Sherlock Holmes

In such a vast white world, a human being is constantly tracking the demonic tide composed of tens of thousands of demons.

Like an extremely patient stalker stalking its prey.

In fact, this metaphor is very inaccurate, because in nature, it is impossible to hunt for such a long time and such a long distance, and the tens of thousands of huge demon tides do not look like prey, but the wind The lonely figure in the snow is like a death-seeking lamb that is gradually pushing itself towards the wolves.

Sherlock has entered the Antarctic continent so deep that the human expedition force cannot keep up with him. In fact, throughout history, this is an area that few humans have set foot on. It seems that except for that year, An arrogant warrior who was arrogant on the battlefield, single-handedly brought his contracted demon to such a desperate situation, and rushed into the gate of hell without hesitation. There is no record of the depths of this continent anymore. .

However, in the near future, humans will eventually enter this area and build military bases here one after another. The expeditionary force will continue to penetrate deeper until the mighty army reaches the gate of hell and slaughter all the demons along the way. All.

But that should be a story that will happen a long, long time later.

There is no time here. In the first week after this hunt started, Sherlock's pocket watch broke. The low temperature cruelly took away the life of the slender hands, making them motionless and turned into a useless and cold Iron knot.

The next week, Sherlock wanted to record the time, so he began to observe the changes in the stars in the sky, but found that those stars were more changeable than women's thoughts. Some of the stars used by humans to determine their orientation actually changed as they went deeper. The distance from the Antarctic continent has also produced significant position changes. In desperation, Sherlock wanted to record time by the frequency of hunger, the number of sleeps, and even the number of seconds, but finally gave up.

Because he found that time seemed to have lost its meaning in this case.

Above the sky, the ever-changing aurora exudes bizarre colors, like some kind of ribbon in ancient mythology, mixing the entire stars into a mess.

How long has it been?

A month?

Two months?

Or longer?

Along the way, he encountered eight large and small groups of demons that suddenly appeared. Fortunately, he was able to avoid them all in time. There were countless encounters with small-scale demons. Among them, the first-level and second-level encounters were all regarded as... Sherlock had the opportunity to replenish his rations, and from his encounter with the third-level demon, Sherlock had discovered a long time ago that it was unnecessary and he should try his best to avoid contact, because the flesh of the third-level demon was really hard to chew.

During this period of time, he also discovered a phenomenon that he didn't know whether it was good or bad, that is, as the depth continued, the density of demons should be getting higher and higher, but along the way, he discovered His encounters with demons were not that frequent. During the subsequent trace investigation, Sherlock discovered

The demons along the way seemed to have all merged into the demonic tide heading south.

This phenomenon is very strange, as if a huge magnet passes through a pile of junk, taking away all the iron products in its path.

This can indeed reduce Sherlock's risk in tracking the journey.

But that magnet absorbed all the nails and blades along the way, and it has probably turned into a huge iron ball now. It will be increasingly difficult to rush into it and capture Nightingale.

The most important thing is, why do these demons merge into the demonic tide? Are the demons really attracted to Miss Nightingale?

In his thoughts, he seemed to think of the time in London a long time ago, about the Ripper case, and the contracted demon summoned by Nightingale.

So, what is so special about this girl?

In the historical legends before the Holy Calendar, a human being embarked on a distant journey in order to find the truth. During this period, he traveled across mountains and rivers, and after decades, he composed a hymn of never giving up.

In fact, in the story, no one knows what [Truth] is, and this person embarks on the journey, most likely because of the throne, a bet, or some kind of proof of self-strength.

And now, Sherlock seems to be doing the same thing.

He is also going through hardships and dangers, trying to save a girl who represents the hope of the empire. This kind of action will undoubtedly be labeled with high-sounding labels such as "for the future of the empire" and "for the hope of mankind".

But in fact, he doesn't have such noble sentiments. He is just completing a commission of his.

Nightingale is his employer, so she must be rescued.

Time has passed and I don't know how many days have passed. Between a towering snow mountain, a nimble shadow is climbing on the rocks that are tempered by the wind and snow and are harder than steel.

The strong wind here has reached an extremely terrifying speed after being squeezed by the long and narrow mountains. The snow accumulated for thousands of years has not left any traces on the rocks. As soon as a small layer of snow is formed, it is swept away into the distance. So much so that the entire mountain is filled with sharp and protruding rocks, which is daunting.

But this mountain is an opportunity for Sherlock to quickly catch up with his goal.

Because the large demonic tide obviously had no intention of climbing over the mountain, but chose to go around it, which allowed Sherlock to take a shortcut.

Between the rocks, the long, crimson limbs and the unique structure of primates showed it a strong climbing ability. The nearly 1,000-meter peak and messy protrusions did not slow down its speed too much. It raised its head. , looking up at the sky, you can find that the brightness of the aurora above your head has reached an extreme. The red, purple, orchid and other overly dazzling spots emit light that is almost as bright as the sun. Even if you stare at it for a long time, you will not be able to stand squinting. Open your eyes.

Sherlock was not a geographer, but he knew that this overly dazzling light spot was definitely not a normal phenomenon.

Just on the other side of the mountain, something seemed to change the entire sky.

What could be there?

After several hours of arduous climbing, Crimson finally reached the top of the mountain with a vertical leap of nearly ten meters. Sherlock stood in the depths facing the most terrifying fierce wind. On Hong's shoulders, he looked at the brilliant auroras in the sky that were actually mixed and intertwined, as if there was an invisible huge vortex hanging in a certain area in the sky, swallowing up all the colors and countless colors around it. Spinning and twisting.

At this moment, Sherlock seemed to think of those naughty children, pouring countless paints into the toilet, and then pressed the pump button.

However, the flush toilet is definitely not as majestic and terrifying as the celestial phenomenon in front of us.

And this scene was actually just the first thing Sherlock saw after climbing to the top of the mountain. The next second, he was shocked by an even more terrifying sight!

Shocked

Sherlock undoubtedly has the weirdest experience in the world and the strongest mental acceptance ability. He has seen the bloody world in dreams and a terrifying sun covered with ferocious tentacles. He has been taken into the clouds. Above, he once looked down at the entire earth from a star's perspective.

But at this moment, he was still shocked!

Under the mountains, looking into the distance, he saw a huge crack in the dark void.

Human eyes need light to shine on something and then feedback into the pupil to complete the visual presentation in the brain.

So he could only see the indescribable darkness that spread throughout his entire vision.

Void cracks are not a rare thing in this world, especially as a contractor, he has seen void cracks appear in front of him countless times, even those huge cracks several meters long that can pass through third-order demons. , I have seen it many times.

But he had never seen the darkness in front of him. Without any reference, he almost lost his balance in an instant, as if he was about to fall into it in the next moment.

And below that huge pitch-black scene, an incalculable number of demons were gathering. They roared at each other, piled up, and their huge bodies collided with each other. And if you look carefully below the pitch-black crack, you can still see it. More demons are constantly crawling out, stacked one on top of another, like collapsed building blocks, rumbling from another world called hell and falling to the world.

Sherlock stood in a daze, letting the gorgeous aurora paint himself with ever-changing colors. He had imagined many gates to hell, and also imagined under what circumstances and in what ways he would see this strange thing. Something that should exist in the human world.

But he never thought that he would actually run on the Antarctic continent for more than two months, and then climb a high mountain, and then the huge gate of hell stretching for tens of kilometers would appear so unexpectedly. Appeared in front of his eyes.

Alright alright.

Now was not the time to be shocked. Sherlock forcibly suppressed the extremely complicated emotions in his heart and focused his thoughts on the densely packed and endless demons.

It was clear something was not right with these demons.

This war between the two species has lasted for three centuries. Although humans have never truly entered the gates of hell, they already have a fairly deep understanding of the habits of demons.

This group of guys who have just stepped into a new world will often run and sprint crazily in a certain direction, looking for everything they can devour along the way until they get lost in the wind and snow, and then start wandering around again at some time in the future. , suddenly became manic again, and continued to run wildly along a place he did not know, over and over again, until he met a human being, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it, or was blown into a blackened corpse by artillery fire.

In short, it is impossible for these demons to gather together so peacefully after walking out of the gate of hell. There are even places where they can no longer stand. They would rather pile one on top of another to fill a small mountain-like 'demon pile'. Be willing to leave.

It seems like these guys are waiting for something.

Sherlock calmed down the shock in his heart and stared at the scene in front of him that he had never seen before in his life. Although he didn't want to believe it, he knew that the reason why these demons suddenly changed their habits was probably because of Nightingale. 's arrival

And the previous demonic tide that crossed the border only took away the girl; the entire demonic tide traveled long distances for nearly three months, but never harmed her; all the demons in the surrounding paths followed it; plus at this moment, it can be seen that When tens of thousands of demons all stopped in front of the gate of hell, it was all because of that girl.

Just like a princess who is married to a foreign country and is finally about to return to her own country, countless people will take to the streets on that day, crowding on both sides of the road, eagerly anticipating each other's return.

Thinking of this, Sherlock couldn't help but frowned. He didn't know why he had such thoughts.

So he shook his head, trying to kick this ridiculous idea out of his mind.

However, this idea was like a stubborn piece of shoe sole, standing in the most active area of ​​his brain, constantly teasing his thinking.

"Sir, the direction of the aurora is always changing. If you go deeper, you may lose your direction."

On the airship, a navigator worriedly thought about a military commander's report.

In most cases, it is impossible for the airship to get lost. Because of the wide field of vision at high altitude, you can overlook the mountains and rivers on the ground at any time. There is almost no chance of getting lost, and with the help of the compass, it is also possible to get lost. You can quickly determine your navigation direction.

But on the Antarctic continent, as far as the eye can see, it is a vast expanse of white. The compass will only rotate in place in this area, completely losing its effectiveness. If it really loses its route and cannot reach the fuel supply place before making an emergency landing, then Everyone on this airship is waiting for death.

In the past two months, nearly two hundred airships have been flying over the Antarctic continent. They have continued to deepen along their respective routes, looking for traces of the girl. Because there is no need to transport any supplies or troops, Therefore, the airship is fully loaded with fuel, so that these big things can last in the sky for a month or two.

However, they have been sailing for two full months, and this airship is one of the furthest ones. Judging from this speed, they are likely to have reached the area where they have traveled since the second demonic invasion. An area that no one has ever set foot on.

The official in charge of the airship was confused. In fact, the celestial phenomena had been abnormal since a few days ago, and many instruments also failed one after another. This should be caused by changes in the magnetic field.

Geographically, their route was extremely close to the Gate of Hell that almost no one had ever seen.

As a human being, he has a natural fear of that thing. Although he is also curious about what the gate of hell looks like, he still understands the principle of 'curiosity killed the cat'.

So, he took a deep breath and walked to a simple employee rest cabin on the lower level of the airship.

"Dong dong dong" he knocked on the door.