Chapter 629 Life Traceback
“An alternate dimension?” Douglas had thought that this place was made of grey halls that were connected by black gates, and that there would be no other changes. Therefore, he was rather stunned to see this world of exuberant trees.
Fernando flew in first. “It seems that there are many worlds similar to alternate dimensions in the ‘Realm of Gates’ apart from the grey halls. I wonder if intelligent life can be found here.”
“I prefer to think that they are spectres of different kinds, like what we are seeing right now.” Douglas observed the environment and speculated roughly.
At this moment, the seven headless dwarfs, holding the grey coffin that was much longer than their height, reached Fernando and Douglas. They spoke in a dull voice from their stomach, “Are you princes?”
“Huh?” Douglas reviewed his defense and looked at them, interested.
“The princes with heads are bad princes. The princess will blame us.” The headless dwarf in the lead said, his belly fluctuating.
Amused, Douglas said, “Good princes don’t have heads?”
“If you don’t have your head, you will never be upset, you will never be sorrow, and you will never worry about your look…” A coarse female voice suddenly emerged from the grey coffin. The lifelessness around flowed into the coffin through the gaps and congregated into black air that improved the power of death inside to the level of legendary very soon.
Crack. The cover of the grey coffin was moved away, and a headless woman in a pure white court dress stood up, with a weird necklace made of a series of red apples on her chest.
The necklace seemed hilarious, but if one were to observe carefully, they would discover a human face on each of the apples. They were the faces of seven dwarfs and the round face of a girl. It was quite blood-freezing.
ere
“Give me your head! Give me your head!” The headless woman wailed, and the intense air of death began to spread. The soundwaves that could destroy the soul swept out.
Looking at everything without any expression, Fernando suddenly said, “Boring.”
Pa!
As the bolts of lightning hit the ground, the dozens of kilometers around were covered in the forest of thunderstorms. Both the headless prince and the trees were burnt into ashes!
“Headless? I seemed to have seen this custom before.” Douglas recalled the uncanny sense of familiarity. “When we developed the Solar Islands, I encountered the natives of a few clans. They believed that the head of a human was the symbol of life, and that disasters would happen if their head remained after their death. Therefore, the head of the deceased would be cut off and burnt up before they were buried. It’s similar to what we experienced just now.”
Fernando was not involved in the development of the Solar Islands that time. While listening to Douglas’ interpretation, he frowned and asked, “Are we in a dream or an illusion, where the things we are familiar with have been transformed into the weirdest stuff?”
“I am a top legend of the school of astrology. If even I cannot tell whether or not we are in a dream, the enemy can only be someone in the level of the God of Truth. If the ‘gods’ of such a level do exist, do they have to attack us so indirectly?” Said Douglas calmly but confidently. “We are in the World of Souls. The death-related phenomena may be what is unique about it. We need to study the mechanism and the pattern behind it.”
A gloomy wind passed by, and a coarse, miserable female voice screamed behind them again:
“Give me your head! Give me your head!”
The tone of the voice changed, and the ashes on the ground gathered in swirls, refocused into a headless figure!
However, it was not someone in a white dress this time, but a person wearing a white robe and holding a platinum staff!
“This monster…” Fernando bellowed in fury.
Half solemnly and half amused, Douglas said, “Benedict III seems much more handsome without his head.”
…..
In the grey wilderness that was full of tombstones…
While carrying Rhine to walk forward quickly, Lucien analyzed the crown of the Primordial Mummy. This legendary item seemed to have been specially processed by the Lich King and was not readily crackable like the common items. Lucien estimated that it would take him at least two to three hours.
“Wait a moment.” Rhine suddenly said.
Lucien stopped and let go of Rhine’s arm. “Mr. Rhine, did you notice anything?”
Rhine warmed his arms and legs. Part of his weakness seemed to be already gone. The vampire prince’s ability of self-recovery was truly astonishing. “Have you noticed the patterns on the tombstones?”
“Aren’t they the patterns of the ancient Meshkate Empire?” The Meshkate Empire was one of the three major magic empires. It occupied the area south to where the Gusta Empire was currently located. The magic patterns of the empire were undoubtedly the basics of arcana and were needed in many spells in the school of necromancy. Therefore, Lucien did not feel very strange about that.
Rhine bent down and touched the vintage mysterious patterns on the grey tombstones with his narrow, long fingers. “They are the patterns in the early years of the Meshkate Empire. Because they are similar to the patterns later, and their effect is also more or less the same, only an Observer like me who is a fan of history can tell the difference.”
“Is there anything special about them?” Lucien was rather eager to reach the spot marked by Maskelyne, but since Rhine was willing to waste their precious time in this place, he must have a very good reason. So, Lucien asked in the telepathic bond.
Rhine smiled casually, “We are searching for what Meshkate left behind in order to crack the secrets of the ‘Realm of Gates’ and the monsters. Now that we already find a clue, we cannot let it go easily. Let’s not reverse our purpose and our approach. Those patterns are not too special per se, but they indicate that this group of tombstones belong to the Meshkate in the early years.”
“However, the ‘early years’, associated with the tombstones everywhere, reminded me of a most famous custom at the beginning of the Meshkate Empire. It was the ritual of ‘Life Traceback’.”
“Life Traceback’?” Lucien recalled the famous ritual in the history of necromancy.
Rhine wiped his fingers with a handkerchief gracefully. “Yes, the ritual of ‘Life Traceback’. The people of the Meshkate Empire generally believed that there was a most powerful intelligent creature at the original point. He was perfect and boasted the vastest light of spirituality. He created the species like humans, elves and dragons with his blood power, which made him disappear in the river of time. If anybody sought after great power, they could reverse the process and melt the intelligent lives of different races to approach the ‘Origin’.”
“That was the principle of funerals for the early Meshkate people. They made giants with wood and buried them at the certain of the graveyard. Then, only the clothes of the deceased would be buried in their tomb, and their body would be filled into the wood giant, hoping that they would be melted after their death. Although the custom was gradually gone, many spells of the school of necromancy obvious came from it, such as the stitched body.”
Recalling the spells of the school of necromancy he knew, Lucien nodded his head, “That’s true. Does ‘somebody was here’ on the paper fragment indicate a certain legendary sorcerer of the Meshkate Empire?”
“Possibility, but it’s hard to imagine that a legendary sorcerer would establish such a huge graveyard. Did he have nothing better to do after entering this place through a dangerous adventure? Lucien, you should know that the World of Souls corresponded with the main material world except that the locations are disordered. If we extrapolate the law to the Realm of Gates, can we assume that the Realm of Gates is a mapping for the different customs of death?” Rhine tossed his handkerchief and smashed the cover of a coffin. There was only a black jacket inside, as he expected.
Lucien thought for a moment and said, “That’s a very reasonable deduction, but what does the monster represent? It can’t be the fear of death in every intelligent life’s heart, right? I prefer to think that it’s the mysterious existence of the World of Souls.”
When he said ‘heart’, Lucien suddenly shivered and felt that he remembered something. But still, something was missing for him to see through the mist. He frowned hard. Perhaps, the difference on the surface had disguised the appearance of his memories, which made it impossible for him to find a similar experience.
“The bottom line is, we have clues about the monster.” Rhine smiled and said, “We can only expect the items that Maskelyne left can give us more clues.”
Lucien sighed, “Even if we figure out what the monster is and how it was born, the biggest enigma for me will still be why it can exist in such a way, and the arcana mechanism behind
it.”
“You are showing more and more characteristics of a grand arcanist.” Rhine was amused.
Suddenly, the earth shook violently, as if some monster was crawling out of the underground world. The tombstones collapsed one after another.
Rhine chuckled, “It seems that the ‘Origin’ in this place has already ‘evolved into a powerful spectre. Lucien, he’s all yours. If you can’t, I’ll lend you a few legendary items.”
Dangerous air spread throughout the place. After a loud noise, the tombstones were scattered, and mud splashed out. An enormous blue-and-black arm extended from below the earth.
Right then, a blue-and-black giant dozens of meters tall stood up abruptly. Intact intelligent lives could be seen on its arms, abdomen and head. Some of them were humans, some dwarfs, some dragons, some elves, and some were murlocs. Together, they constituted the body of the giant.
The giant’s eyes were suddenly opened. Dark red flames bouncing in them, there was no sign of life within its horizons anymore.
Lucien brought Rhine far away from the giant with an ‘Accurate Teleportation’. He was terrified by the lifeless greyness where they stood earlier. That was the deepest fear in every intelligent creature’s heart.
“It’s only a level-one legendary. You can certainly defeat such a slow and unwise creature, Lucien, can’t you? Huh, its heart is made of Fountain of Youth. No wonder Maskelyne said that there were many pleasant surprises in this place.” Rhine’s weakness was not entirely gone yet, but his eyes were still as keen as before.
“Fountain of Youth?” Lucien repeated in the telepathic bond solemnly. That was a material to hold the legendary ritual extend the longevity!
“Atomic Fission!”
BOOM!
A gigantic fireball exploded by the head of the giant, covering it quickly and destroying everything around. A mushroom cloud rolled and soared to the sky.
“Simple and straightforward…” Rhine remarked.
Holding the Space Staff in his hands, Lucien was prepared to control it subsequently. Then, he suddenly recalled something else. “Mr. Rhine, I saw similar tombstones and patterns in the ‘Resting Place’ of the Lord of the Undead. Does it indicate that one of his hidden spells is associated with the ‘Precursor’”
Pondering for a moment, Rhine replied, “Perhaps, he has already built his body into the ‘Original Body’. In that case, he will be much stronger than he appears.”
