Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
All the previous events had eliminated Ramiro's suspicion towards Leviathan and made him believe that Leviathan only had the equal to that of a level-four knight. Yet although now in Ramiro's eyes Leviathan was of no threat to him at all, he was still being very cautious. He was, after all, a high-ranking night watcher that had secretly a.s.sa.s.sinated and directly slain many powerful heresies. Except for the mysterious smile on his face, his behavior revealed none of his inner thoughts, for he needed to make sure that Leviathan would not be alerted so that he could kill Leviathan within one single strike.
Ramiro's guts and organs started melting into a pile of muddy flesh. Soon, Leviathan would be completely wrapped by the flesh, digested, and absorbed. To reduce the possible risk, Ramiro had decided to devour Leviathan directly without wasting time on interrogating him.
“Leviathan” did not sense the danger at all.
His ankle bending slightly, Ramiro was about to jump onto Leviathan. However, at this very moment, Francis' cheerful voice came from behind.
“Here you are!”
d.a.m.n it, it was the second time! Ramiro stopped himself in the last second, stumbling. Ramiro followed the momentum and turned around, his pace a bit pale. “What, Francis? You scared me there!”
Lucien was also a bit startled. “Anything wrong with that side?”
Francis grinned. “Behind the gate is the Bridge of Soul. Both the Styx and the Bridge have dispersed severely and were in a terrifying state of voidness. I can't pa.s.s.”
“Then we really have to hurry up. The same thing might happen to this side as well,” said Lucien as he signalled the two to hurry.
Francis nodded and again walked in the front. Ramiro followed them, feeling quite frustrated. He wondered if his blessing had come to the end. It seemed that his luck had started to leave.
He prayed in his mind, hoping the proper chance that he could absorb Leviathan would come.
In front of the corridor, darkness resumed again. A grayish-white river where countless bodies and bones were floating appeared, winding to the unknown far end.
“Is this the Styx?” Lucien examined it curiously.
Ramiro nodded, “Yes. Every drop of the Styx came from a bitter and sorrowful soul. Even the G.o.ds would become crazy after touching it, the Lord of Underworld is the only exception.”
There was a canoe beside the riverbank, but the canoe-man had disappeared because of the collapsion of the entire realm.
“How was the realm formed? Consciousness and matter, which comes the first?” Asked Francis in the tone of a philosopher. The person he was asking was, of course, the experienced initiator Anheuse.
The first question was also a question shared by Lucien. He first thought that a realm was something like a sorcerer's demiplane, but the collapse of a legendary sorcerer's demiplane was not caused by the sorcerer's death, but rather the destruction of the cognitive world.
Ramiro answered with a cold smile. “The power of faith gathered, and G.o.ds form G.o.dhoods from the power. The remnant power formed the realm depending on the G.o.d and the G.o.dhood. The power of a G.o.d can be greatly improved when the G.o.d is in His own domain. When a G.o.d falls, if his G.o.dhood had nowhere to go, or if the other G.o.d who takes away the G.o.dhood is unwilling to maintain the realm, the s.p.a.ce will gradually collapse. The escaped power of faith will follow the guidance of G.o.dhood and come to it.”
The G.o.dhood with nowhere to go to would dissipate gradually.
“No wonder you are the initiator, Anheuse.” Francis smiled and stepped onto the canoe.
Ramiro thought to himself that the real Anheuse would have never articulated the idea as clear as he did.
When Leviathan and Anheuse were both on board, the canoe set off. On the surface of Styx, the canoe moved silently as if it was on a mirror.
When they reached the other side and got off the boat, they saw the magnificent palace enveloped in a haze right in front of them. There were huge stone columns supporting the giant domes. Everything consisting of the palace looked very real, not like those things they saw earlier, which looked illusory.
“This is the place where the Lord of Underworld lived. Five thousand ordinary men were sent here and labored to death as sacrifices. It's quite something that the Lord of Underworld even moved such a huge palace from the Death Valley to this place,” said Ramiro.
Both Lucien and Francis had heard of this before, as it was recorded in the doctrine of the Lord of Underworld.
In such a primitive religion, fear was always the most commonly used method for ruling followers, and thus sacrifice was among the most frequently mentioned words. Some false G.o.ds, especially those who were greatly influenced by their G.o.dhoods, were obsessed with the blood rituals and live sacrifices, including the previous Lord of Fire and Destruction, Avando. However, after becoming the Lord of Redemption, Ell had greatly calmed down and had never shown this tendency again.
“This palace is huge. Let's go separate,” suggested Ramiro again.
Francis agreed. They still had to save time for getting out. As for what they would find in the palace, Francis would be able to check them secretly later using his powers.
Lucien also agreed as he was seeking for Adamantine, Mythril, Orichalc.u.m, Ice Iron, Soul Stone, and Meteoric Iron to refine the alloy unique to the Will of Elements for fixing his Holm prize rings. Of course, those materials for fixing his medal, staff, belt, and gloves were also his targets.
Pus.h.i.+ng open the palace gate, Francis walked straight to the front, Lucien turned left, and Ramiro entered the left side of the palace.
A while later, Ramiro secretly came back to the main hall. He cast an alert look at the direction chosen by Francis. After making sure that there was no sign of Francis coming back, Ramiro's sullen face disappeared in the darkness.
Silently moving in the darkness like a shadow, Ramiro was approaching his target.
A radiant knight's velocity was amazing. Pa.s.s the corridor and the rooms, Ramiro soon saw Leviathan, who was searching every corner of this place cautiously with the sword in his hands.
At the end of the corridor, there was a black metal gate with a white skull and a river of blood drawn on it. The death power on it was almost gone after the falling of the Lord of Underworld.
What Lucien was holding was just a common steel sword, given by Ell as an award when Lucien left Politown.
Staring at the gate, Lucien grabbed the sword tight with both of his hands and hacked at the white skull in the middle. Then Lucien dropped the sword, letting the sword taking away the rest of the death power on the gate.
When the steel sword dropped on the floor, it sounded like a rotten piece of wood.
Lucien pushed open the gate, and finally saw the treasure left by the Lord of Underworld: Most of it was gold, silver, and gems, dazzling under the candlelight. In the middle, there were different pieces of metal, exotic items, and divine weapons.
Lucien saw Mythril and Soul Stone at first glance. Meanwhile, he became more alert and spread out his spiritual power, for he had no idea whether or not there were still any guards around. Also, it was possible that Francis and Anheuse would kill him to take away all the treasures, especially Anheuse, who seemed to be a bit strange.
Standing behind in the darkness, Ramiro thought that Leviathan must have been shocked seeing such abundant wealth. It was a great opportunity for him!
The opportunity that he had been waiting for so long!
Ramiro sprinted out from the darkness!
However, the minute when he jumped out, Ramiro sensed a stranger coming from the other side of the corridor.
d.a.m.n! Ramiro almost went nuts. It was just such bad luck!
However, he had no better options. Ramiro rushed into the treasury and sent a secret, silent message to Lucien,
“Hide! Someone's coming!”
Lucien had sensed Ramiro's presence when Ramiro was about to jump on him, as well as the stranger. Following Ramiro, Lucien went into the treasury and hid in the corner where nothing could reflect him.
Half a minute later, an elegant and fine-curved figure secretly sneaked in. Lucien saw the reflection on a piece of metal: It was a gorgeous, G.o.ddess-like beauty. Each of her movements was full of bewitching charm, but somehow Lucien felt the lady quite familiar.
He was a bit confused, as he did not remember seeing this lady before.
The gorgeous lady walked to the other side of the treasury. Then light like the first rays of the morning sun poured out from her body, and a secret gate was exposed.
However, there was nothing behind the secret gate.
“It's gone? Didn't He obtain a powerful thing from where Solna River originated…” Murmured the beauty to herself in a low, s.e.xy voice.
Both Lucien and Ramiro recognized her at the same time and felt the G.o.dhood possessed by the lady. She was Asin, the G.o.d of Moon! How come He became female? It seemed that Asin had got some new G.o.dhood related to beauty and morning glory.
Since Asin was about level seven, and both Lucien and Ramiro had to avoid showing their true power to each other, they chose not to jump out. They watched Asin casually take away a couple of divine items and entering into another secret tunnel. It seemed that she could come back at any time for the rest of the treasure.
After a while, Ramiro walked out and smiled. “I was following Asin.”
Of course, Lucien did not believe him at all.
Seeing the serious look on Leviathan's face, Ramiro grinned. “You don't believe me? It's okay. No one is gonna interrupt me now.”
Thank G.o.d. After three interrupted attempts, he could finally eat Leviathan in!
Ramiro's body started wriggling like there were no bones in it.
Lucien instantly recognized who he was. He forcedly gave up the plan of using Confinement and Maze, because Ramiro could get out at any time by self-explosion.
Like a pile of muddy flesh, Ramiro jumped towards Lucien, leaving Lucien nowhere to retreat.
Suddenly, Ramiro's mind paused a bit as he saw a flash of green light in Leviathan's eyes. Then he felt that his level of magic resistance had been greatly reduced.
Resistance Reduction?
He was a sorcerer?!
Ramiro saw dim light on Leviathan's robe forming a deadly grey ray shooting directly toward him.
Without any preparation, Ramiro was shot by the very fast ray. He felt that his body was full of this negative energy and his power had been greatly reduced by at least one level.
Weakening Ray? He was the ninth-circle archmage?
d.a.m.n it!
Ramiro had fallen into great depression and desperation. For a second, he even started doubting the G.o.d of Truth.
Why did his Lord not warn him of the great danger, and why had the blessing abandoned him?
However, he soon found an explanation:
He had been iterrupted for three times. The G.o.d of Truth had warned him for three times. It was his arrogance that blinded his eyes!
