entrance now. Some of the knights panicked, some ran away, and some went mad. Well. It must be because of the Bloodlust Forest, normal humans like them are naturally weak against the effects. They're lucky to still be in one piece up until this moment. I wonder if it's because Jirania isn't taking much of the negative effects, that the knights took him as their leader.

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For 4 days, we wandered the labyrinth with the little food we had. Me and Tahgweiy didn't need it, so of course we were still fine, not sure about the others however.

Using my 12 senses and [Blood Panel] again, I figured that we were in an underground pyramid. I told the others about it right away, but we still didn't know what to do about this information. Wherever we are, we're still inside a mysterious maze. The knights back at the surface have most likely left us, so I guess it's all up to us now. Did the failure of their mission trigger something in them? I can understand why the knights have become so lazy and ineffective, even if they did manage to get to Zen's burial site all fine and okay. I imagine them being unusually paranoid, then one of the worst things happens, causing them to lose morale and motivation.

"Shit..! Where the hell are we?!"

"W-we're inside an underground pyramid, Ley... Perhaps the curse has gotten hold of you too? You can rest, you know? Just ask."

Clar calmed down one of the knights, and the knight then asked for us to stop our movement and rest for a while. We agreed, since there weren't any reason to say no. I'm not really in a hurry to the Temporal Spatial Pyramids and whatever. I suppose this is fine.

"Captain... We've lost 5 men down here... We also lost 10 men when we first met Crynosphere. What shall we do now?"

"Resting will be necessary. This mission's a tough one for you guys, huh? Remember, we were sent to investigate and stop the world-ending threats, such as the Abyssal Magic Release, and the Potential Place of Rebirth for the Blood God. Crynosphere and the Great White will be powerful assets to help us in accomplishing our mission, since they seem to have the same goals in mind."

"But Captain! Why do you trust these guys so much? We've lost most of our men because of Crynosphere... We've only met them for like a few days and you instantly accepted them into the Holy Knights group! Vampires are sinful creatures, same goes for the shark here!"

Yeah. Why does HE trust us so much? I feel a familiar presence around Jirania... But maybe it's just my imagination.

"Eh? What'd I do?"

Tahgweiy asked, with no response.

"We mustn't get so worked up, especially in this place, Pure. You're speaking harshly of Crynosphere and the Great White right in front of their very eyes. You're supposed to be their bodyguard, aren't you? I have a personal reason for it, but it's none that should bother you all."

"Sigh... Fine. But don't expect us to work together after this mission. Should you even do things personally? I doubt the king would like this."

After a while, we were met with a dead end. A giant wall stood before us, leaving only the path behind for us to go back to. It was very much of a nuisance so we just began taking down the walls, never minding the labyrinth that was this pyramid.

A couple of demolishing walls later, we were now at some sort of tomb for the ancients. Though, everyone was kind of confused and demoralized, I realized that the old gods of this place had been dead for centuries, so there wasn't really anything to fear. The scriptures and writings on the walls told us a bit about the story of this place. Coincidentally, this place was also connected to the Garden of Eden back in the Demon Realm, I think. "Sacred Sanctuary of the Cold Roses" was seen a lot, a number of large sharply rectangular rocks were placed everywhere on this huge chamber with that same exact line carved into them.

Despite the rocks being roughly 10 times bigger than us, we saw through a hole in one of them and realized that they were all just coffins for the old dragons. These dragons in particular were big, and I mean BIG. It's a good thing that they're just bones now, but their presence still lingers around in this cemetery.

"What is this place supposed to be anyways? It's creeping me out."

"Ah. I've heard about it before, the ancients were all really powerful, so powerful that they could destroy entire continents if given just a few years. This place is probably a resting place for those guys, made by their slaves and servants."

"How knowledgeable, Quick. As expected of someone with a poor background. You guys always know useless things."

"Hey! Not everyone's as rich as you, Pure. Besides, you guys only know information useful for academics, you ain't know nothing about the real world."

"Huh!? What did you say? Everything I know is important and useful, what do YOU know?!"

I crossed my arms inspecting the big coffin in front of me. I've already seen what's inside of most of the coffins, they're only filled with dragon bones. Old dragons were basically dinos, huh? I can see why they're so big and strong.

The most notable thing in this place for me were the writings that said "Free thyself from the cattywampus world that is handiworked by thee, for art thou divine. Thy answer shall be reckoned in the land of wonders, there lies the tree that bears the fruit of knowledge. Trust the little white bunny, and you will reach it, snake." I didn't really know what it meant, but I guess it must be really important, since it does mention a fruit of knowledge, pretty much like the Apple of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The "Land of Wonders" must be the Demon Realm. But who's the little white bunny and who's the snake? Was this a message for someone else?

Someone else... Snake... Tsuchinoko?

Come to think of it, I've been smelling alcohol and booze this entire time, but where is it even coming from? I can't find anything but rocks and bones in this place, there's not a single trace of alcohol anywhere.

"Sniff sniff. Yo Rireith, the bones smell like alcohol! Wanna bite them down? I've been craving something yummy for a while now..!"

What useful timing. But if this smell is actually coming from these bones, then they must taste something like alcohol if they were liquidized unless the fluid in their bones are actually the alcohol I'm looking for. Since it's something important, I guess I'll have to turn my 12 senses back on, and begin calculations on how to turn them into booze.

Do sharks even munch on bones? Their teeth must be real sharp and hard to be able to grind bones to dust huh? Or is it just Tahgweiy who eats bones?

Anyways, using the same way you'd melt metal and stuff like that won't work, so I guess I'll just have to chop them down to a million pieces and find the liquid, or actually turn them into liquid. Though, turning bones into liquid will be hard, so I'll just cremate them instead, and get their ashes. Luckily, Earth to Water spells exist, since this isn't a science fiction where I overexaggerate things and do some complex explanation on how to liquidize bones.

The [Hyperborean Culinary Technique] is a technique from the hyperborea. I've learned and mastered this in less than a second this by searching through my brain using my 12 senses, and then calculating all my findings with [Blood Panel], thanks to the extensive knowledge Veno put into it. ([Automatic Appraisal] naturally has all of the information it'll need for appraising and finding things out. It's basically a quantum computer in the shape of goggles. It can be manipulated and used in many ways too mainly because of the [Automatic Appraisal] thing.) Tahgweiy carried all the bones I needed in front of me, then using this technique, I casted a fire from my hands, the fire was strong it couldn't be seen by the naked eye, but thanks to [Blood Panel], I could see that the fire was black. The black fire melted the bones, leaving them nothing but pure liquid.

To explain: the [Hyperborean Culinary Technique] is a technique used by the hyperboreans mainly for cooking their food out in their unusual environment, which is the northern regions. The hyperboreans are people who lives around the Temporal Spatial Pyramids, so they're always dealing with foreigners who came for the pyramids. They're kind of like the guardians, but they don't really care about the pyramids. They just live there. The dragons were the most common creatures to come to their land, and naturally, a war between them started. The [Hyperborean Culinary Technique] is the most effective technique for cooking and eating dragons, but in this case, I'm going to be drinking them, so I'll have to turn up the heat, or it'll only become food.

It was pretty easy to get all of the bone juice into a bowl, and drink them like soup. I shared some with Tahgweiy, and then some with Clar, but it appears that the alcohol was too strong.

I was right though, these bones had alcohol. Were these reserved for her? Or is this place just Tsuchinoko's restaurant..? Some tsuchinokos like alcohol don't they? I didn't just start a war with her, right..? Uh-oh, I think it's better to leave now. I'll take some of the dragon bone soup. But what does Tsuchinoko have to do with the Apple of Knowledge and the Garden of Eden? It's better if she's- Oh... If she's already arrived at the garden... And she sees that there's no apple...

The title of the Abstract Sphere has been given to me since I've gained near omniscience. If someone's already taken the apple, then that'd leave me as the only Apple of Knowledge, the Abstract Sphere, Crynosphere.

She must be searching for me right now. I must leave..! No way I'd stand a chance against one of the Pillars of Creation. I only managed to keep Cricket Cricket away, but next time we meet, I surely won't be in one piece..!