The Distinguished Mr. Rose Chapter 132: Chapter 131: In the Hall of the Demon King

Read chapter 132 of The Distinguished Mr. Rose by QuiteTheSlacker on NovelPedia.

Chapter 131: In the Hall of the Demon King Contrary to the bizarre scenery outside, the interior of the mountain was draped in a foreboding grey dullness, its walls of dark stone and cavernous ceiling shifting constantly in size as Lucius’s party traversed on ground of solid rock. It was damp, dreary, and abysmal. Merely existing in this place caused one’s mood to dour and their minds to become lost in labyrinthine twists and corners, always climbing or descending, always confusing the senses in a manner that made the passing of time ambiguous — only a few minutes could’ve passed, or perhaps an hour. Days. They didn’t know. Even at this moment their otherworldly allies were fighting tooth and nail against the demonic forces, yet in this maddening space it was possible the battle had already long been concluded. The mountain was similar to the tutorial’s maze, but also different. Those oozing red bricks and gelatinous veins of meat ever so long before invoked in the viewer a sense of helplessness and complete dread. It broke its victims down and corrupted their brittle hearts, whispered for them to go mad and to succumb to the dungeon, to become one with it. Whilst the tutorial maze lured others into its clutches, the mountain seemed to, at its core, reject people. It guarded its inner region with tunnels that stretched and looped impossibly wide. Never was any area quite the same. They were all of different scales, some no bigger than a cramped burrow whilst others opened up to reveal a large chamber fit for a subterranean city. In time the party came to realize that, with the physical dimensions of the mountain itself, such sights should be impossible. Lucius’s own mental mapping only further supported their revelation. All of this could only be due to the twisted influence of the Demon King, the mountain’s master warping all that which entered its murky lair. But even so, no danger came to them. It was very odd considering this was where the demons were supposedly born. Lucius’s party had expected to rush into an ambush or be besieged by countless giggling swarms ready to tear them apart, yet all that surrounded them was an uneasy silence and the occasional echo of a far away voice, someone in whose cries a depressing story could be felt. Such untold grief was contained in those sobs, and whenever it fluttered their way the party could only lower their heads and grieve. It felt as if the voice was begging for someone, anyone, to take away the pain in its warbled throat; but in the end no one could come, no one could save them. It was left alone to weep, forever miserable. Miss Mili gripped her guitar, hesitant, for a sudden realization came to her. “Do you guys think that’s…?” In reply, Miss Rhodes spoke with a heavy heart. “I think yer right, darlin’. Honestly I figured that Demon King fella would be some big, scary monster, kinda like those other weird critters. But this is… it’s too sad. It’s too real, too painful, to be a fake.” The others had come to the same conclusion, with Marco particularly affected, for when he heard that distant lament he could only think of his boys and girls who once gave him the joys of being a father figure. “I didn’t think much of it, when this system or whatever nonsense put up a hit. But now I just feel angry. It’s like we’re not gettin’ the full picture, ya know? Not being told everything there is to know. If I go up there it’s some defenseless little child that has to be killed, I dunno if I can go through with it.” The old mobster’s memory of little Mari, who sadly was a victim of the system’s game back in the tutorial, flashed through his mind. Even now he couldn’t forgive himself for being unable to save her, that child who was just afraid, terrified by what she couldn’t understand. Perhaps the Demon King was not so dissimilar, but speculations were exactly that: a possibility still yet unfounded. Mister Hemingway announced this fact loudly to the party. “We could come up with what if’