NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 411: Chapter 411: The World Feeding
"Indeed, based on the scope of this magical disaster, our world has a large appetite; it has likely devoured more than just one layer of the Abyss. The total area of all the Abyssal layers consumed by our world would not be less than that of the Nokia Eur continent."
"That exaggerated?" Muria's mouth twitched twice. Knowing that the area of a dozen layers of the Abyss combined might not equal the size of a subcontinent, it was clear that the appetite of the Erathia world was immense.
"Are similar phenomena occurring on other continents?" Muria asked the ancient dragon.
"I've contacted some old friends and asked around. It seems that only the Nokia Eur continent has experienced this phenomenon."
"I see." Muria fell silent for a moment, then turned to the dragon, who had lived for over nine hundred years. "Have you ever encountered something like this before?"
"I've never even heard of it, let alone experienced it," Bast chuckled wryly, shaking his head. "This is the first time I've encountered such an anomaly. I considered the book 'The Doctrine of World Devouring' to be written by a mage in a state of mental disarray. I never thought that its hypotheses would so accurately describe our current situation."
"It's still too early to draw conclusions; there's no direct evidence that the world is feeding. It could be due to other reasons." Muria looked up at the grey, dimly lit sky that resembled dawn just before the sun rises over the material realm.
Such a strange sky was telling. The world laws of Erathia were eroding and assimilating this layer of the Abyss, or in a more fitting description, "digesting" it.
Muria had come to accept the 'Doctrine of World Devouring' theory. As implausible as it sounded, the facts were clear. This was merely a feeding event for the world, though spaced so far apart in time that even ancient dragons could not recall such an event, only speculate about it.
"What are we, the beings living in it, to the world?" Muria said sarcastically, thinking of the magical disaster that had devastated the entire subcontinent.
"A part of the world," Bast replied.
"If it truly is feeding, it's a good thing for the world itself, but for the creatures living on the Nokia Eur continent, it's an undeserved disaster."
"Prince Muria, the magical disaster is merely widespread; for truly powerful entities and strong beings, surviving is not difficult. It's only the ordinary and weak creatures that truly struggle to live.
To the world, they are the least important beings. No matter how many die, as long as one percent, or even one thousandth, survive, they will repopulate the subcontinent within a millennium. And what is a thousand years to the world?"
"So, for the world, sacrificing something that can be recovered within a millennium in exchange for its own growth is a profitable trade."
Muria stared emotionlessly at the demons roaming the distant wastelands, feeling inexplicably irritable. The world growing by devouring layers of the Abyss was not a matter of right or wrong. If there was anyone to blame, it was merely for being born in this world.
"Let's go back, Lord Bast. I must fulfill my duties as the ruling duke."
...
"Today is another harmonious and beautiful day." At the top of the nearly hundred-meter-high demon hunting stele in the city's center, a young man appeared quite composed as he lay back with his hands under his head, enjoying the beautiful sunset at dusk.
"I'm a bit bored!" Feeling sleepy after not having slain any demons for nearly three days, the young man longed for the group of flame demons that had appeared outside the city he was guarding three days earlier.
"I shouldn't have killed them all; I should have kept a few for fun." The young man muttered, "So boring, why haven't any demons appeared for so long? It shouldn't be like this; according to the Unified Combat Department's mages, this place is a weak point in space where many demons should be breaking through to the Erathia world."
"Yaheng, can you keep it down a bit? Isn't it nice to enjoy a few days of peace without demon attacks?" From the top of a mage's tower less than a kilometer from the demon hunting stele, a bearded mage holding a staff like a club stuck his head out and grumbled.
"Hey, I'm just used to slaying demons. Suddenly being assigned to guard a city has made me uncomfortable. This duty is too leisurely, it feels like my bones are going to rust."
"Leisurely?" The bearded mage spat lightly, "You must be mad from too much demon slaying. There's a demon attack every other day. If I had the money, I'd have moved my mage's tower away long ago.
Who would stay in this battleground?"
"Me, and many in the demon hunting group enjoy places where demons frequently emerge. But still, there are too few demons here compared to when I'm on patrol. Guarding the city these past few days has really lowered my ranking in the demon hunters."
"You're just bored. If you've got nothing else to do, why not scout the city? I just activated a detection array and found traces of several demon cultists while scanning the city. Why don't you go check it out?"
"Demon cultists?" Yaheng's eyes widened, and an aura of menace visibly emanated from him. Without a second word, he pulled out a battle axe forged from high-grade supernatural metal and set off to search the city for demon cultists.
Due to the anomaly suspected of being "the world feeding," an indeterminate number of Abyssal layers had nearly overlapped with the Nokia Eur continent. Not only legendary demons could enter the material world, but even relatively powerful golden-level demons had brought their minions into the material realm to wreak havoc.
This change had attracted the attention of the entire world, especially the mentally disturbed, brutally cruel demon cultists, who were particularly excited. Cultists from other lands now regarded the Nokia Eur continent as holy ground and were desperate to enter.
"A group of terrorists who play with horror and have no respect for life," was how Muria defined the demon cultists. The harm these individuals caused to their own kind was no less than the slaughter committed by demons.
Since Muria had formed the demon hunting group, there had been no fewer than ten incidents of demon cultists performing bloody sacrifices in cities, not to mention the numerous cases of slaughters in villages and towns. That's why Yaheng was so anxious and angry, even though the news hadn't been confirmed. It was enough for Yaheng to approach the city lord and use his authority as a demon hunter to order a city-wide search.
Eventually, in a room filled with the stench of blood, Yaheng found the demon cultist described by the bearded mage...
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