Chapter 35: “Rebirth”

Chapter 35: “Rebirth”

Through the Eyes of Mystery Prying, Bernadette saw that the inside of the dark-red shrine was empty. There was nothing there, only the shadowy curtain that normally shrouded reality.

She could not divine anything from it, so she had no choice but to withdraw her gaze and follow her own intuition, having the Invisible Servant walk toward the other side of the open area, where the primitive forest of towering trees also stood.

At the same time, because the Invisible Servant could not move too far away from her, Bernadette, wearing the Hat of Invisibility, quietly followed behind. Without hurrying or slowing, she passed through the region where all the creatures on the island had previously gathered.

Here, the high sky always seemed a little gloomy, suffused with a faint blackness.

Time swiftly passed. The Invisible Servant entered the depths of the forest where interlacing branches blotted out the sky, and everything before it abruptly darkened.

Immediately afterward, those nearly transparent, cold, emotionless, hard-to-detect Eyes of Mystery Prying saw through the dim environment and noticed one pale corpse after another placed between the trees. Many skulls, rotting bodies, and other things hung from the branches as well.

Some belonged to dragons, some came from bird-like creatures, some had eight legs, and some were themselves strange giant trees. They completely filled the gaps within this forest.

At a glance, Bernadette felt as though she had arrived in a graveyard. At the same time, a scene naturally surfaced in her mind:

Before those supernatural creatures died, they gave birth to offspring and passed down their Beyonder characteristics to them. Then they struggled from every direction to arrive in this region of the primitive forest, searching for an unoccupied place. Facing a certain direction, they died quietly, gradually rotting away and turning into white bones.

What meaning does this place hold for them? As a Prophet, Bernadette fully believed that the images appearing in her mind had truly happened. She was only puzzled as to what power had caused the creatures on this primitive island to choose this place as their graveyard.

Moreover, Green, William, Poli, and the others who had long since died all seemed to still be alive in some state, remaining on this island all along. It made no sense for supernatural and mutated creatures that had suffered even more contamination to be completely dead.

This made Bernadette faintly frown. She drove the Invisible Servant forward, toward the depths of the “creature graveyard.”

Just like that, the Invisible Servant advanced through the forest filled with white bones and rotting corpses for nearly a quarter of an hour.

Finally, it saw a fourth kind of object besides trees, weeds, and corpses.

It was a black stone pillar. It was so thick that five or six people could barely encircle it with their arms, and it stood thirty to forty meters tall. On its surface were ring after ring of weathered marks, as though it wore one ill-fitting ring after another.

Bernadette had the Eyes of Mystery Prying stare at the stone pillar for several seconds, yet she discovered nothing mystical about it. It seemed only a casually erected symbol.

The Invisible Servant looked around and discovered that the corpses in the area surrounding the stone pillar were not badly decomposed. They were still covered in fairly intact flesh and skin.

A supernatural power that does not exist, strange effects unlike those elsewhere… Unless the newly dead are all passively gathered around the stone pillar, there could not be such a uniform trend… Bernadette preliminarily suspected that it was not that there was no mystery here, but that it could only reveal itself at a specific time.

She did not use her Prophecy ability to search for the cause, because prophecy was, in essence, peering into the river of fate. The more serious the matter involved, and the higher its status and level, the greater the backlash and harm it would bring her. With the current incomprehensible situation, Bernadette could not afford to be incautious. She feared it might be connected to some unknown, terrifying existence.

Besides, the situation itself had not yet harmed her, so there was no need for her to take the risk of making a prophecy.

After the Invisible Servant searched for a while and found no clues, it continued forward, trying to pass through this graveyard and reach other areas of the primitive forest.

Just then, Bernadette heard a rustling sound.

It was the movement of a gentle wind passing through branches and leaves, like a tide stirring in the void.

Since setting foot on this strange island, Bernadette felt wind for the first time.

Subconsciously, she had the Invisible Servant turn around and look toward the black stone pillar.

Within the Eyes of Mystery Prying, pieces of decay on the corpses around the stone pillar fell away one after another. New flesh grew out as if it possessed its own spirituality, and inch after inch of skin gradually covered the horrifying scene.

This change lasted less than ten seconds before stopping. A small number of corpses no longer showed any sign of decomposition. They looked as though they had just died.

In the next second, a mutated curly-haired baboon and an eight-legged demonic wolf staggered to their feet.

Their fur was faintly white, their skin slightly withered, and their eyes wooden and cold.

Then those two creatures, originally already dead, each identified a direction and left the graveyard from different places.

Bernadette’s gaze froze. Her brows rose slightly. She finally understood why the creatures on this island struggled to come to this region before they died, and why they had to die here.

Here, the end called death was connected not to eternal sleep, but to a new beginning!

Moreover, this was not the kind of “resurrection” in which a Necromancer summoned zombies and skeletons. It was “rebirth” possessing a certain will and vitality.

Have the underlying rules of the world become twisted and chaotic here? In addition, there seems to be a hint of the Black Emperor’s resurrection mystery… However, the state of those reborn dead is not quite right. They are closer to living corpses… This kind of resurrection has major problems… Above the gray fog, Klein also saw this scene and formed many conjectures.

Of course, all this was based on the premise that the Emperor had indeed left his final mausoleum here and exerted some influence.

In the next thought, Klein preliminarily rejected the idea.

That was because similar circumstances had already existed on this primitive island before the Emperor became an angel. The long-dead Green was proof!

Mm, the specific details back then might not have been the same as now. Perhaps, compared to the past, distortion and chaos have already appeared… Klein nodded gently, ready at any moment to protect Bernadette.

Bernadette had also made certain guesses. She did not let the Invisible Servant remain where it was, waiting for the next “rebirth tide.”

This was because she had prophesied a possible development:

After being affected by the “rebirth tide” multiple times, the Invisible Servant strangely developed a certain will and “came alive”!

In addition, it was not as though the Invisible Servant had not investigated before, but it had never been able to discover what made the black stone pillar special. Bernadette did not think continuing to remain there would bring any additional gains.

Under such circumstances, compared with an in-depth study that might alarm an unknown existence, it was a better choice to grasp as much of the primitive island’s overall situation as possible and construct a holistic understanding.

Many times, answers to problems that could not be clarified in earlier stages might be found in later areas.

This was the experience Bernadette had accumulated over many years.

As the Invisible Servant advanced, the corpses between the giant trees and on the branches gradually became sparse. During this process, Bernadette discovered another phenomenon:

During the “rebirth tide,” corpses were not always resurrected. But once resurrection did occur and left blank areas behind, the remaining corpses would, within the next five minutes, rigidly and mechanically move toward the central region like metal attracted by a magnet, filling the corresponding positions one after another, as if lining up and waiting for grace.

The law of Beyonder characteristic convergence? No, that doesn’t seem right. The dead here have already passed down their characteristics… As Bernadette’s thoughts spread, she suddenly thought of a question:

It was impossible for the reborn dead to regrow Beyonder characteristics. Then did they still possess the abilities they had when alive?

Once I have a more complete grasp of this island’s situation, I can find one “resurrected” being and test it… Bernadette swiftly made a decision and, following the path the Invisible Servant had explored, walked forward.

She did not use any Beyonder powers other than the Hat of Invisibility, doing her utmost not to disturb the environment or miss details. Because of this, she did not walk very quickly. It took nearly another quarter of an hour before she left the graveyard.

By then, the Invisible Servant had already slipped into the forest ahead. It heard occasional birdsong and beast roars and sensed a vitality different from that of the other regions.

Above the gray fog, Klein silently sighed.

“Fortunately, I am now the master of Sefirah Castle. Here, I possess the status of a King of Angels. I can watch reality for as long as I wish without worrying too much about exhausting my spirituality. Mm, the only thing I need to watch out for is the body hidden within the pre-First Epoch old city inside the fog of history.”

After the Invisible Servant advanced for a few more minutes, it suddenly saw something that did not quite fit the environment of this primitive island.

It was a wooden house, like the dwelling of a forest ranger.

The wooden house was brownish green overall and no more than two and a half meters tall. It seemed built for humans, but every detail revealed roughness and crudeness.

At that moment, the wooden house’s door was open, allowing Bernadette to see part of the inside through the Eyes of Mystery Prying:

A log-colored table, a bed laid with furs, and a low-backed round chair formed a scene as though a human had once lived there.

Who lived here? As Bernadette’s thoughts stirred, the Invisible Servant swiftly approached the wooden house, searching for possible clues.

It soon discovered that the aura inside the wooden house was icy cold. Aside from that furniture, there was nothing else present. It seemed no one had lived there for a very long time.

Just as Bernadette used the Eyes of Mystery Prying to carefully inspect every detail within the wooden house, a certain premonition suddenly arose in her heart, and she hurriedly made the Invisible Servant turn around.

At some unknown time, a person had appeared behind the Invisible Servant!

He wore luxurious clothing from Roselle’s era. His hair was completely white, his face aged, and his eyes were pale blue, extremely cold and wooden.

Edwards.

This was the knight who had lived for a time after the Emperor’s fall, the ancestor of Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina.

Edwards stared at the Invisible Servant for several seconds. Then he suddenly opened his mouth and spoke in a deep voice:

“Your Highness.”