Chapter 289: Doorstep

"Cinder Ogres," said the Former Emperor. "Their bodies looked like blackened stone, with what appeared to be cracks of red light across their skin.

"Is that correct?"

The Fortress Knight nodded heavily.

He then observed the Former Emperor and felt that he looked familiar.

Enzo’s expression remained unchanged.

"Anything else?"

The Fortress Knight nodded.

"Trolls."

His hand tightened around his sword.

"We also heard something."

"What?"

"A roar."

He looked toward the southern darkness.

"It wasn’t the roar of an ordinary monster."

His expression was filled with genuine fear.

"The entire land shook when it happened."

Enzo’s eyes narrowed.

"Did you see it?"

"No."

The Fortress Knight shook his head.

"We couldn’t."

"Why?"

"Because the moment we heard the roar, every monster around us stopped."

He took another breath.

"Then they all turned toward the same direction."

"And?"

"They bowed."

Silence fell heavily.

"Every monster."

The Fortress Knight slowly lowered his gaze.

"Orcs. Gnolls. Ogres. Trolls. Every creature we could see lowered themselves toward the ground."

Dominic’s eyes sharpened.

"So something was commanding them."

"We don’t know."

The Fortress Knight shook his head.

"But whatever it was..."

He looked toward the Southern Border.

"It was not something we could see from where we stood."

A cold silence settled over the monster hunters.

Then he added,

"After that, we heard another roar."

His voice trembled slightly.

"And that was when we realized something even more frightening."

Enzo waited.

"What?"

The Fortress Knight raised his head.

"We weren’t hallucinating."

He pointed toward the southern horizon.

"We were looking at the world beyond the Authority of Salvation."

The words struck everyone like a hammer.

"The moment we crossed the borderline, the sun and moon disappeared. The darkness wasn’t an illusion. The land beyond the border simply... doesn’t have them."

He clenched his jaw.

"It was like stepping outside the protection of the Empire itself."

No one spoke.

Even Dominic remained silent.

The Fortress Knight continued,

"And that was when we understood why the monsters there were different."

His eyes reflected a mixture of fear and realization.

"They have lived there without the light of the sun or moon for generations."

He slowly shook his head.

"They’ve adapted to that world."

Enzo looked toward the southern horizon.

For the first time since arriving at the frontline, his domineering expression became solemn.

The borderline before them no longer looked like an ordinary boundary between Imperial territory and wilderness.

It felt like the edge of another world.

Enzo fell into deep contemplation.

As the heavy silence ensued, the Former Emperor took the opportunity to speak.

"The Authority of Salvation’s peak power truly extended even to this edge of the territory.

"A millennium has passed. With no Divine Executor appearing for the past hundred years, the Authority of Salvation’s territory has dwindled.

"Eventually, the areas around the monster tribes became places where a Demon Lord could appear.

"But the sun and moon remained where they were.

"Past this border lies another world.

"The mana there is something no human can cultivate.

"It is called Ashen Mana."

The Former Emperor gazed toward the southern horizon, his expression turning solemn.

"Unlike the mana that humans cultivate, Ashen Mana cannot be absorbed and refined by ordinary living beings. It is a fundamentally different form of mana, one that permeates the land beyond the Authority of Salvation’s territory."

He paused before continuing.

"The sky there has no sun or moon. There is no natural cycle of day and night, only an endless expanse of darkness. The land is covered with barren plains, blackened mountains, and forests that have adapted to survive in an environment where ordinary life would struggle to exist."

The Former Emperor deliberately paused before continuing in a heavy tone.

"Yet, that does not mean the world is devoid of life."

His gaze shifted toward the monsters that had caused the vanguards to retreat.

"Quite the opposite. The deeper one ventures into the Ashen Expanse, the more dangerous its inhabitants become. Monsters that would normally struggle to reach higher ranks can undergo evolution after generations of exposure to Ashen Mana. Their bodies adapt, their mana capacity increases, and their instincts become sharper. Some even develop abilities that ordinary monsters of the same species could never possess."

The Former Emperor paused briefly.

"However, Ashen Mana is not the same as demonic mana. The latter is associated with demons and their inherent nature, whereas Ashen Mana is the ambient mana of that world. Demons can survive within it, but they are not its sole inhabitants. Monsters can absorb and adapt to it as well, eventually becoming creatures far stronger than their counterparts within the Empire."

His expression grew heavier.

"Those monster tribes you saw are proof of that. They are not demons, nor have they been corrupted into demonic creatures. They remain monsters, having evolved within an environment that ordinary humans cannot endure."

He looked toward the imagined darkened land beyond the borderline.

"And the monsters near the inner regions of the Ashen Expanse are far more terrifying than those at its outskirts. The tribes we have encountered are merely inhabitants of its outer territories. Deeper within, there are creatures whose strength can rival the calamities recorded in our Imperial archives."

The Former Emperor fell silent for a moment.

"Remember this, Enzo. The Authority of Salvation does not create the world beyond its reach. It merely establishes the boundaries within which humanity can survive. Beyond those boundaries lies a world that has existed independently of the Empire’s protection for millennia."

He slowly turned toward Enzo.

"And we have only just reached its doorstep."

Enzo clenched his fists.

He had not expected this discovery.

If the Former Emperor had already been aware of it, why had he only told them now?

Enzo asked, "So, you mean there are still monsters beyond this border that we must deal with before we even reach the demons’ territory?"

The Former Emperor nodded.

"That’s right.

"However, the monsters beyond this border are something we can deal with.

"At the very least, there is only a single S-rank monster. Like the Ice Dragon, as long as we don’t enter the territory of the wilderness it rules, we can fight against its vassals and eventually enter the demons’ territory.

"Though, of course, we still have to fight against monsters as strong as Demon Lords..."