Chapter 284:
C284 - Temar's First Tomb (5)
The dawn light shone upon Vaollai.
Murakan held the key, but he couldn't help but feel bitter. Remorse, sadness, longing, self-contempt, and powerlessness overwhelmed him. All these dark and heavy emotions pierced his heart.
A friend.
More precious than anyone or anything else.
That's what Temar was to Murakan. If Temar desired something, Murakan was willing to fight against all odds, and if Temar were in mortal danger, he would gladly give up his own life to save him.
But he couldn't.
If the ancient dark dragon of over three thousand years were to choose the most devastating memory of his life, it would undoubtedly be Temar's death.
Shuri licked Murakan's shoulder. He didn't respond despite Shuri's multiple licks, so Shuri let out a mournful cry and returned to the red ruby.
Murakan.
Jin couldn't say much either. It wasn't normal for Murakan to be so saddened.
Jin had also lost someone he cherished more than anyone in his past life. On the day he was banished from the Garden of Swords, Gilly was stripped of her aura and had to endure a punishment worse than death itself.
Suddenly, Jin was reminded of what he last saw of Gilly in his past life, which made him feel distressed as well.
Murakan's hand trembled as he held the key.
Then he held the key with both hands and pressed it against his chest. His massive physique suddenly seemed like a withered branch, and his back began to shake.
Was he crying in sorrow for his poor, old friend who had left after leaving him with scars?
Jin slowly approached Murakan. The dragon seemed to need comfort.
"Darn it. What the hell is wrong? Curse it all." Murakan cursed aloud.
"Huh? What? Murakan?"
"I'm referring to this key. I've infused it with tons of Shadow Energy, and yet, it won't budge. Now, everything wants to irritate the great Murakan, doesn't it? Well, let's see who wins this game, you damn little toy."
Murakan had indeed been trembling, but not because he was sobbing.
He trembled because he was infusing large amounts of Shadow Energy into the key.
That's also why he held the key against his chest. At first, he casually infused Shadow Energy into the key with one hand, but once he realized nothing was happening, he started using both hands to infuse large amounts of Shadow Energy.
"Come on, activate already! I think it has absorbed a five-star worth of energy."
Jin felt quite perplexed but soon let out a chuckle. "Stop getting so worked up. I'll send Gilly on vacation as soon as we return, so maybe you two can go on a trip together."
Fling!
Murakan turned his head at lightning speed.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course. It won't be anything too difficult."
"Finally, it's about time you repay me for raising you, brat. Bwahaha, that's right. Give her a nice, long vacation while you're at it, so I can have a happy trip with Strawberry Pie and-"
"But Strawberry Pie, I mean, Gilly, might reject you too, you know? Have you ever considered that?"
"What?"
"You seem to think that Gilly would obviously accept a date with you if only she had a vacation. I wonder if you can handle another rejection. It's going to hurt, you know."
Murakan was almost furious, but instead, he decided to mock Jin.
"Hmph! Bwahaha, you know nothing. Well, on the other hand, you've been in Lafrarosa since late 1797. Anyway, promise me you won't back out on the offer, since she'll surely accept me."
His response left Jin mysteriously annoyed.
It didn't seem like anything was going on between him and Gilly. Why is he so confident? I mean, is it true that those two are dating? Why do I care so much about these things? Why is it so annoying?
And Murakan thought, I just gave a response because the brat was so annoying, but what if she really rejects me?
Of course, neither Jin nor Murakan could read each other's minds.
"Sure, sure. Go ahead and activate the key now, oh great dark dragon."
"Yes, just you wait. Hmm!"
Murakan began infusing his Shadow Energy into the key again.
But it still wouldn't move, no matter how desperately he poured his strength into it. At that moment, all the veins on Murakan's neck burst from the effort.
"Solderet, that scoundrel. Why did he make such a contraption?"
Murakan tossed the key to the ground and gasped for breath.
"Maybe he's doing it wrong? Or maybe Picon told us something wrong."
Neither of those things are true. I've told you, Solderet used to make a bunch of these things. And Picon can't be wrong either because this is indeed where Temar was buried. I can feel it."
"Then why isn't it working?"
Wroooom!
Murakan suddenly transformed into his true form. Jin instinctively looked around. They were in an open plain. There was nothing that could hide Murakan.
"Why do you think we came all the way to the Hola Mountains? If someone sees you, all the effort will be wasted. Why are you suddenly transforming?"
"I don't think this key activates with your usual dose of Shadow Energy. I've already put all the Shadow Energy I can in my human form."
Surprised, Jin looked at Murakan.
"What? How much Shadow Energy could this object possibly need?"
"It's time to find out. Stay alert. If you see any remnants of the Dark Magic Guild, eliminate them."
"I told you, such things don't exist anymore."
Surprisingly, it took eight hours until the key reacted.
Fortunately, nobody noticed Murakan sitting in the middle of Vaollai, struggling with the tiny object.
Murakan squeezed out the last of his remaining Shadow Energy.
That was when the key slowly levitated from the tip of Murakan's claw into the air.
"Yes, it's working! Ugh, everything hurts."
"Is it done? Finally?"
Murakan transformed back into his human form and stood beside Jin.
He seemed completely exhausted. No, he wasn't just exhausted. He looked pale and on the verge of collapsing at any moment.
The key floated in the air and halted its movement.
Then the two of them felt the area surrounding them suddenly darken, as if a surge of Shadow Energy was being released.
Indeed, it was the Shadow Energy from the key that had darkened the world around them.
The Shadow Energy from the key enveloped the entire Vaollai area in a dark semisphere.
What is this? And more importantly, something of this magnitude could easily expose us to the whole world.
It was also the first time Murakan had seen something like this.
Jin was starting to think that all his effort to detour through the Hola Mountains had gone to waste.
Just then, he felt the dark force semisphere covering Vaollai gradually shrinking.
It was as if a giant hand outside the sphere was squeezing it downward. It became so small that the edge of the semisphere was about to touch Jin and Murakan.
Finally, the semisphere turned into a tiny dot and disappeared completely.
At that moment, Vaollai was a hill of green grass as usual, but Jin and Murakan, who had been standing there, were no longer visible.
They had been absorbed into the ethereal plane formed by the Shadow Energy.
"Well, I knew I was absorbing too much Shadow Energy. Was it an ethereal plane?"
Murakan laughed. Jin looked around, scared and suspicious of the sudden spatial change.
It was dark and completely devoid of everything. At the same time, it was so vast that he could barely guess the size of the place.
This desolate place was Temar Runcandel's first tomb.
"Solderet did so much to conceal it, and yet those Zipple bastards came here and plundered it."
Murakan shook his head, barely controlling his anger. "Create a flower with your Shadow Energy, kid."
Jin had never tried anything like that before.
But it wasn't too difficult since all he had to do was shape the Shadow Energy into a flower. Jin created an artificial flower with Shadow Energy and placed it on the ground.
"His body is no longer here, but we still need to leave a flower."
Jin left the flower on the ground. They stood in silence for a minute.
Both paid their respects, Murakan as a friend and Jin as a descendant.
"Kid?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
A wind blew from a direction after they paid their respects. The wind gently carried away the flower and passed by indifferently.
"The rookie god of blacksmiths, Picon Minche, said that you would meet here with those whom Temar trusted, right?"
"That's right. He also said that he needed something from this place to strengthen Bradamante."
"I've been thinking a lot on the way here, about what Temar's first tomb would be like and what you still had to gain from this place after it was completely plundered. Well, you know, things like that. But I didn't come up with much."
"And?"
"But now that I see this ethereal plane, I've realized something."
Murakan suddenly stopped because he had a bad feeling.
Meanwhile, Jin recalled the conversation he had with Picon Minche.
"There's an area called Vaollai in the great Anz plains, in the central area of the plains. Go there and infuse Shadow Energy into this key. Then it will reveal his first tomb to you."
"Is there anything I should be aware of?"
"No matter what happens there, don't panic. That's what Solderet wanted me to tell you."
"Is there anything else?"
"Nothing. I wish you luck in your battles, Jin Runcandel."
For some reason, the phrase about wishing him luck had disturbed Jin. Why was he being wished luck in battle when he was going to meet someone Temar had trusted? It was hard to understand.
"Kid, I think there's a guardian. A guardian still resides in this tomb."
"A guardian?"
"Yes. The protector of the tomb. And the reason Solderet bothered to create a key that would only activate with so much Shadow Energy was because he wanted you to have enough Shadow Energy when you used the key to come here."
Picon hadn't told him about these things. And neither had Solderet.
In any case, the key would never have worked if he didn't have enough Shadow Energy anyway.
But there was a problem. The person who activated the key wasn't Jin. It was Murakan.
And indeed, Murakan was completely depleted of Shadow Energy because of it.
"Murakan, do you think I would have been able to activate the key with my Shadow Energy?"
"No way. The great Murakan himself needed eight hours and every last drop of his Shadow Energy to activate it. There's no way you could have done it with your seven-star Shadow Energy."
"So, that means I don't actually qualify to be here, do I? And you won't be able to fight if that guardian thing appears since you've also run out of Shadow Energy, right?"
"That's right. But well. I doubt anything will happen. Who knows? Maybe there are no guardians to begin with. We'll find out soon enough."
Murakan had just finished his sentence when a sublime voice resonated from afar.
"Has the Contractor of Solderet come to pay respects to Temar?"
Upon hearing the voice, Murakan recognized who it was and slapped his hand on his forehead. He used to hear this voice every day a thousand years ago.
"This is Silderay's voice!"
Silderay Jizek was one of the biggest contributors to Temar founding the Runcandel clan.
The great knight whose legend and records were erased by the Zipples.
The guardian of this tomb was the will of Silderay Jizek himself.
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