novelraw Chapter 368: The Oriole
Chapter 368: The Oriole
Carrying Valentiina on his back, Fisher leaped upwards, rushing toward the location of the Base. However, he didn't carry her all the way to the grand doors of the Curse; instead, he put her down behind one of the doors. Then, turning his head, he said to Valentiina,
"Leave the rest to me. You wait here. Of course, if anything changes, just act according to what I've told you. But no matter what, do not take off the ring I gave you, alright?"
Just now, while rushing up from the bottom platform, Fisher had roughly deduced the possible situations that could arise and formulated corresponding countermeasures. This was why he was giving Valentiina a morale boost now.
Sitting on the ground, Valentiina hugged her knees and nodded. The magic ring worn on her ring finger flickered with a faint fluorescence; it was precisely this ring that protected her bloodline as the Moon Princess from being sensed by that Curse.
Fisher then took Eimhart out of his embrace and placed him beside Valentiina, advising him,
"Eimhart, you stay by Valentiina's side. If there's any anomaly, you must help her..."
Reluctant, Eimhart turned his head to glance at Fisher. Originally, he had still wanted to follow Fisher upwards. But upon sensing the severe tremors already starting to transmit from above at this moment—meaning someone had seemingly begun fighting—he hesitated for a moment but decided to listen to Fisher's words and stay by Valentiina's side.
"Alright... don't die, or I'll make all your misdeeds public."
Speechless, Fisher nodded, then extended the Fluid Sword and leaped toward the Base's location above, leaving only Valentiina and Eimhart sitting in place, looking at each other in blank dismay.
Valentiina carefully reached toward the inner side of her clothes. There, a dagger hilt's shape was indistinctly outlined beneath the fabric."Screech!"
The higher Fisher leaped, a sort of reverberating sensation seemingly originating from the depths of the soul alongside that very familiar screaming sound traveled along the space within the Sycamore tree. In the center of this cylindrical, broad space, a set of grand doors roughly twenty meters high had already been opened to a crack. Fisher could sense that Erwind and that Base were both inside.
Carefully activating the other [Soul] magic capable of isolating the Curse's perception he had at hand, Fisher entered through the doors. Behind the grand doors lay a long corridor. There were no doors at the other end of the corridor, thus generously displaying the scene of a massive space at the end of the hall.
It was a room filled with a great sense of ceremony. The surrounding walls and even the ceiling were carved full of various Phoenix-style sculptures. In the true center of the room sat an immense throne crafted from black minerals, looking exactly the same as the one Fisher had seen in his dream, except this time he was looking at it from the front.
Lying atop that giant throne was a twisted and deformed monster. The indescribable flesh was covered in irregularly shaped black feathers. At the very top of that deformed body grew three or four pustules—it was unknown if they were heads—and upon each pustule, densely packed eyeballs with the colors of True Ice were irregularly distributed, looking exactly the same as what Fisher had seen on the Curse.
Merely seeing that giant and bizarre existence immediately made Fisher's scalp tingle, because he clearly realized that the life tier of the thing on the throne was far higher than his own or Erwind's. It was just that it had absolutely no sentience; it was more like a mass of twisted and crazed matter incessantly opening forty or fifty mouths to roar unintelligible words.
That ugly and deformed monster was the incomplete 'Base' formed after the entire Phoenix Race was contaminated by the Spirit World entity. At this moment, a superbly crafted giant sword was still pierced into its body. That giant sword was a Relic, and of a much higher grade than the Ice Prince Sword or Moon Princess Sword Fisher had seen previously. It appeared this was precisely the Sword of the Phoenix King.
From the Sword of the Phoenix King, seemingly living cold ice continuously grew, sealing the movements of the Base on the throne tight. However, some of its tentacles still grew out to fight that Erwind wearing a bird-beak mask standing in front of the massive throne.
In the broad hall ahead, Erwind was dealing with the tentacles and flesh spreading from the cold ice of the Base with considerable difficulty. It seemed that even Erwind found it hard to deal with the Base, which had already exceeded the Mythical Rank. But conversely, since that Base possessed absolutely no sentience, if Valentiina's factor was ignored, it also lacked any effective means against him or Erwind.
Fisher stood silently in the darkness of the rear corridor, observing every action of Erwind and the Curse. Just as he slowly approached the hall ahead, he suddenly felt a chill down his back, accompanied by a calm voice,
"Are you waiting for me and that Curse to both suffer so you can reap the rewards, Fisher?"
Fisher's movements paused slightly, his pupils shifting. The battle in the hall ahead continued unabated, yet in the darkness right beside him, Erwind had appeared with arms crossed at some point. The bird-beak mask seemingly inlaid onto his face raised slightly, its lenses reflecting Fisher's figure.
The moment Fisher saw Erwind, he violently raised the Fluid Sword in his hand. Because in the next instant, the Erwind before him had already transformed into a lightning bolt that smashed everything like rotten wood, slamming him into the wall behind.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by a loud crash, Fisher violently leaped into the air, dodging Erwind's fatal assault. He simultaneously turned his head toward the hall, only to find that the 'Erwind' inside the hall was far inferior in both speed and capability to the one before him. That was a creation of his, a smokescreen.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Fisher landed on the ground. Looking at the Lord of Life standing in the smoke and dust ahead, he suddenly asked,
"When did you find out that this Curse was formed after being contaminated by the Spirit World?"
"In Mya, when my creation fought with you... this Curse also appeared. I felt that the soul attached to the creation was also damaged. I traced it back according to the soul's wound and discovered that many Chaos-kin who should have rightfully been in their places in the Spirit World had disappeared... I guessed that something must have happened in the Spirit World to cause this. If I stubbornly relied on the Spirit World to enter Mythic, it would be far too foolish."
He spread his hands and spoke to Fisher like this. In reality, this meant that after Mya, Erwind's objective had already shifted back to Fisher, or rather, the [Soul Completion Handbook] he possessed.
"In Naris, you hadn't deeply studied the Soul Completion Handbook. The evidence on you was insufficient, and I also couldn't thoroughly expose the Magic Lord's lie that a person can only read one Completion Handbook. But now, look—you carry the distinct aura of having read two Completion Handbooks, yet you still maintain your rationality. This can already prove that the Magic Lord deceived all of us."
"You don't have absolute certainty of defeating me, someone of a higher tier, so you want to use the contaminated Curse to deal with me. Conversely, I also can't absolutely guarantee that I can avoid the Death Rune bestowed upon you by the demon, right?"
Quietly, Fisher touched an item shaped like a short dagger in his embrace. The two men just stood thus locked in a standoff in the corridor, until Erwind turned his head toward the twisted Base sealed onto the throne by the Phoenix King's sword inside the hall. Only then did he suddenly speak again,
"Then, let's both press our chips onto this Curse. I can sense that this thing's tier is above Mythic, and it is incomplete. Let me guess, this is the reason for the demise of the Phoenixes. Thus, it should still be searching for the last lost Phoenix bloodline in an attempt to make itself complete. And you, happened to bring a Phoenix bloodline in..."
Not only was Erwind extremely brilliant, but the time he had possessed the Completion Handbook was very long. His experience concerning many matters of this world was vastly superior to that of the not-even-thirty-year-old Fisher. No wonder the demons locked in the Abyss had to dispatch people to put a bounty on him, and even armed with the Death Rune, he managed an escape time and again. This alone was enough to illustrate how troublesome Erwind was.
Just like now, he hadn't spoken with the Moon Princess at all, yet just through deduction, he could see through the situation here and Fisher's calculations. When dealing with this enemy, Fisher absolutely had to display unprecedented focus.
"Erwind, the existences in the Spirit World are beyond your or my imagination. Once this thing becomes complete, He will descend here. When that time comes, even if you defeat me and take the Soul Completion Handbook, you won't be able to walk out of the Sycamore tree alive."
"Oh, I see... In that case, let's both exert ourselves before hitting this bottom line and see who can achieve their objective first."
Erwind stood up straight, lightly clapping his hands as if he hadn't given it any thought at all. At the same time, the creation in the distance that bore a striking resemblance to him leaped into the air and pulled out the longsword impaling the throne. Along the gap created by that longsword, a bone-chilling wind countless times colder than the entirety of the Northland burst from within the Base's body, blowing toward the two men at the doorway.
"Screech!"
Yet, the stronger the freezing wind blew, the thinner the cold ice covering the Base became. It seemingly instinctively sensed the bindings restricting it loosening, so it struggled madly. The entire Sycamore tree trembled under its terrifying struggle, making one feel the ceaseless mighty power of its Mythical Rank.
Countless violent gales mingled with eardrum-shattering roars swept from the center of the hall. Fisher violently stabbed the Fluid Sword into the ground, barely stopping himself from being blown away. Erwind, however, just stood quietly amidst the freezing wind, looking toward the hallway branch in the other direction where there were doors. Afterward, he turned around and pointed at Fisher's chest, where the outline of a short dagger was exceedingly clear.
"Fisher, it's rather interesting. In Naris, that Whale-person demi-human had a deep relationship with you, and now it has shifted to that crippled girl with the Phoenix bloodline. Although I have no intention of judging your private life, ultimately, you keep handing over leverage for me to manipulate you with, making me feel quite embarrassed. Consequently, let's make a mutually beneficial transaction."
"That Phoenix bloodline is what the Curse desires, and similarly, I hold some interest in this piece of leverage of yours. Thus, right now, it appears the Curse momentarily shares my objective... however, if you kill that Curse using the Death Rune, I will abandon my search for the Phoenix bloodline to duel you. After you die, I will even safely escort her out of the Sycamore tree. What do you say?"
Fisher smiled mockingly. Raising the Fluid Sword and the ring shining with magic light in his hand at Erwind, he asked,
"Why don't I just give the Soul Completion Handbook and the other handbook directly to you, and then you let the both of us go?"
"Regrettably, a Completion Handbook can only change ownership when its master is on the verge of death. Otherwise, I could also save a lot of effort, couldn't I?"
But as Erwind spoke, he noticed something slightly amiss. In the hall behind Fisher, the terrifying Curse covered in a hundred eyes wasn't searching for the remnant Phoenix bloodline. Instead, it was barging around the hall like a headless fly. The immense power caused even this magnificent Sycamore tree to appear somewhat precarious.
"..."
Erwind clapped his hands and praised,
"A genius of magic truly commands admiration and causes headaches at the same time. Just like the former Magic Lord, coming out with endless weird and unpredictable methods that are impossible to defend against effectively... Magic capable of isolating the Curse's perception. It seems I can only go and see the location of the Phoenix bloodline personally first."
"Try it if you dare."
Fisher charged toward Erwind. Just as Erwind grew vigilant whether Fisher would draw the Death Rune to slash him, Fisher suddenly forcefully threw a lightning magic backward, then decisively stepped past Erwind's attack range and ran toward the outside.
"Screech!"
In the rear, stung slightly by the magic, the Curse threw its head back and screeched at the sky once more. Twisting its head to look, it saw an elegant bird-beak gentleman standing in the corridor. Roaring continuously, it rapidly crawled toward the direction of the doorway, causing Erwind to be momentarily taken aback before he put his gentleman's hat back on his head.
"Hide and seek, huh..."
Consequently, he instantly vanished from the spot, rapidly heading toward the space outside.
In the rear, after the utterly senseless Base saw both people before it vanish without a trace, it let out a roar of unfathomable meaning again. It violently barged toward the narrow corridor ahead. The black mineral corridor that hadn't suffered a speck of damage during the fight between Erwind and Fisher effortlessly collapsed and shattered before its might. Simultaneously, fleshy feathers that seemed to have a life of their own slowly grew from the places it passed, outlining traces of its trail.
"Screech!"
Its densely clustered hundreds of eyes twisted irregularly, looking up, down, left, right, in various directions, yet it persistently failed to determine a forward direction. Foolishly, it shook the fleshy wings on its body, whipping up a violent gale comparable to a tornado heading in all directions, attempting to reclaim a certain piece of what it had lost.
"The last... the last Phoenix... Screech!"