novelraw Chapter 50: The Guardian of the Golden Blazing Sun
Chapter 50: The Guardian of the Golden Blazing Sun
[It slowly opens its mouth and asks why you have come to see it. Its voice is like a thunderclap, shaking the heavens!]
[Already unconscious, you are blasted from your Shell by the sheer force of its voice, reduced once more to a wandering soul, trembling before the giant.]
[Feeble wandering soul, how will you respond?]
[1. Turn and flee—leap off the ten-thousand-meter-high peak. If you die first, no one can kill you.]
[2. Tell the demigod titan Dan that you are a follower of the Corrupting Blood Sun. Maybe it’ll give you a reward?]
[3. Tell the demigod titan Dan that you are a follower of the Radiant Crescent Moon. Maybe it’ll give you a slap?]
[Warning! If you suffer a fatal wound while in wandering soul form, your soul strength will be permanently reduced by 1 point!]
What the hell?! Lin Xun’s face turned pale.
He only had two points of soul strength. If he lost one, he’d no longer be able to reshape a Shell.
And being unable to reshape a Shell would be no different from a permanent ban!He scrutinized the three options.
Option one was out of the question. Jumping meant dying. Dying meant a soul strength penalty. That was suicide.
Options two and three were like picking sides between the Blood Sun faction and the White Moon faction. But what if he chose the wrong one?
Choosing Blood Sun might seem safe—it even hinted at a “reward.” But knowing this cursed game, that was probably a trap. A bait-and-switch.
But hold on, what if the game wants him to think it’s a trap and pushes him toward the White Moon side, only to slap him dead for real?
Maybe the Blood Sun option is double-reverse psychology?
Or triple?
Or quintuple-layered misdirection?
Dammit, was this some kind of five-dimensional chess?
[Demigod Titan Dan sees you hesitate too long without an answer. The giant’s gaze gradually grows frenzied…]
The three options on-screen began to tremble. Time was running out.
Life or death hung in the balance. Lin Xun’s mind spun rapidly.
He drew a deep breath and slammed down option three.
[Fearless Apostle, you do not flinch beneath the blood-red radiance flowing from the giant. You meet its golden gaze and shout aloud your praise for the Radiant Crescent Moon!]
[The blood-red brilliance around the demigod titan suddenly flares like a descending Corrupting Blood Sun!]
[Bathed in this unending blood-red light, your consciousness begins to slip away. You melt into the overwhelming radiance…]
Crap, that’s it… he was done for.
So this was how he died in a psychological battle of baited choices.
[Just as you believe your end has come, Dan’s eyes retain a flicker of clarity. In the end, reason triumphs over madness.]
[The blood-red brilliance around it fades. In its place, golden light blazes forth like the noonday sun.]
[Bathed in this golden light, you feel warmth beyond compare. All the damage suffered beneath the Blood Sun’s rays is completely healed.]
[The Corrupted Yellow-Robed Bishop of the White Moon Church Shell also receives the golden light. All its injuries and fatigue are fully restored.]
[The golden giant, like a blazing sun, praises your courage and honesty.]
[The giant Dan begins to recount a long-buried history…]
Lin Xun let out a huge sigh, his back drenched in cold sweat.
He pumped a fist in the air, thrilled by his gamble paying off!
He’d chosen the White Moon faction not on a whim, but through careful reasoning.
From previous Shell memories, he knew the sun was only called the Corrupting Blood Sun after it was defiled. Before that, it must have been the Golden Blazing Sun.
And while the giant radiated blood-red light, its eyes still shone with golden brilliance.
The fact that it dwelled deep beneath Saint Rance—likely in exile or confinement—meant it probably wasn’t part of the active Blood Sun faction.
If it were, it should have long left this place to wage war above ground.
Whether his reasoning was solid or not, he’d made his choice under pressure—and he’d bet correctly.
[Through Dan’s recounting, you begin to uncover a forgotten history…]
[As one of the three great Solar Heroes, the titan Dan had always worshiped the sun that gave warmth to the world—the Golden Blazing Sun. But for reasons unknown, this eternal sun became tainted by a mysterious and vile corruption, transforming into the Corrupting Blood Sun.]
[The Church of Divine Light was torn asunder. The Church of the Blazing Sun fell to corruption and became the Blood Sun Church. Only the White Moon Church remained loyal to the Radiant Crescent Moon, standing against the spread of corruption.]
[Dan, named the Guardian of the Golden Blazing Sun, possessed power nearly equal to the gods. Even as the other Solar Heroes fell to corruption, he resisted the taint. He remained faithful—not to the Blood Sun, but to the Golden Blazing Sun.]
[The sun ceased to favor him. Former comrades, once fellow Solar Heroes, turned against him with weapons drawn. Though powerful, Dan could not stand alone against them all.]
[Defeated, Dan was implanted with a Seed of Corruption and sealed within a deep abyss. His former comrades believed that, sooner or later, the Blood Sun’s corruption would take him. That in time, the once-holy titan would also rejoin the sun’s embrace, even if that sun had become corrupt…]
Lin Xun was completely engrossed in the lore.
[After Dan finishes telling his tale, the golden light surrounding him dims slightly. The blood-red glow threatens to rise again.]
[Dan is about to enter sleep once more, to resist the creeping influence of the Blood Sun.]
[While still conscious, he asks if you are willing to swear an oath.]
[Do you wish to swear a special oath to the Golden Blazing Sun?]
Hsssh—Lin Xun drew in a sharp breath.
He had already read about oaths on the Apostle Forum.
In short, an Oath was a factional allegiance. Not for the Shell, but for the Apostle himself.
Throughout the game, Apostles would often encounter powerful NPCs offering them the chance to swear an oath, i.e., choose a faction.
In the corrupted Blood Sun world, the standard options were Blood Sun and White Moon.
Oaths granted access to faction invasions and faction missions.
That didn’t mean Blood Sun monsters would ignore you just for joining their side, though.
But this Golden Blazing Sun oath? Lin Xun had never heard of it before.
A hidden oath, unlocked only after surviving this insane sidequest? It had to be ultra-rare.
And if he swore the oath now, while Dan was still conscious… the reward was guaranteed to be beyond his wildest dreams!