A Sorcerer's Journey 365 The World Gate VII

The void tunnel.
The void tunnel that was formed from the energy of weakened void shadows was like an underground tunnel that had connected two burrow spaces in the Burrow World.
It was a tunnel in space that passed through the boundaries of space-time, where its outer part was the shadows of the infinite material world. An endless void within the void tunnel connected the Burrow World and the Infernal Spirit World.
While being covered by the black flames from Dark Destroyer, Grimm would have already been dead if it was not for the Dark Realm's protection, Mandala Robes, Ivory Armor, and his own Wild Instinct scales.
The majesty of the World Lord was indeed inviolable!
With a "boom", Grimm suddenly felt something solid and hard under his extremely weakened body. He forcefully turned his head around and under his mask, he exclaimed in disbelief, "Thousand-eyed Carcinus?!"
The Thousand-eyed Carcinus did not immediately leave the void tunnel of the world gate that was formed in the Infernal Spirit World. It was waiting and loitering around the void tunnel.
A reason for this was because of Black Isotta requesting the Thousand-eyed Carcinus to protect Grimm.
Another reason was due to it being touched by Grimm's desperate attempts to instruct the Thousand-eyed Carcinus to leave the Infernal Spirit World, and it was moved by the act of care. Hence, it chose to stay and roam around the void tunnel.
Thousands of soul slaves that came along had died in the Infernal Spirit World and although some of them were much more powerful than it, it was the only one to survive.
It was as if the Thousand-eyed Carcinus was awaiting for the last miracle to take place.
At last…
The Thousand-eyed Carcinus was in disbelief and shouted, "Master Grimm!"
The last remaining giant claw of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus helped Grimm to stand on its back. Grimm held onto his Sabbatic Goat Staff and stood up forcefully. With dark flames still all over his body, the eyes under his mask seemed to be exhausted and gloomy.
Grimm urged as he caught his breath: "Hurry! Let's get out of here!"
"Yes, Master Grimm!"
The Thousand-eyed Carcinus did not hesitate and jumped at full speed toward the world gate of the Burrow World.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, the void tunnel seemed to vibrate in a peculiar way.
Shocked by the noise, Grimm and the Thousand-eyed Carcinus turned around to look.
The World Gate from the Infernal Spirit World that was a few hundred meters behind was now occupied by black flames that were filled with the energy breath of negative emotions.
Owing to its massive size, the black flames seemed to be stuck between the world gate, restricted by the laws of space.
The black flames formed a gigantic hand tens of meters wide and hundreds of meters long. Along with an oppressive aura of the World Lord, the gargantuan hand combed Grimm and the Thousand-eyed Carnicus.
"Run!"
Grimm who was standing behind the back of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus raised his head and looked toward the gigantic hand with his pale eyes beneath his mask. He then quickly urged the Thousand-eyed Carcinus to move.

"Got it, Master Grimm!"
Grimm felt extreme hopelessness but noticed that the Thousand-eyed Carcinus below him had become blurry and its speed had greatly increased in this tunnel that was restricted by the rules of space.
Boom!
Many hairy moments later, Grimm and the Thousand-eyed Carcinus had eventually avoided the attacks from the gigantic hand of the Infernal God. Black flames had spread all around the tunnel area.
Voom…
As the flames spread around, it caused a disruption in the laws of the void tunnel thus causing a violent shaking.
"Owww!!!!!"
Grimm suddenly let out a painful groan as pressure from the surrounding space crushed upon him. There seemed to be an unstable variance in the tunnel's space, where some parts expanded outwards while some contracted inwards.
These variances in space rules had caused great pressure to crush Grimm, who was a natural lifeform that had source of magical power.
As for the Thousand-eyed Carcinus, it seemed to be unaffected by the varying pressure and was still crawling at full speed along the void tunnel.
The Thousand-eyed Carnicus was so frightened of the World Lord in pursuit that it forced its eight legs to move the fastest it could. Even the shadows of the legs melted into a blur.
On the other hand.
Still stuck in between the World Gate and the Infernal Spirit World, the Infernal God also let out a painful groan. It retracted its gigantic hand at light-speed and cast a mild soul energy spell in an attempt to calm the void tunnel.
A growl that in sorcerer's language was heard from the Infernal God that was behind Grimm.
"I have already identified your soul, you cunning, treacherous, ugly human! You can't run away... you never will!!! Even if I have to spend thousands or even tens of thousands of years in the Burrow World, I will find the aperture that that connects the Sorcerer World and I will invade it! I will slaughter you and all the filthy humans of your kind, and seal your soul in the stomach of a pig. I'll watch you enjoy all the torture!"
The Infernal God growled in wrath and insanity with every single word filled with never-ending insatiable and irrevocable hatred toward Grimm.
Although Grimm was on the verge of a breakdown as he tried his hardest to bear the pain, he laughed as he heard the arrogant and conceited claims of the Infernal God.
It was then when Grimm demonstrated the true determination of a great sorcerer!
He stood up slowly as he ignored the flames engulfing him. Suppressing every cowardly thought that he had in mind, he let out an evil sneer.
"Hehe, invade the Sorcerer World? Seal my soul? You foolish creature from a foreign world! You overestimate yourself! Just like previous times, you have no idea what a sorcerer is capable of. The more foolish you are, the more arrogant you will be! The Infernal God? Hehe, you are nothing but a giant Acraepoid in the eyes of a great sorcerer."
Grimm continued to mock the Infernal God, displaying no fear of the threats posed by the formidable World Lord. He even planned to trigger the wrath of this creature.
"Roar!"
It had been years since the Infernal God had reached such a level of anger as it was used to receiving reverence and respect from all of the Acraepoids as well as the hatred and fear from the creatures of the foreign world that ran away from it. A place where its command would have to be obeyed by all.
But now, an abhorrent human from the Sorcerers World had insulted it as a foolish creature from a foreign world!
To make matters worse, it was unable to capture, torture, and shut his ugly mouth to make him repent for his foolish act of offending the great Infernal God.
The endless amount of hatred had stopped the Infernal God from continuing the meaningless quarrels with the tiny worm.
The only thing it focused now was expanding the void tunnel between the World Gate so that it can enter the other end to capture the tiny worm that was escaping and enjoy torturing him.
From past experiences passing through void tunnels, it would usually take over 10 days to expand the World Gate of both sides.
For the great World Lord, it would merely take a blink of an eye. Owing to this, there would always be a countless amount of Acraepoid Warriors, Acraepoid Commanders and Noble Acraepoids to first enter into the World Gate and invade the foreign world, expanding it with fresh new souls.
For now, the Infernal God could not wait the tendays needed to get past the tunnel.
The Infernal God would wish to grab hold onto the abhorrent face of the human and express all of his anger and hatred towards him.
He would carefully torture him but not let him die so he could indulge in his own anger.
With continuous effort of the Infernal God, the World Gate slowly expanded along with its growling.
"You can't run away! You can't run away! You can't run away…"
The Infernal God continued growling but it was ignored by Grimm.
As the Thousand-eyed Carcinus dashed forward along the void tunnel, Grimm's body greatly weakened, even weaker than before the quarrel with the Infernal God.
"Thousand-eyed Carcinus, how long more before we could return to the World Gate of the Burrow World?"
The Thousand-eyed Carcinus gasped for air as it had consumed large amounts of energy from the dashing. It replied, "It would roughly take another eighth of an hourglass."
"Hmm."
Grimm nodded as he sat on the back of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus. Without caring much for his wellbeing, he continued trying hard to gather as much magical power as he could to defend himself against the invasive black flames.
Time continued to pass at a snail's pace, as if an endless mechanical clock ticked in synchrony with Grimm's pounding heartbeat.
Slowly, he started to pick up feelings of warmth, inclusion, and intimacy.
It was the breath of the Principal Will of the Sorcerers World!
Judging by the regular fluctuations, they were already near the Gate of the Burrow World although the sorcerer's barrier was still unable to be opened. This also meant that the mission of the Rank-1 Honor Badge was coming to an end.
The low chances of survivability of the mission had undoubtedly increased the level of difficulty for the entire demon-hunting expedition!
Not all low-level creatures possessed the courage to face the immensely intimidating World Lord, what more, a Rank-1 Sorcerer trying to complete a Rank-1 Honor Badge mission.
It was indeed highly unachievable.
As the Burrow World gate crept closer, Grimm gradually relaxed a little more. The Thousand-eyed Carcinus was also relieved from the epic run it made before this, considerably slowing down its pace.

Chapter end