"Tell me more about this place, Nyfarella. You mentioned this place is never empty; why? What is special about this area?"
Leon turned to Dark Fae Clan's leader for answers.
"Yes, my Lord!" Nyfarella nodded.
"While the Nine Great Clans govern the Starfall Dominion, they are not the absolute ruler of this land. The Lord of the Starfall Dominion stands above them all and resides at the bottom of this abyss."
"The demons regularly pay a visit to the abyss to worship the Lord and offer sacrifice in return for the Lord's protection against the other dominions."
"This Lord must be quite powerful then…" Leon rubbed his chin thoughtfully while staring at the abyss.
"I wonder if this Lord has anything to do with that apparition that appeared during the Bone Calamity…"
Swoosh!
Shortly after Leon mentioned that matter, Duna took off on her own as she jumped into the abyss.
"Duna, wait!" Leon called out to her.
As Duna descended into the dark depths of the abyss, Leon followed her, which was followed by Aria, Darlene, and Black Dragon Clan following him.
"M-my Lord, be careful! The abyss is the Lord's sacred ground! Anyone who steps foot in there becomes offering for the Lord!" Nyfarella cried.
However, everyone had left, leaving only the dark faes behind by the edge of the abyss. They hesitated and struggled to make a decision in their hearts.
The horrors of the Lord were deeply ingrained in their memories.
No one had ever seen the Lord's true body—or rather, no one had seen all of it and live to tell the tale.
Even so, the few parts it revealed were grotesque—the likes of which they had never seen before among demons.
Nevertheless, the Lord wasn't a being that anyone could go up against. Still, the dark faes couldn't leave Lord Leon after swearing allegiance to him either.
"Why should we do, clan leader?" Saresha asked.
"There's no other choice," Nyfarella bit her lips and said with determination, "Everyone already left. We can't fall too far behind; we are going down."
Shortly after, the dark faes also flew down into the abyss, albeit nervously.
…
After landing on soft black soil at the bottom of the abyss, Leon's glowing eyes immediately landed on the giant black pyramid-like object sitting in the center.
Nevertheless, the pyramid only revealed a fraction of its entire size on the surface.
"My Lord, please back. I sense a Demon Lord-level existence coming from this ruin," Shadowtail quickly warned Leon to distance himself from the black pyramid.
"Aren't the four of you also Demon Lord-level beings? Are you saying you're not confident in protecting me from whatever is hidden in there?"
Leon cast a glance at Shadowtail, Nightingale, and the other two earth dragons beside them.
"If it's just any Low-rank Demon Lord, we will have no problem protecting you, my Lord. However, the presence lurking within this ruin is giving me an eerie and uneasy feeling," Shadowtail replied while gazing at the black pyramid with a solemn look.
"I am also getting such a feeling from the presence lurking within the ruin, my Lord. I don't think the being lurking inside is simple. We should be careful," Nightingale added.
After listening to them, Leon raised an eyebrow.
Nevertheless, Duna treaded along the soft black soil with her bare feet and calmly approached the black pyramid without fear.
It didn't take before a ghastly voice echoed from the black pyramid.
"Since you've come, don't think about leaving! You shall all become my nourishments!" the being hidden in the black pyramid spoke.
In the next instance, countless fleshly tentacles shot out of the ground to take everyone.
"Oh no! We shouldn't have come here! It was a mistake!" a dark fae cried with a horrified look.
The fleshly tentacles immediately struck fear into the dark faes the moment they appeared. They didn't stop trembling on the spot.
"Be careful, my Lord!" Shadowtail warned.
The earth dragon immediately rushed to intercept a few tentacles aimed at Leon as it swiped at them with its dragon claws.
At the same time, the other three earth dragons covered the others.
Puchi!
The earth dragons ripped apart numerous fleshly tentacles within mere moments.
However, before anyone could relax, the severed tentacles wiggled their way to their other ends and re-attached themselves.
At the same time, multiple tentacles didn't require reattachment; they regrew their severed parts within a few breaths with their powerful regeneration instead.
Upon witnessing that, Leon's eyes immediately flickered.
"This thing reminds me of those fleshly abominations found within the energy conversion towers I destroyed…" Leon muttered with a frown.
"Does that mean there's an energy conversion tower here?"
"But that doesn't seem to be the case… There isn't a hint of artificial spirit energy in this region, and this fleshly abomination also seems much stronger than the ones I've killed…"
While Leon pondered the fleshly abomination's origins, Duna approached the black pyramid without being hindered by the fleshly tentacles.
The Destruction Law surrounding Duna's body reduced all the fleshly tentacles to ashes, and soon, the fleshly abomination yelped in pain.
Its disintegrated fleshly tentacles failed to regenerate themselves as if a great power was hindering its regenerative ability.
"Arghh! This power… the Destruction Law…! It's you! W-why are you here?!" the fleshly abomination cried.
It didn't take long to recognize Duna as the one who slaughtered its minions and destroyed its apparition during the Bone Calamity.
"You said to come and find your true body in the Land of Darkness, so here I am, standing before you. Now how do you want to die?" Duna said coolly.
"Kek, do you think I'm really afraid of you? If you dare, enter the ruin and fight me!" the fleshly abomination goaded.
The corners of Duna's lips rose disdainfully.
She thought the black skull apparition was a real Demon Lord-level evil spirit. But as it turned out, it was only a trapped Half-step Demon Lord, and it wasn't even an evil spirit.
It was a mutated human with some partial devil soul awakening.