Chapter 824: Gone, But Returned
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Benjamin was not the only one; even the bone dragon, who had been waiting by the side, noticed this scene. It immediately got up from the ground and looked to the figures in the skies, letting out an ear-splitting roar that rang throughout the entire netherworld.
The black aura that had been still for almost ten hours began to grow turbulent again.
Benjamin’s heart made a ’ba-dum’ sound.
This was bad...
Because, after the figures had flown closer, he realized that those were the mages of the undead exploration. Benjamin had never imagined that they would actually turn around and come back after they had gone their separate ways just now, while escaping!
These foolhardy idiots!
Benjamin was extremely anxious. He wanted to open his mouth and berate them, order them to turn back, but under the circumstances, he could not even make the slightest sound. All he could do was remain rooted on that spot, panicking as he watched them with his eyes wide open. They flew closer, and closer...
The bone dragon flapped both its wings and flew once more into the skies; its pitch black soul fires stared coldly at the oncoming humans, as though he was about to spew out greyish white flames at any time and turn them into ashes.
"Director, we’ve found a way!"
The mages flew yet a little closer, and their voices could be heard from the distance. Benjamin felt somewhat doubtful, but his attention was still solely upon the bone dragon.
However, what made him rather taken aback was how the bone dragon, hovering in the air and glaring at them, did nothing to attack.
Soon, they had flown directly to a nearby area, watching the stuck Benjamin with some astonishment. It was only now that Benjamin saw the mages raising the bone staff they had obtained from the liches. Right then, the bone staff seemed to have been dyed black by some medicinal liquid. Thick lines of runes had been carved into the staff, and the skull at the end of it was emanating a faint, white light.
The white light was spread out, forming a mystical sphere that covered all the mages completely.
Benjamin did not know what it was, but he seemed to be able to feel an energy that was completely opposite of death leaking out from within the white light, causing the aura of the netherworld to be totally blocked out.
"What... Is that?"
"They seem to have modified the lich’s’ bone staff." The System was also somewhat unsure, "I also do not know what’s going on, but... There is an independent energy coming from within the bone staff. It feels really strange."
Confusion clouded Benjamin’s head, and he did not know what to say.
The mages flew over, looking at Benjamin doubtfully. Lara spoke in a nervous tone, "Director? Are you alright? What are you... Are you unable to move?"
Benjamin was really confused as well, and wanted so much to speak, but he could not.
Only, up until then, the thing that was making him feel the most surprised was till how the bone dragon continued to hover nearby, watching the mages inside the white light coldly without attacking.
In addition, the mages also did not seem afraid at all. They seemed not to regard the bone dragon in the least bit.
What was going on?
"...What are you planning to do?" He could not stand it, and asked the soul of bones through his spiritual energy.
"I am unable to defy the laws." The voice of the soul of bones had become perplexed at this point, "The world of the living... The dead are not allowed to step foot into the world of the living."
The world of the living?
There was a surprise in Benjamin’s heart, as he once again shifted his focus to the white light emanated by the bone staff.
Although there were similarities, he could confirm that it was completely unrelated to Holy Light, or in other words, light elements. The energy surging out from within the bone staff did not belong to the system of magic, and felt, instead, twistedly similar to the energy of the undead. It was very difficult for Benjamin to fathom what this white light, able to restrain the bone dragon from taking another step, was.
While he was feeling alarmed and confused, the mages seemed to also have a headache of their own.
"How can this be? Director, can you talk? Director... Are you still alive?"
They kept on shouting at Benjamin, panicked and confused. However, Benjamin could not even make the vaguest of expressions, let alone reply. This caused them to feel even more worried.
"Perhaps, this is only an illusion? And the honorable director has been..."
An expression of grief had even begun to show upon the male mage’s face.
"It cannot be," Lara observed for a moment, frowning. She spoke in absolute confidence, "The Director seemed to be restricted by some sort of energy. I can feel his breath, he won’t die!"
They stretched out their hands, trying to touch Benjamin, but were knocked back by an energy. They could not even touch the hem of his clothes.
However, seeing the mages try to rescue Benjamin, the bone dragon immediately gave a furious roar. It came nearer towards the mages, but the strange thing was that, as before, it did not dare to enter the domain of the white light at all.
Seeing this, the mages exchanged looks with one another, nodding.
"It really does not dare to touch us." The male mage exclaimed.
"That’s very normal." Lara stated as matter of fact. "The world of the dead is very rigid. It has so much aura of death condensed upon it. If it dares to take one step beyond the borders, it would definitely receive an extremely horrifying backlash."
"I did not imagine... That we could successfully turn that sort of energy inside out." Another mage spoke, looking at the glowing bone staff.
Lara nodded, and said, "There’s not much time left. We must quickly get the Director out."
Saying thus, she took out a bottle of medicinal liquid and another bone staff that had been broken in half from her bag. The medicinal liquid was dripped onto the bone staff, and in the next second, the white bone staff was also dyed into a pitch black color, as though it had turned black from the inside out by itself.
To test, she first used some dark magic, but all of them bounced off after getting close to Benjamin. Then, after a brief discussion with the mages, she suddenly thrusted the halved bone staff out, throwing it over to Benjamin.
Benjamin was somewhat stunned.
He watched with wide eyes as the bone staff flew towards him from the front. Then, exploding with a bang, it turned into a waft of black fire. The fire immediately covered him up, but the strange thing was, he did not feel anything at all.
These people... Had they really come up with something from the research on the materials obtained from those few liches?
With his vision being entirely blocked by the black flames, he naturally felt uneasy. However, at the moment, there was nothing he could do but to wait for a change with a heart full of doubt.
Only, this time, hope was once again alive in his heart. The mystifying white light, the discussion amongst the mages, the reaction of the bone dragon... All of these proved that the mages’ research had bore fruit. After hopeless attempts for over ten hours, he might finally be free from this!
Even the System spoke, "Although I do not know how they did it, but... Look at them. The mages under your command are more useful than you are. Aren’t you ashamed?"
"..."
Benjamin did not intend to pay it any attention.
The black flames crept around him, as though it was burning something. After half a minute, all of a sudden, an angry roar came from the direction of the bone dragon, as though something had happened outside.
Benjamin was startled, and immediately furrowed his eyebrows.
It could not be... .Had something happened to them?
However, it was at this moment that he realized a white light had enveloped him, plunging him into a circle of light. Furthermore, he suddenly realized, right then, that just a split second ago, he had subconsciously moved his own eyebrows out of anxiety.
This realization caused him to be shocked once more.
He... could move again?