Chapter 1216: Section 1217: The Body of Ancient West Asia
Just as Angel plummeted from the gondola, he paused abruptly and peered back at a vast, gray wasteland with puzzlement.
The heavy rain still hadn’t ceased, and the far edges were shrouded in layers of mist, making it hard to see clearly.
“Angel?” Popota had by this time already leaped onto the roof of a decrepit stone house and turned back to look at Angel.
Angel frowned and quickly caught up with Popota.
At the same time, deep within the mist-shrouded downpour, in the endless wasteland, stood a lone, withered tree that had been dead for who knows how long.
A black crow perched upon the tree, its deathly still gaze piercing through its pupils toward the distant city.
“Kulangduo, do you see anything?” a voice, both ancient and crude, came drifting over.
The crow fluttered its wings a few times before its solid-looking body gradually turned into a phantom shadow. Finally, it revealed a figure in a black cloak, wearing a crow mask.
“It seems he has noticed me,” a cold voice, echoing as if from the depths of the abyss, murmured from beneath the crow mask.
“This is a very special human… With some miraculous abilities, it makes sense,” the figure reflected, recalling the scene it witnessed not long ago. The True Spirit of a great Demon God falling in a single strike—such terrifying power could perhaps only be described as a ‘miracle.’
“I thought I would be taking you to your destined death soon, but it appears now that you’re quite lucky, Prince Wodell.”
“Heh heh heh, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name. It seems only you still remember what to call me,” the old voice sighed softly, “Although the Continent of Yuantan found redemption from its downfall, whether it can get back on the right track isn’t something I can decide.”
“So, you’ve called him from afar,” Kulangduo stated calmly.
“The favored one of miracles may be able to unlock the Miracle Box.”
Kulangduo fell silent for a while, not continuing on this subject but changing the topic: “This place has attracted the attention of others, including lords and Demon Gods… I hope that the next time we meet, it won’t be so soon.”
“O guide to death, Kulangduo. Can I take that to mean you’re worried about me?”
Kulangduo didn’t reply but simply said indifferently, “I’m truly leaving this time. Take care of yourself.”
Having said that, Kulangduo transformed back into a black crow and flew off into the distant rain.
Long after Kulangduo left, by the side of the withered tree, there suddenly appeared a phantom shadow wearing a primitive totem mask, standing by the tree, letting the endless rain pour down.
The lonely tree and the solitary figure in the veil of rain formed a picture in hues of grey.
After an unknown period, the phantom shadow glanced once more in the direction of the city in the wasteland, then vanished without a trace.
…
Angel soon arrived at the place where Greerwu had summoned him.
Greerwu stood on the roof of a house with a round, wide top. Before it lay two bodies—unlike the skeletons previously encountered, these corpses hadn’t begun to decay and still retained the appearance of humans, as if they had just recently died.
“I saw this body in a ditch and brought it over,” Greerwu pointed at the person in the golden armor to the left.
“As for the other one, he was already here on this rooftop.”
Both bodies were undoubtedly human, and there were still faint vibrations of residual energy on them, indeed looking as if they had just died recently.
“The cause of death was severe internal organ damage and shattering. Due to the protection of residual energy, there was no extensive decay. However, they’ve been dead for over a month now, and no soul vibrations were detected,” Popota said, flipping through the body in the golden armor. Soon, he found a knight’s sword and a one-time spatial capsule on him.
“The spatial capsule contains only food and water, along with several bottles of ointment for healing wounds.” Popota waved the knight’s sword, and the air responded with a sharp ringing sound, “The weapon is quite sharp; it could probably sell for a few dozen magic crystals.”
“It must be the work of an alchemy apprentice, the impurities have been well removed and the strength is acceptable, but it has not reached any ranking,” as an alchemist, Angel could tell the essence of the knight’s sword even without the Eye of Nalda.
“His armor, probably forged by a mortal blacksmith, has some resistance to minor physical impacts,” Angel casually explained the details of the armor. In truth, if he were to delve deeper, Angel could infer from certain details that the armor was likely standard issue, and some patterns suggested the person might have been a knight sponsored by the nobility or even of royal origin. But as these details were not particularly enlightening, he spared his breath.
“Can you find any evidence to prove his identity?” Angel inquired.
Popota nodded and crushed the one-time Spatial Capsule, retrieving a clear-veined green leaf from a large pile of drinking water.
“It’s from the Gravity Forest,” Popota explained upon seeing Angel’s puzzled look, “This green leaf is the identity credential of the Gravity Forest, similar to the Bone Card of the Barbarian Cave. It should contain this person’s information, but there’s a special energy lock inside that can’t be forcibly opened.”
“A person from the Gravity Forest, huh…” Angel’s gaze slowly shifted to the food and water on the ground, “It makes sense for an apprentice who hasn’t learned the culinary tricks to bring food. But he even carried water, which suggests he probably hasn’t mastered even the most basic water system tricks.”
The first trick Angel had mastered was the Cleansing Spell. With a slight alteration in elemental structure, it turned into the Water Delivery Spell. Therefore, Angel had never needed to carry water on any of his journeys.
“It seems to be a beginner or intermediate-level apprentice,” Angel knew that many wizard apprentices had ventured to the upper layers of the Abyss for experience. In the past, Nausicaa and Serum had teamed up to venture into the Abyss, and even David had hired Hegrilis to hunt armored demon porcupines in the Abyss, solely to integrate it into his bloodline.
“Your speculation is likely correct, and, moreover, this must be an auxiliary space of the first layer of the Abyss, otherwise these apprentices couldn’t possibly be here,” Popota agreed.
After approximately determining the cause of death and the deceased’s level of ability, the question remained: how did he die? His internal organs were heavily damaged, yet his armor seemed intact. Could it be some sort of energy attack targeting the insides? Then, is there a creature capable of such an energy attack here?
Unable to gain more information from the armored knight, they turned their attention to another corpse.
This was a person dressed in a purple wizard’s robe.
When Popota lifted the hood, a young face was revealed.
“Looks like he’s not even thirty,” Popota muttered as he started to lift the wizard’s robe for a further inspection.
But just then, Angel suddenly said, “I think I’ve seen him before.”
Popota swiftly turned back.
Furrowing his brow, Angel’s mind was filled with visions—
In the pitch-black underground cavern, a somewhat frail-looking young apprentice in an old, purple wizard’s robe had a distorted expression, his hands covering his ears as he shook his head in hysterical screams.
On closer observation, the hoarsely screaming young man looked exactly like the one lying on the ground, even wearing the same wizard’s robe.
After recalling for a moment, Angel said, “His name is Gusiya, from the Forest of Night Whisper.”
This occurred shortly after Angel had entered the Abyss. Human’s stronghold, the Ashenrock Giantstone, had been destroyed, and under Sinafa’s guidance, they all moved away, aiming for the Cross-layer Gate in the Grey Hued Overlap Zone as their final destination.
During this journey, something strange happened.
While passing through the Ancient Cold Ruins, a wizard apprentice suddenly suffered from hysteria, claiming that someone was incessantly whispering in his ear, causing him great agitation and leading to hysterical shouting.
Even Sinafa paid attention to his condition and ordered that he be watched closely.
Angel was also curious back then, silently observing the wizard apprentice. However, in the blink of an eye, the apprentice had vanished.
Afterward, Sinafa stated that they need not search for the apprentice—that he could not be found.
After finishing the story, Angel silently gazed at the young apprentice who had lost his life on the ground: “The apprentice who disappeared… was him, Gusiya.”
As Angel’s words faded, Popota looked at Gusiya, then at the dark world around them.
“Are you implying that Gusiya disappeared at the Ancient Cold Ruins? Then how did he end up here?” Popota paused, speaking to himself, “Could it be that the Ancient Cold Ruins contain a passageway to an auxiliary world that Gusiya stumbled upon by chance, bringing him here?”
Just then, Greerwu, who had been silent so far, suddenly spoke.
“The owner’s words remind me of something Tandin the butler once mentioned to me about the times of Ancient Cold,” Greerwu said, “Tandin the butler told me about the times of Ancient Cold, dating back a hundred thousand years, when it was the era of the Indigenous People’s zenith. It’s said that many powerful individuals among the Indigenous People emerged from the Abyss, with some even occupying certain worlds within the deeper layers.”
“However, the Indigenous People gradually weakened, and the Ancient Cold period became history. Also, because many demons had their living spaces squeezed by the Indigenous People, they sought revenge when the Indigenous People became vulnerable, leading to the demise of a large number of them. For some time afterward, barely any Indigenous People could be seen on the Barren Face.”
“But the Indigenous People were not exterminated. Reportedly, the survivors from the Ancient Cold period fled to a sealed continent.”
“However, later on, something went wrong with that continent, and more Indigenous People migrated back out, living on the surface up to this day.”
“And that sealed continent became what the Indigenous People refer to as… the Ancient Cold Ruins.”
As Greerwu spoke, he looked towards Angel, “So, I believe this place might be the sealed continent, the true Ancient Cold Ruins.”