Chapter 65: Priest

Chapter 65: Priest

The enormous black-and-white eye was half transparent, drifting silently behind layer upon layer of rich, vivid, overlapping colors. It showed neither hostility nor friendliness.

In that instant, Klein remembered a passage from the notebook Travels in the Spirit World. One of the Abraham family’s ancestors had written:

“Try not to meet the gaze of any spirit-world creature for more than three seconds. That is a provocative act, unless they have already expressed a desire to communicate. Nor should you make yourself appear terrified or nervous, as that will increase certain predators’ desire to attack.”

As the corresponding words flowed through his mind, Klein withdrew his gaze and continued “chasing” the hardwood cane flying ahead of him at a pace neither fast nor slow.

His figure, clad in black full-body armor, crowned in pitch-black majesty, and draped in a cloak of the same color, entered that round eye, then quickly passed through and moved far away without causing the slightest change.

In essence, the spirit world is an extremely dangerous place. If one is careless, one might encounter a terrifying existence at the level of a demigod… Klein continued shuttling forward, discovering that this place truly was chaotic. The seven clear lights that could be used to mark position were indeed always high above, covering the “sky,” yet from time to time, he could also see Them beneath his feet, to his left and right, and before and behind him.

If not for the black cane providing a fixed location, Klein would not have been able to distinguish direction at all.

Suddenly, through the thin, almost illusory fog, he saw what would, by normal human concepts, be the lower left: a floating castle.

The entire castle was black. Its spires rose high, covered in vines, giving it an intensely gothic style.

At the very top of the castle stood a half-transparent woman. She was almost as tall as the castle itself and wore a complicated, gorgeous, yet dim and gloomy black dress. She had no head. At her neck was a neat, clean cut, while her drooping hands held four heads with golden hair, red eyes, and strikingly beautiful faces. If one examined them carefully, one would discover that all four heads looked exactly alike.

As Klein, dressed in the manner of the Black Emperor, passed by, the four heads held by the woman blinked together.

Klein did not respond. He ignored them entirely and flew onward.

The woman slowly turned her body, letting the heads in her hands watch him go.

What kind of monsters are these… The thought had only just flashed through Klein’s mind when he saw the black cane rapidly “fall” downward.

He hurriedly chased after it, once again tasting the sensation of free fall.

Seven or eight seconds later, a half-hidden, collapsed building appeared “ahead” of him.

Outside that building floated a spirit-world creature like a gigantic jellyfish. It stretched out one transparent tentacle after another, all covered in mucus, taking the surrounding area into its “territory.”

At the end of every tentacle grew a white skull whose eye sockets were dark and deep. As the tentacles swayed lightly and slowly, those skulls shook without pause.

The black cane passed through this bizarre spirit-world creature and hovered before the nearly illusory collapsed building.

Found it? Klein first felt delight, then immediately grew calm and grave as he looked toward the gigantic “jellyfish” waving skull-headed tentacles.

He was ready for battle, but did not attack at once. Instead, he tried to radiate outward the heavy, profound majesty brought by the high status of the Black Emperor card, meeting those dark, deep eye sockets with an indifferent gaze.

After three frozen seconds, Klein spoke in a low voice, uttering a word in ancient Hermes:

“Leave!”

The tentacles tipped with skulls twitched twice. Then the gigantic “jellyfish” slowly floated up and vanished into the depths of the spirit world.

The Black Emperor card really is useful… I had even been considering whether to throw out Mr. Azik’s copper whistle. A descendant of Death should still have some face in the spirit world… Klein breathed out, descended, and grasped the black hardwood cane.

Then, filled with faint anticipation, he dropped into the ruins of the collapsed building.

To him, even if the Church of Storms and the kingdom’s military had already found this place and taken the most valuable items, as long as some small remnants remained, he would be quite satisfied.

Even if there is nothing at all, studying these elven ruins and seeing what information they left behind would be enough… Klein passed through the curtain-like illusory “barrier” and suddenly felt the surrounding air turn thick and heavy.

Around him appeared swaying ripples of light. They came from the deep-blue seawater that filled this entire region.

At the bottom of the seawater stood ancient, dim ruins. Every building there had either collapsed or half collapsed.

A massive pillar engraved with strange patterns and symbols rose from the center. It had likely once extended all the way to the top, as though supporting this place in the past, but now it was broken, half toppled, leaning against the roof of a nearby structure.

Klein recognized this place. He recognized that pillar. This was Sea God Kalvetua’s hiding place, a hidden region where reality and the spirit world overlapped.

At this very moment, an unwilling, pained, furious, and maddened hiss echoed for a long time, showing no sign of weakening. It was precisely Kalvetua’s final roar before death, filled with resentment.

He really is dead… Klein held the black cane and landed on the grayish-green stone avenue before the ancient ruins.

On both sides of the avenue stood stone pillars that were neither especially thick nor especially tall. They, too, were engraved with strange patterns somewhat different from modern symbolic signs and magical labels.

At the base of every stone pillar sat a figure. Some wore ancient robes, while others had on currently fashionable brown jackets.

The moment they sensed someone approaching, they picked up longswords, axes, and other weapons. Their movements were stiff yet swift as they climbed to their feet and turned toward Klein, revealing gray-black faces long weathered by time and withered bodies that gave no feeling of flesh and blood.

Their fanatical and numb gazes all fell upon Klein, who wore a pitch-black crown and black armor.

Kalvetua’s devout believers… But this also means the Church of Storms and the kingdom’s military have not found this place yet… Klein sighed inwardly and poured spirituality into the Sun Brooch, softly reciting a word in ancient Hermes:

“Holy!”

He activated the Sacred Oath attached to the Sun Brooch, briefly adding holy-type damage to his attacks through the corresponding ancient Hermes word.

Snap!

Klein flicked his wrist and cracked the cane.

He lowered his body slightly and rushed toward the first “Sea God Guard” charging at him.

In the middle of his high-speed run, Klein suddenly twisted his left side away, dodging the axe chopped down by his opponent. At the same time, he reversed his forearm, lashing the cane across the creature’s body and leaving behind an obvious mark that cracked open in gray-white.

Within the mark, pure golden flames silently rose and immediately wrapped the Sea God Guard, burning it until it swayed unsteadily.

Thud!

Klein exerted force with his feet and passed beyond that enemy.

Behind him, the completely dried Sea God Guard finally collapsed, turning into ashes within the golden flames.

Thud, thud, thud! Klein lowered his back and rushed forward, his steps swift. Sometimes he twisted sideways, sometimes he stepped diagonally, passing one Sea God Guard after another.

At the same time, he swung the cane—whipping, thrusting, chopping, or slicing—leaving different marks upon the mummy-like guards.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Klein crossed the avenue and arrived before the half-collapsed ruins.

Behind his lightly raised black cloak, the Sea God Guards became golden torches one after another, illuminating the grayish-green stone slabs and the patterned pillars.

After a brief chaotic dance, the guards fell one after another and moved no more.

Klein stepped up the stairs and entered the building where the half-toppled pillar stood.

The first thing that entered his vision was an unimaginably enormous blue-green sea serpent. Its entire body was covered in slick scales, and it was engraved with patterns resembling the various symbols within the ruins.

Its gaping mouth bit down on the pillar, its curved milky-white fangs stabbed into it.

The body below its head drooped to the floor, coiling around and taking up a third of the vast hall, like an undulating blue-green hill. Yet it was covered with wounds of every kind: some a bloody mess, others revealing white bone.

Blue-green mysterious points of light had already begun separating from its body. Not especially quickly, they gathered toward one fang longer than a human arm, causing that slightly curved sharp white bone to slowly straighten.

Its dying howl echoed fiercely here, making even Klein’s almost material spirit body show faint signs of instability.

At this moment, beside Kalvetua’s body, there lay an old man wearing a clergyman’s soft cap.

His hair was grayish-white. The surface of his body looked like gray stone. His face pressed close against the serpent’s corpse, and meaningless sounds came from his throat. No one knew what he was doing.

Around the gigantic serpent’s body lay one weathered, dried corpse after another. They were like the Sea God Guards outside, yet even stranger. Their abdomens were swollen, and some had even burst. In addition, their mouths were stained with dark-red blood, with blue-green strips of flesh hanging from them.

Similar blue-green points of light also seeped from their bodies, flowing toward the white fang that was gradually straightening.

Before Klein had time to think through what this scene represented, the old man in the clergyman’s soft cap, who was sprawled against Kalvetua’s body, swayed and straightened.

He turned around.

His eyes flashed with blue-green radiance. His mouth was stained with blood, and his teeth were still forcefully tearing at a piece of flesh.

At the spot where his face had pressed close just now, Kalvetua’s serpent body was mangled and missing a great deal of flesh, almost exposing white bone.

He was eating the corpse of Sea God Kalvetua raw!

This… Klein’s brows furrowed, and he roughly understood what had happened here.

After Kalvetua died, the priests and guards in the hall lost control and frenziedly gnawed at his flesh.

At this time, the Beyonder characteristic had not yet fully separated out. A considerable portion of it remained within Kalvetua’s body. Because of this, many guards suffered from an overdose of “potion” or from conflicting characteristics of different pathways. They collapsed on the spot and died completely.

But among them, there would always be someone lucky enough to survive the instant-death stage. Such a person might lose control and become a disgusting monster. They might directly skip several Sequences and become powerful. Or, because different pathways’ characteristics had mixed together, they might become a madman with twisted, sinister abilities.

No matter which result it was, it would be a rather dangerous thing.

Klein’s gaze shifted downward from the surviving priest’s face, landing on his abdomen, which bulged like that of a pregnant woman.

There, a powerful rhythm of swelling and contracting continued, as though a huge heart were beating inside.