Even as the fires in the town began to dwindle, its location remained clearly visible in the pitch black night. Li Yue had already lost her sense of direction, caring only to run away from the town.
Scrambling back to the small path she had come from, Li Yue followed the map deep into the forest. The wind blew through the treetops, bringing a rustling sound that made her already frayed nerves tighten once again.
Li Yue, oh Li Yue, you can't be jumping at every shadow!
She kept advising herself in her heart, yet she remained wary of every bush she passed.
As dawn broke on the horizon, Li Yue reached a thicket of thorns and saw a magnificent building within. It was a castle with round towers and pointed spires, like something out of a fairy tale.
The castle was clearly abandoned and unrepaired for a long time. The iron gates showed obvious signs of corrosion. As she bypassed the thorns, she heard the sound of plant roots shifting in the earth. The thorns at the main gate moved aside, laying an unobstructed path before her. Li Yue realized that the only way to enter the castle seemed to be walking boldly through the front gate.
If a red carpet were laid here, it might neutralize the eerie atmosphere, but there was nothing here—only bricks that had turned slightly purple under the erosion of time and moss that grew everywhere.
The guardian statues at the entrance had collapsed to the ground; some were missing limbs, while others were completely shattered.
To the right of the entrance was a stable, but it no longer held any living creatures. There were only a few decaying wagons and a gray carriage made of cedarwood. Sitting among the ruins, the carriage looked strikingly out of place. Li Yue recognized it at a glance as the carriage belonging to Sisyphus and his group.
So, to enter or not to enter? The answer Li Yue gave herself was, of course, no. Although she felt a mysterious pull urging her to enter and explore, she sensed that this strange feeling of destiny was almost certainly a massive trap.
She silently praised her own rationality in the face of her survival instinct and sat inside Sisyphus’s small carriage, half pulling the curtain so she could regain some sense of security.
"Roar!" A deafening dragon roar echoed from the sky. Before Li Yue could recover from the shock and paralysis, a burst of fire poured down from the heavens. It scorched the thorns but failed to cause even a sliver of damage to the castle bricks, which shimmered with a faint purple light.
The dragon circled in the sky, yet it seemed to be wary of something, not daring to fly down. Instead, it continuously spat out dragon breath.
"Crimson scales... different from the one in town. This one looks even more terrifying. What should I do..." Li Yue bit her nails and cautiously scrambled out of the carriage. She had to enter the castle before the dragon breath swept over the area.
Anyway, I won't wander around. I'll just stay by the entrance, and Clo will surely come find me.
The gate wasn't far, so she simply sprinted. Taking advantage of the gap while the dragon was roasting the castle with its breath, she charged inside in one breath. She didn't expect her stealth skills to fool a magic wielding dragon.
It wasn't an illusion; Li Yue felt the temperature around her rising rapidly. She knew the dragon breath was sweeping toward her. Fortunately, she managed to push the gate open and slipped inside just in time.
The moment she entered the castle, the scorching heat vanished, replaced by a bone chilling cold that struck her soul. A wave of bloody stench rose from her heart, making her feel nauseous.
A thunderous roar erupted from the ground. The thorns began to wither, and the spires of several high towers emerged from the earth, breaking through the ancient rock layers and pointing straight toward the heavens.
Ancient magical scripts were transmitted between the dozens of towers. The dragon quickly flew away from the castle as barriers linked the towers, instantly cutting off the sky.
Clo witnessed this scene, her mouth slightly agape. The dragon, bound by chains, continued to roar beneath her.
"Besides flesh distorting monsters, there was a seal there? Who broke it?"
Clo remembered investigating that castle before. Aside from some useless potions and a small amount of silver coins in some chests, the rest were just flesh monsters. The silver coins she gained didn't even cover the cost of the exploration potions she had prepared. Not only did she gain nothing, but she also lost quite a bit, which had left her fuming.
One tower represented Authority, two were Control, three were Imperial Power, four were Order, five were Human Reason, and six were the Supreme Art. This was the first time she had seen a castle—or rather, a place of eternal rest, a tomb—surrounded by over a dozen towers.
I wonder how she is now, Clo thought, resting her chin on her hand as she watched the castle.
"Achoo!" Li Yue sneezed. She felt the soul deep cold was now affecting her physical body. Leaning against the gate, she shivered uncontrollably.
This won't do. I'll freeze to death at this rate. Castles in movies usually have fireplaces and charcoal. Regardless of whether they still work, moving around should at least keep me a bit warmer.
A mysterious sensation seemed to be guiding her toward a destination. Following this feeling, the cold around her seemed to diminish significantly.
She wound her way through the building until she reached the central courtyard. It looked like a funeral had once been held here; pale roses remained unconditioned by time, still in bloom.
"Hello there, young lady!"
Li Yue shuddered, a creeping sensation rising from her heart. She looked toward the sound and first saw a head of crimson hair.
Is this Rolle? She swallowed hard. The Rolle before her was smiling, half of her body leaning out from a room at the end of the courtyard. Her clothes were disheveled, even exposing her chest. She opened her arms as if welcoming Li Yue, or perhaps intentionally exposing her charms.
Good grief, miss, isn't it a bit wrong to try and seduce me? And this is nothing like your personality.
Li Yue looked at her, having no intention of stepping forward.
"Not coming over? What a pity. Then I'm coming to you!" Rolle laughed. A blood line appeared from her lower body all the way to the back of her head, then snapped open violently, spraying blood everywhere. Her lower half melted into a mass of flesh, and a creature with twisted limbs emerged from beneath her.
"Damn!" Li Yue's legs went weak with fear. Although her brain hadn't reacted yet, her body moved first. In the dim corridor, blood seeped from the walls from time to time. She didn't care where she was going; she just ran wildly until the sound of the monster's footsteps behind her stopped.
What on earth happened? This question hung heavily in Li Yue’s heart.
Three hours earlier, Sisyphus and his group had arrived at the courtyard.
Several festering blood demons roared as they charged at them. Sisyphus snorted, kicked one away, and drew his sword to sever the arm of another blood demon charging at him.
A few fireballs followed, burning the blood demons rushing toward Sisyphus into charcoal.
Robert quickly followed up, finishing off the stumbling flesh monsters.
The group began to search the courtyard. After Rolle incinerated all the blood demon corpses, she started studying the traces of ancient magic in the surroundings.
"These roses have high level magic cast on them. The effect is to make them everlasting." Rolle knelt down, analyzing the eternal magic remaining on the roses. Sisyphus picked up a rose, then tossed it aside in disgust.
"I have a feeling there's a huge treasure hidden ahead!" Robert rubbed his hands together. The simple traps he had encountered earlier had boosted his confidence, and he was now eager to proceed.
The door ahead seemed to have accumulated years of dust. Under Robert’s skilled lockpicking, the door loosened slightly, and dust began to puff out.
Sisyphus was irritable. He had finally managed to get a map of the thorn labyrinth at the entrance, but he had found nothing along the way. Most of the chests showed signs of having been opened. If they really left empty handed, he would have to take his silver coins back from that mysterious female mage.
There were numerous blood demons and various flesh distorting monsters along the way, but fortunately, the danger was still within manageable limits. Aside from the two burly men suffering some injuries, the three of them had only consumed some stamina.
Robert's forehead began to sweat, and the sound of Sisyphus’s impatient foot tapping came from behind him. The arrogant smile on his face gradually faded, and his hands moved faster and faster as he muttered that it was impossible.
"What's wrong with you?" Sisyphus frowned.
"How is it possible... It's like how can a person inhale and exhale at the same time?" Robert’s hands froze. With a look of both breakdown and resignation, he gave Sisyphus the final smile of his life.
The next second, after a burst of blurred noise, a spear shot through a slight gap in the wall and impaled Robert’s head. Crimson blood and pale cerebral fluid splashed all over Sisyphus.
"What the hell? On guard!" Sisyphus roared, charging toward the exit of the courtyard. He kicked open the courtyard gate, only to be met by the foot of a giant flesh monster. The kick shattered his bones, and his skeletal remains merged into his flesh, leaving him dead in the corner of the courtyard like a pile of rotten meat.
Even the attacks from those previous monsters had only caused superficial wounds thanks to Sisyphus’s powerful physique and the mage’s enhancements.
His twisted body tried to turn a few times, but in the end, it only trembled. In fear and shock, his consciousness gradually faded into nothingness.
The flesh squirmed, drawing Sisyphus’s mangled remains into itself.
Rolle froze, unable to believe her capable warrior had been reduced to nothing in an instant. The intense desire to survive and the sudden shock drove her to the brink of madness in moments.
She watched the mass of flesh squirm toward her, her voice trembling so much she couldn't recite any incantations.
The fireball she managed to release was almost useless, only slightly slowing the speed of her own death.
How can this be? I'm going to die here? My talent is so good, I'm so beautiful... I don't want to! I don't want to die!
"I... I'm not like that mass of flesh!" Rolle looked at the approaching flesh, tearing at her clothes with both hands.
Her mind shattered, and in her hysteria, she actually tried to arouse the desire of this mass of flesh. "Look! Look! Look! Don't come over! Don't..."
Rolle's lower half was swallowed alive. She began to struggle violently, her mouth emitting wails mixed with cries. But soon, after the sound of chewing at her waist, her struggles gradually ceased. Her hands hung limply, swaying in the air.
Then, she was swallowed whole.
Sometime later, a body grew out from the head of the flesh monster. She wore the clothes Rolle had been wearing, her face seventy percent similar to Rolle’s, with a seductive smile on her face.
Back to the present, Li Yue was fleeing frantically through the courtyard. She pressed herself against a door, almost duplicating Rolle’s scene from before.
"Damn it, don't come over! Wait, wait, I don't want to die!" She leaned against the door, the sensation in her mind now stronger than ever, even faintly rivaling her desire to survive.
The door Robert couldn't open until his death suddenly swung wide open. Her body fell backward, as if she had caught a lifeline.
She charged into the depths without looking back, a thunderous roar echoing behind her.
"Almost there, almost there!" Li Yue gasped for breath, the surging adrenaline making her temporarily forget her fatigue as she sprinted forward regardless of everything.
"Survive, survive, survive! I want to survi..." Her figure suddenly froze as a massive force struck her, sending her body flying forward.
She fell to the ground, wanting to get up but feeling a sharp pain in her chest and weakness in her limbs. Blood seeped out from beneath her. Looking at the bone spear not far away, she realized roughly what had happened.
She had a feeling that the destination was just ahead, within reach.
"Sur... survive..." she murmured, dragging her body forward inch by inch. Hearing the constant roars behind her, she felt the abyss right in front of her. She forced her eyes open to see a dark red pool of blood, her own blood flowing down the edge.
Without a moment's hesitation, she let her body fall from the edge of the abyss. She saw a sky full of blood droplets falling with her into the crimson abyss. She saw a blood red sword hanging from the ceiling. She felt her body slam heavily into the thick, syrup like blood.
Blood flowed into her heart and then throughout her body. The blood red sword descended slowly from the ceiling toward her chest, where a heart was being reshaped at that moment.
She spat out a mouthful of turbid blood. Her originally dark red eyes turned as crimson as blood. A pale color started from her roots until her waist length hair had all turned a death like white.
She felt as if everything had been pulled out of her body—memories, emotions, personality—and then, after being washed by the blood, they were poured back into her frame.
The Calamity Moon rose, and death began to shine upon the world.
After an unknown amount of time, Li Yue tried to open her eyes in the darkness, but she felt as if they were covered by something.
She reached out to remove it, but a pleasant voice sounded in her ear.
"You're awake? Don't take it off yet. You don't need eyes to perceive the world right now." A pair of fair small hands held Li Yue’s hands, which were about to remove the white silk from her eyes.
"Clo?"
"It's me. Listen, you're safe now. For now..."
Li Yue sniffed, the fragrance of soil entering her nose. Her five senses gradually returned to her body. She felt the jolting of wheels, as if they were on a pebble road. She could imagine this was a peaceful country path.
But why are we here?
Clo laughed it off later and found excuses to dodge the question. She gently stroked Li Yue’s snow white hair, tidying her clothes which had become messy after days of sleep.
Of course, she wouldn't tell Li Yue that the castle that night had been reduced to ruins, the monsters that bled were all dead, the magic dragon had fallen from the sky in despair, and a crimson blood color had stained a thousand mountains and rivers.
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