#1313 Junior’s Adventure – Immortal Teacher and Student 

We’re in the middle of an all-out death match right now. 

The one who challenged us is none other than former Heavenly One Belphgamilia. 
Thanks to his spatial manipulation ability, he’s absolutely overwhelming as an opponent. 

Belphgamilia creates a subspace and unleashes fire, ice, raging storms, earthquakes, and even rain made of blood inside it. He freely rewrites the laws of physics in there just to toy with any intruder before killing them. 

Both Prince Goetia and I are barely hanging on. 

I try to cancel his spatial magic using my Hand of Ultimacy, but his domination over the space is stronger that I can’t do much. 
Inside the subspace he created, Belphgamilia can do everything I can… across the entire space. 

That means the rest comes down to whose control is stronger. 
And there’s no way a greenhorn like me can beat a man who’s crossed countless battlefields undefeated and served as both one of the Heavenly Four and later as Commander of the Demon King’s Army. 

So yes, we’re at a constant disadvantage. 

“This is incredible! You even endured my Golden Radiance Formation! I honestly thought you’d retire halfway through!” 

Belphgamilia says this with the same relaxed smile as always. 

Well, Prince Goetia is basically half-retired already. 
He’s buried over there in a mixture of sand, ice, and lava, twitching. 

Anyway, Belphgamilia is overwhelming. 

The moment he starts manipulating the space itself, all I can do is respond. I haven’t counterattacked once. 
I can’t even get close enough to touch or aim at him, really. 

“Still, it’s impressive you’ve lasted this long inside my Ten Great Formations. Normally, people get sealed out or erased at the very first one. Your survival ability truly impresses me. A bright future awaits you two as future rulers.” 

He says this with overflowing confidence. 

“And now you’ve broken through the ninth formation, so only the last one, the Soulfall Formation, remains. Quite troublesome, as this is supposed to be my trump card. But since we’ve made it this far, I can’t back out without showing it.” 

No, you can back out. 
Please, back out everything except your sneezes, I beg you. 

“The last of the Ten Great Formations, the Soulfall Formation, is notoriously brutal. It’s an alternate dimension that wipes out the very soul of whoever enters it. As for anyone who’s come back alive after being swallowed by it… no one comes to mind.” 

That’s a straight-up dead or alive situation! 
This is not the kind of thing you bring out for a trial! Please get a grip, Belphgamilia!!! 

“Well then, here we go, Starfall Autumn Gale at Wuzhang Plains…” 
“Condemn the child.” 
“GYAAAAAAAH!” 

What the-?! 
Something just came flying from behind Belphgamilia and drop-kicked him?! 

One look is enough to tell it’s not human. 
Its face and skin are smooth, but its texture looks lifeless, like marble or plaster. 

No one with that texture could be alive. 
The face is refined, almost like a beautiful young boy, but the aura around him is far too heavy. 
Like someone carrying centuries of experience, an ancient sage. 

This strange existence… could it be…? 

“Ow ow ow ow… ah, Master, you’re back.” 
“Foolish disciple. Sloth unmatched, as always.” 

No way, that’s...! 
Sage the Lifeless King, said to be as strong as Sensei himself?! 

“If a man has not been seen for three days, gaze upon him with fresh eyes.” 
“Junior, long time no see, you’ve grown… is what he says.” 

Huh?! 
Oh, right, we have met before! When Dad brought me up Mt. Eternity! 

...I’m sorry! I honestly don’t remember! 

“Master’s been zipping around everywhere lately, leaving me to play house-sitter. But ever since the Primordial Geyser Dragon sealed in this mountain is already released, there’s no real reason for me to stay here.” 
“A guest should work.” 

Thanks to the Master barging in, the subspace collapses and the mountaintop returns to normal. 
Either Belphgamilia dismissed it himself, or the Master forcibly canceled it. 

Either way, Prince Goetia is lying on the ground twitching. 

“U-Uh… We’re sorry for intruding…?” 

For now, I should show proper respect to Mt. Eternity’s true guardian. 

“No need. The mountain belongs to all. Anyone who respects it may knock on its gates.” 

Oh, he’s talking normally now. 

“Mt. Eternity changed its role at some point. It used to be the place that sealed a world-ending beast, but now it’s a place anyone can visit and relax...” says Belphgamilia. 

Relax…? 
For real…? 

“But the place is too sacred, so its main use ended up being a hardcore training ground. You saw it on your way up, didn’t you?” 

Yes. 
The place where Golden Bat was completely fired up. 

“That’s a shared facility. When the Adventurer’s Guild isn’t using it, the Demon King’s Army does. The Master welcomes the mountain being lively, so he keeps it open. The problem is, when he’s away, I’m the one stuck managing it. And I’m lazy, so it’s a nuisance.” 

Please don’t be lazy. Work. 

“You noticed the Stone Sentinel Maze on your way up, right? Those weren’t the Master’s. They were mine. He leaves all the mountain management to me whenever he’s out. Well, it’s simple work, so I can run it while sleeping.” 
“Then wake up and do it.” 
 

The Master delivers a sharp jab. 

“He also uses normal speech now to communicate smoothly with visitors. Sensei and the Professor told him his old way of speaking was too hard to understand.” 
“…” 
“Anyway, Prince Goetia, how was it?” 

The prince suddenly has the spotlight. 
Sorry, but he hasn’t recovered his HP yet. 

Let me heal you. 
Qi infusion, HAAAAAAAH! 

“FUGYAGH?! Huh? The flames? The meteors? The lightning, the fissures, the blood rain?!” 
“All already over.” 

While you were unconscious. 
You’d been out since around the halfway mark. 

“Well, Prince? After experiencing my Ten Great Formations, did you come to understand your own talents?” 
“U-Uh…!” 

Prince Goetia avoids Belphgamilia’s direct gaze, uncomfortable. 

“In a crisis, one’s true worth is laid bare. Did being toyed with by the Ten Great Formations prove you’re fit to become the Demon King?” 
“Um, well, that is…!” 

The prince averts his eyes, lacking confidence. 
Well, he was unconscious for half of it. 

“I know you know that you’ve been striving since childhood to succeed Zedan. But why panic now?” 

Yeah. 
Prince Goetia has clearly been in a rush. 

During our climb, he kept hurrying me along, 
It’s as if something were chasing him. 

“Youth ages swiftly; learning comes slowly. Time flies like an arrow.” 
“That’s not what we’re talking about, Master. Quiet, please.” 

A rare moment where the Master ruins the conversation flow. 

“Prince, you’re afraid. You feel you might not become the Demon King. So you’re desperate for a turnaround. Inviting me back to the Demon King’s Army is part of that, isn’t it?” 

I just experienced Belphgamilia’s strength myself. 

He truly deserves the title of humanity’s strongest. 
But it’s not just his spatial manipulation. In that fight, I realized something terrifying. 

Belphgamilia himself never moved. 

Which means the spatial magic was just a warm-up. He hasn’t revealed his real strength at all. 
Even if we overcame the spatial control, Belphgamilia still has plenty of cards left. 

A chill runs down my spine just thinking about it. 

“Prince, I may look like a lazy man who sleeps all day, but don’t underestimate me. A hermit knows everything below the heavens even while napping in a remote land. I know who it is you fear most.” 

Saying he sees through everything, Belphgamilia turns to Goetia with certainty. 

And so, from his lips, the truth of Prince Goetia is about to be revealed.