Lord of the Mysteries

The huge eye, which had its blacks and whites clear, appeared translucent. It floated quietly behind saturated, overlapping colors. Klein couldn’t tell if it was hostile or friendly.

At this moment, Klein remembered a passage from the Sights in the Spirit World. The ancestor of the Abraham family had said: “Try not to cross eyes with any creatures of the spirit world for more than three seconds unless they have already expressed interest in communicating with you. This is considered provocative behavior. Also, do not let yourself appear terrified and nervous. For some predators, this will increase their desire to attack.”

As the words flowed through his mind, Klein retracted his gaze and continued to “chase” after the flying hardwood cane in front of him, at a rather adequate speed.

The sight of the full black armor set and black crown he donned, matched with a cloak of the same color, entered the round eye. But the figure quickly passed by, disappearing far away. It didn’t stir up the slightest change.

In essence, the spirit world is a very dangerous place. If one isn’t careful, one can encounter a terrifying existence at the demigod level… As Klein continued to make his way through, he realized that this place was truly chaotic. Although the seven lustrous brilliances that could be used to mark his location remained high above, covering the “sky,” they could still be seen from time to time beneath his feet, to his left and right, and from the front and back.

If not for his black cane, Klein wouldn’t have been able to determine his bearings.

Suddenly, through the faint fog of the void, he saw, on his left—based on a normal human being’s concept of left—a floating castle. It was entirely black in color. Its spire towered, and it was covered with vines, extremely reminiscent of a Gothic style.

At the top of the castle stood a translucent woman who was almost as tall as the castle. She was wearing a complex, gorgeous, dark, and gloomy black dress. She didn’t have a head, and there was a neat cut by her neck. Her drooping hands held four blonde heads with red eyes. If one looked closely, they would find that these brilliant-looking heads were exactly the same.

When Klein, who was disguised as the Dark Emperor, passed by, the four heads the woman carried blinked.

Klein didn’t respond as he flew forward as though he hadn’t seen her.

The woman slowly turned her body, letting the heads in her hand watch him depart.

What kind of monsters are these… As the thought flashed through Klein’s mind, he saw the black cane plummet rapidly.

He hurriedly chased after it, once again experiencing the feeling of a free fall.

About eight seconds later, a faintly discernible collapsed building appeared in front of him.

Outside of the building floated a spirit world creature which resembled a giant jellyfish. It extended transparent, sticky tentacles, and pulled the surrounding area into its own “territory.”

At the end of each tentacle grew a white skull with deep eye sockets. It kept shaking as it floated about with light but slow movements.

The black cane passed through the strange creature of the spirit world and hovered in front of the almost illusory collapsed building.

Found it? Klein was delighted at first before he solemnly glanced at the giant jellyfish that was waving its skull.

He made preparations for battle, but he didn’t attack immediately. Instead, he tried to emit the profound dignity that came with the high level of the Dark Emperor card. His eyes indifferently stared at the eye sockets that were deeply recessed.

After three seconds of frozen silence, Klein said ancient Hermes in a low voice, “Leave!”

The tentacles supporting the skulls twitched twice; then, the giant ‘jellyfish’ slowly floated up, disappearing into the depths of the spirit world.

This Dark Emperor card is still very useful… I was already considering throwing Mr. Azik’s copper whistle. The descendants of Death should still have some standing in the spirit world… Klein breathed a sigh of relief and descended, grabbing the black hardwood cane.

Then, he fell into the collapsed building ruin, with a sense of anticipation.

For him, even if the Church of Storms and the kingdom’s military had found this place ahead of him and had taken away the most valuable items, he would still be satisfied as long as there were still some remaining.

Even if there’s nothing else, it’ll be sufficient for me to explore an elven ruins and see what information they left behind… When Klein passed through an ethereal “barrier” that resembled a curtain, he felt the air around him suddenly become thick and heavy.

A shimmering wave of light appeared around him, coming from the deep blue water that filled the area.

At the bottom of the sea was an ancient, dark ruin. All the buildings had either collapsed or half-collapsed.

A huge pillar, carved with strange patterns and symbols, extended out from the middle. It appeared to be heading straight up to the top, as if it had supported the place in the past, but now it was broken and was leaning on the top of a nearby building.

Klein recognized this place, as well as the pillar. It was the hiding place of Sea God Kalvetua, a hidden place where reality blended with the spirit world.

At this very moment, an unwilling, pained, angry, and crazed scream echoed in the air. It didn’t weaken in the slightest. That scream was precisely the same howl of hatred that Kalvetua had let out before its death.

It’s really dead… Holding the black cane, Klein landed on the greenish-gray stone road in front of the ancient ruins.

On both sides of the road stood pillars that were neither thick nor tall, and on them were also strange patterns that were different from the symbols and magic labels from before.

At the bottom of each stone pillar, there was a figure sitting beside it. Some of them wore ancient robes, while some wore brown jackets that were fashionable nowadays.

As soon as they sensed someone approaching, they raised their swords, axes, and other weapons, stiffly but quickly. They turned to where Klein was, revealing their weathered, grayish-black faces and their shriveled bodies which were devoid of any flesh or blood.

Their eyes—feverish and numb—were fixed on Klein, who was wearing a black crown and black armor.

Kalvetua’s devotees… However, this also means that the Church of Storms and the kingdom’s military haven’t found this place yet… Klein sighed and injected his spirituality into the Sun Brooch. He muttered a word in ancient Hermes, “Holy!”

He activated the Sun Brooch’s Holy Oath, and through the corresponding word in ancient Hermes, he temporarily added a Holy attribute to the damage he dealt with his attacks.

Pa!

Klein flicked his wrist and threw his cane.

He bent his body slightly and charged towards the first “Sea God Guard” who came rushing over.

While running at high speed, Klein suddenly turned left and dodged the enemy’s axe. He then swung his arm backwards and used his cane to draw a clear grayish-white crack on the enemy’s body.

Pure golden flames silently rose from within the crack, wrapping around the Sea God Guard and burning it until it was on the verge of collapse.

Bam!

Klein exerted strength into his feet and stomped past the enemy.

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

Tap. Tap. Tap! Klein bent his back, quickly moving forward, sometimes to the side, and sometimes diagonally as he passed by each of the Sea God Guards.

At the same time, he brandished his cane, whipping, stabbing, cleaving, and slashing, leaving different marks on the guards that resembled dessicated corpses.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Klein passed through the road and arrived in front of the half-collapsed ruins.

Behind his gently fluttering black cloak, the Sea God Guards bloomed into golden torches, lighting up the greenish-gray stone slate and the patterned pillars.

Amidst the chaos, the guards fell down, one after the other, and no longer moved.

Klein went up the steps and entered the building where the half-collapsed pillars were.

The first thing that entered his vision was an unimaginably huge blue sea serpent. The scales all over its body were slippery, and they were covered with patterns that were similar to the symbols inside the ruins.

Its gaping jaws bit into a pillar, its curved milky-white fangs sinking in.

Its body below its head height was slumped across the ground. Its coiled body occupied about a third of the expansive hall, like a small, blue hill. However, its surface was covered in wounds with mangled blood and flesh. Even its bones could be seen.

A mysterious cyan light had already gathered over its body as it crept slowly towards one of its fangs that was longer than a human arm. This caused the slightly curved sharp bones to slowly straighten up.

Its dying cry reverberated in the air, causing Klein’s corporeal Spirit Body to show signs of instability.

At this moment, an old man wearing a clergyman’s cap was lying beside Kalvetua’s body.

His hair was gray, and his body was like a gray rock. He stuck his face tightly to the serpent’s body, making incomprehensible sounds from his throat. His actions were an unknown.

Around the gigantic serpent’s corpse were dessicated corpses. They were similar to the Sea God Guards outside, but they were even more bizarre. Their stomachs bulged to the point of rupturing. In addition, their mouths were stained with dark red blood and had strips of bluish meat hanging from them.

The blue dots of light also leaked out from their bodies, rushing towards the white fang that was gradually straightening up.

Before Klein could figure out what such a scene signified, the old man in the clergyman’s cap, who was lying on top of Kalvetua, stood up in a staggered manner and turned around.

His eyes were flashing with a blue light, his mouth was covered in blood-red meat which he was using all his strength to bite into.

In the place where his face had been stuck to, the snake’s body was mangled. It was missing a lot of flesh and blood, and even its bones were almost visible.

He was eating up the corpse of Sea God Kalvetua!

This… Klein frowned, roughly understanding what was happening.

After Kalvetua’s death, the priest and guards in the hall lost control and began to frantically devour its flesh and blood.

At this point in time, the Beyonder characteristics had yet to appear completely. Kalvetua’s body still contained a large part of it, and many guards had problems with a potion overdose or conflicting pathway characteristics. They broke down on the spot and died completely.

However, there were always people who were lucky enough to survive the sudden death, or there were those who lost control of themselves and became disgusting monsters, or those who directly skipped a few Sequences and became a powerhouse, or those who became lunatics with distorted demonic powers due to the mixture of pathway characteristics.

Regardless of which one it was, it was extremely dangerous!

Klein looked down from the surviving priest’s face to see his belly bulging like a pregnant woman’s.

A strong burgeoning and contraction appeared there, resembling a huge heart.