novelraw Chapter 1546 - 734: Old Friends Depart One After Another (Part 3)
Chapter 1546 - 734: Old Friends Depart One After Another (Part 3)
Wei Shan, who usually smiled warmly, now had eyes full of battle intent: "I shall fight until my death, until my path is extinguished, and my flesh dissolves, never letting down the Butcher’s Iron Throne!"
"Ho ho ho ho ho ho... Good, good, good!!"
The Butcher let out a wild laugh, the space around him becoming increasingly distorted, and a blood-red tidal wave began rising from his body, making him look like a massive ball of blood and fire.
"Astrology, clear the way for me! This stretch of journey, I offer it to you!"
The Astrologer at the Watchtower, with eyelashes slightly quivering, raises her delicate hand, and instantly, in front of the Layer Boat, a dazzling star river appeared. The star river was soon distorted by the power of the Gray Mist Sea, but the Secret Marks and twisted symbols turned into star trails, spreading beneath the Butcher’s feet.
"When I return, if you still live, you may board the ship," Lin Yi said, "The Ark will always leave a light for you."
"I’ve long been dead, what good is returning alive?" the Butcher laughed mightily, "If in the future you see the ’Angel’ painted anew, it will be my work!"
Laughing madly, the distorted space finally consumed him, and he, alone, as if remaining on the Layer Boat’s deck in the black sea, took away a corner of the Layer Boat near the ship’s edge.
In the twisted blood-red fireball appeared the fierce, phantom figure of the God of Kill, aiming towards the world boundary unclear in its depiction of mural or infinite void, facing the endless pale golden tentacles to kill.
In the Gray Mist Sea, on the brink of destruction, resounded the Butcher’s swan song:
"— ’God Slaughter’!!!"
...
At the final moment, the remainder of the Layer Boat passed through the world fissure cleaved by the Butcher.
Behind them, the world fissure slowly healed, and within that healing gap was the destruction of a world.
..."
"Butcher..." Lin Yi murmured, for this old friend, separated for countless years, met again for only brief encounters, his heart was full of sighs.
Beside him, Boss also slowly clenched her fist.
"He’s been dead for so many years, dying again won’t reach anywhere..." Boss murmured, unclear if comforting Lin Yi or herself.
"When I return, he will certainly still be there," Lin Yi said with utmost seriousness.
But Boss seemed touched by something, her eyelids lowered slightly, with beautiful eyes flickering with cold and deep moonlight: "So... you will be there too, won’t you?"
"...Ah?" Lin Yi was stunned, suddenly a bit happy, "Are you worried about me?"
Boss pressed her lips, clenched her teeth, "Old friends wither away one after another, can’t I care about you a little?"
"Uh, don’t be angry, don’t be angry, I’m just asking," Lin Yi quickly replied.
"No asking, only answering my question!" Boss’s tone was chilly, yet Lin Yi felt a profound care.
Lin Yi looked at Boss, unable to distinguish this outwardly cold yet inwardly warm Boss from the Mage.
"I... will surely be there, right?" he said slowly, but by the end, his tone was somewhat uncertain.
He never knew the purpose of their voyage; they were said to confront the "Root," but didn’t understand why Tian Bufan said "Send Old Lin to the ’Root’..." And in his own nearly recovered memory, there was not a single fragment of clue.
Could sending him over truly deal with the "Root"?
Yet now they seemed to struggle against the "Angel."
Wei Liang, sitting atop the black mast, watched the interaction between Lin Yi and Boss below without uttering any usual teasing remarks, seeming to prefer seeing more of these rare interactions between the two.
Regarding the Butcher’s selfless departure, he showed no trace of emotion, as if such was long familiar.
His fingers rhythmically tapped on his thigh, and upon retracting his gaze, he again looked forward, after escaping the destruction of the Gray Mist Sea, they entered a new layer, still within the domain of the Gray Mist Sea but not the previous one.
They ventured deeper, to the extent the storm on the "surface" temporarily couldn’t sweep to them in the "sea bottom."
"We are now at the boundary of the Gray Mist Sea." Without time to mourn the Butcher’s sacrifice, the Astrologer quickly adjusted the "Star Dream Crystal" to ascertain their rough position, "The ’Angel’s’ disturbance twisted our journey in the Gray Mist Sea, and the big guy’s attack opened a wormhole-like effect, allowing us to bypass that distance."
"Perhaps soon, we will reach the overlapping boundary of the Gray Mist Sea and Returning Ruins..."
Lin Yi glanced around, always feeling the "Angel’s" power continued to penetrate and spread in another part of the layer, he thus asked: "Can you calculate if it’s the ’Angel’ arriving first, or us leaving first?"
On the level of layers and dimensions, time isn’t linear, to the "Angel’s" perspective, they’re like stories drawn in a picture book, but finding the fragment containing them involves its own "time."
Though this "time" isn’t that of the real world, it still holds validity, and this length unknown time segment is their chance to breathe.
"The ’Angel’ could descend at any time," said the Astrologer, "What we can do now is to keep delving deeper, trying to break through the layers before the ’Angel’ attacks, drawing closer to the ’Root’! My will has already disconnected from the Origin... don’t know how much longer I can hold, so do you wish for a steady burn or an explosive burst?"