Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The north of the north coastline was a bleak land. The hardy trees and the bizarre terrains had turned the place into a paradise for werewolves and ice bears. There were even powerful magic creatures that wandered in the depths of the vast land, such as silver dragons, white dragons, or frost giants.
Therefore, although the path to the East Haven had been built bit by bit by the adventurers of many generations who avoided the most dangerous areas, the business teams and passersby who walked on the roads suffered all kinds of attacks now and then, which dyed the northland in bloody, chaotic colors. It had been known as a heaven of desperadoes.
In the Month of Ice, the area had already been covered in white. Even the evergreens had been donned in pure gauzes. One could not see any color as far as their eyes could reach. If they stared at the snow all the time, they might not be able to open their eyes again.
However, on the road where tracks had been covered by the snowflakes, devastating blood was spreading out. The randomly-thrown swords, spears, hammers, and other weapons indicated a fierce battle in this place.
Leaving the main road and heading north along with the footprints on the road, one would see a boundless old-growth forest. In the center of the forest, there was an inconspicuous gap that led to a rather spacious underground cave.
The torches on the wall of the underground cave illuminated the place. However, the fire on those torches was in the most bizarre, pale color as if it did not carry any heat at all. There was nothing but dead silence.
Pale light emanated from the torches and sprayed on the black-robed guys who were crouching inside the cave, making them look even more creepy.
Those black-robed guys stuck their foreheads to the ground. Judging from their bodies and their faces, it was obvious that they were not entirely humans. Some were werewolves with hair on their cheeks, some had the distinctive marks of beasts, and some were frost giants who occupied a large area…
They were absolutely still as if they were dead, and they were praying toward an altar that was piled with bones. One black-robed priest, in whose eyes pale fire seemed to be bouncing, stared at the mysterious patterns that were emitting the intense air of death, as well as the enormous scythe on the altar that represented life reap.
“Birth is the beginning of death, our unavoidable destiny…”
The black-robed priest suddenly raised his hands and chanted the obscure prayer. A cluster of pale fire suddenly rose on the altar in quietness.
“Birth is the beginning of death…”
The black-robed followers who were like corpses that finally moved. Their bodies were shivering under their coarse voices.
The priest up ahead couldn’t have sounded more creepy. His zeal appeared as the most extreme coldness. “Compared to the eternity after death, life is too short to mean anything. Darkness, coldness, and death are the everlasting themes of life…
“We will eventually decay. Only if our soul enters the realm of death and sleep will it never decline gradually…”
The priest’s eyes became hollow. “Today, we offer sacrifices, as well as our lives, to our Lord, so that our souls will have a place to rest in for all eternity!”
“We would like to offer our lives to the Lord for a shelter of our souls…” Those black-robed guys seemed to have been hypnotized and simply replied numbly.
Hearing their reply, the priest was greatly relieved. He had delivered yet another batch of devout believers to the Lord after preaching on the true meaning of death. According to the “Soul Rite” that the Lord gave to him, he would be closer and closer to the Lord in such a way, and he would get rid of the body and soul of a mortal and grow into a real bringer of death.
By then, his life and his soul would soar. He would be as magnificent as legendary knights and sorcerers!
Thinking about that, he felt that the pale fire of death in his heart was burning even more intensely and weirdly. It seemed to be creating a vague world of death inside his brain and around, a world of extreme peace that was brimming with undead creatures.
“This is truly a sign that I’m closer to the Lord. I can already sense the great and sacred paradise of death. By the time I can sense it clearly, it will be the time for my ultimate advancement!”
At this moment, the human beings who were in a coma around the altar were back to themselves. Some of them were in fancy clothes, and some were wearing leather armor. They looked no different from any merchant team on the northland.
“What… What are you doing?” somebody accused in panic.
“Damn you, bandits. You’ll pay for your assault today!” Somebody was still enraged.
“Please, let us go. You can have all the goods and money. Killing us is useless for you.” Somebody else was shaking in fear after sensing the anomaly in the environment.
The priest raised his head. From his gloomy and dark eyes, a really pale fire jumped out. The moment they saw the fire, those human beings were paralyzed and could not utter a word anymore.
“Go to the center of the altar and off your life to the Lord,” the priest let out a dull, unemotional command.
The merchants and mercenaries looked pale and terrified, but they could not resist the priest’s order at all. They stood up as if they were possessed, and they walked to the center of the altar beyond their control.
The man who walked to the pale fire first picked up the black scythe, his hands shivering. His eyes were brimming with fear, desperation, and madness, but his hands still cut his own throat firmly with the scythe that did not seem to carry any weight.
A scary wound appeared on his throat, but not a single drop of blood spurted out. His whole body withered into a dry corpse very soon. Something transparent seemed to be floating out of his body into the pale fire.
The pale fire immediately rose higher, and a mark, which was so red that it was almost black, could be found on the edge of the black scythe.
The priest felt the delight from the bottom of his heart. It was an experience that was beyond any entertainment. Even without the improvement of his strength or the reward from the Lord, the delight alone was enough to motivate him to proceed with the ritual.
The world of death in his head and around himself was clearer.
“My sublimation is higher, and I’m closer to the Lord…” the priest moaned, but nobody noticed his lack of self-control.
The sacrificial offerings reaped their own lives one after another. The pale fire was more and more exuberant, until it was almost jumping out of the altar.
“Come on. Show your devotion. Life is short, and death is eternal!” the priest turned around and announced most sacredly.
The black-robed believers all changed their voices and shouted zealously, “We would like to offer our lives to the Lord for a shelter of our souls…”
The scythe of death seemed to have sensed the zealous atmosphere. Humming, it rose from the shelter and hovered at the ceiling of the underground cave.
“We would like to offer our lives to the Lord for a shelter of our souls!”
The black-robed believers echoed their prayer again, but it was no longer a response but a sincere request.
The gigantic scythe whose edge was in deep red absorbed all the light and reduced the whole underground cave into darkness. Only the pale fire at the center remained unaffected.
The gigantic scythe suddenly fell into the pale fire. At this moment, all the black-robed believers shook hard, their eyes losing all the colors, as if something important was absorbed from them into the fire.
The pale fire expanded and drowned the whole underground cave again. The skin of those black-robed believers began to decay, and dark red fire leaped out of their eyes. They had turned into undead creatures all of a sudden!
The priest was even more delighted. He could no longer tell the material world from the paradise of death and simply felt that his soul had been greatly purified.
“Great Lord of Death, please enjoy your sacrifices!” he shouted in a high voice. The undead creatures in the cave also raised their arms, which made the cave look like a dense forest.
The pale fire was reduced and condensed into the size of one person, but an illusionary gate appeared at the center.
The gate was opened, and a monster in black cape showed up in the fire. Behind the monster was a plain where countless specters wandered, and below its feet were the temples made of bones.
The monster seemed to be an embodiment of death that nobody could look at, because whoever saw it would immediately lose their life. Thankfully, it could not step out of the pale fire and enshroud the world with death.
The priest felt that his soul was weightless. He was even more addicted to it.
“My strength has been increased again! My soul has been further sublimed!”
The black-caped monster looked out; its hollow eyes suddenly emitting unusual waves. Then, its body split into two identical selves as if it were looking at a mirror, although the strength of the two halves were both halved.
A pale fire arose on the new self of the monster of death, which consumed it and connected it to the fire and altar around it.
Then, as the other self of the monster chanted weird spells, the fire rolled fiercely and gathered into what appeared to be a gate. Then, the gate was gradually dyed in red.
Boom!
When the gate gradually took shape, an unimaginable air of chaos and slaughter spread out. As a result, unusual winter thunders burst out in the sky, and the cave began to shake so hard that the whole northland was trembling.
The priest suddenly realized that his soul had been improved to the highest point, and the world of death around him and that in his head were fully integrated.
“Have I succeeded?”
In ecstasy, he was ready to melt himself into the world of death to acquire the legendary power. However, the world of death disappeared all of a sudden, and a meatball that was jumbled by countless eyes, heads, and limbs showed up before him.
After he saw the meatball, the priest felt that his soul had completely mutated, and his thinking ability vanished rapidly.
“NOOOOOOOO!”
He let out a scream of surprise and fear in the end, before his body was twisted, with black, thick tentacles popping up.
In Kasvig, the capital of the north coastline, the Burning Lady stood up abruptly and looked far away. She sensed the extreme foulness and chaos were surging out from there!
“Hull-Chulia, what happened?” She hurried to contact Hull-Chulia, the Monarch of Fate.
Hull-Chulia, who was floating on the top of the magic tower, said solemnly, “The Will of Abyss is attempting to arrive. We must stop him immediately. I’ve already informed the Congress of Magic.”
Such a thing could only be handled by at least one grand arcanist, and Hellen, from the Cabin of Palmeira, was now watching over Allyn. If the Will of Abyss did arrive, even though he hadn’t entirely recovered from his wounds yet, it would still be most terrifying. There was no God’s Arrival to beat him back this time! Besides, nobody could tell if he would suddenly decide to blow himself up and destroy the whole northland.
