A mushroom cloud that was surrounded by fire slowly rose. Black air dispersed the smoke, revealing the greenish-black giant whose head was missing and whose body was ragged.
At this moment, the intelligent lives of different species that made up the giant's body suddenly came to life. They surged toward the head like a tide and gathered into a new head in only several seconds.
"'Vitality' is truly tenacious. As expected of the masterpiece of the school of necromancy." Lucien pointed the dazzling "Space Staff" in his hand, and the bodies of human beings, elves, and dragons were all slowed down. Their movement was like that of puppets, and their speed of recovery was slowed down.
Then, cold moonlight beamed out of Lucien's black pupils, and he turned into a legendary Knight. Drawing his silver longsword, he descended from the sky and slashed the greenish-black giant like a shooting star.
It was not that Lucien did not want to take care of it with magic, but the monster could come at any moment, and there was no time to waste. Naturally, he wouldn't choose any other option if he could crush it with the Sword of Truth!
After the silver sword flashed, an illusionary crack appeared on the greenish-black giant without a sound. It cut apart the defense, the black air, and the body, before it turned into countless tiny branches and spread to every part of the giant's body. Crack! Crack!
Pa! Pa! Pa! Amidst the crisp sounds, the corpses of the intelligent lifeforms turned into pieces of rotten flesh that fell to the ground like a sudden downpour.
In the torrential rain of blood, flesh, and pus, Lucien was surrounded by the silver moonlight, which 'evaporated' the 'rainwater' that fell on his body. Then, he caught the broken heart in passing.
The heart was greenish-black, and its powerful beating gradually slowed down until it stopped. Then, the flesh on the surface peeled off one layer after another, revealing a pool of bright green liquid the size of a thumb that was spreading out the intense air of life.
Lucien took out a silver teapot that was engraved with magic patterns. Opening the lid, he poured the 'Fountain of Youth' into it and sealed it again.
"Let's continue our journey. We are not far away from Maskelyne's location." Rhein, who had recovered a little, walked over and urged Lucien. To him, the Fountain of Youth was useless. Instead, it was like a deadly poison.
Lucien put away the Magic Silver Pot and was about to deactivate the transformation. At this time, sobbing sounds came from the surroundings, and the temperature seemed to have dropped by dozens of degrees.
Sob, sob, sob. Amidst the blood-numbing cries, the tombstones collapsed one after another, and the coffin lids were lifted up one after another. The black, gray, and white clothes seemed to have a life of their own. They stood up shakily and walked towards the center, twisting and turning.
The way they walked seemed deformed, but their speed was extremely fast. It didn't take long for them to merge into a huge doll. The doll was wearing a colorful coat and had a mysterious smile on its face. This made Lucien, who had transformed into an Epic Knight, sense a hint of danger with his sharp intuition.
"What kind of custom is this?" Lucien asked subconsciously.
Rhein shook his head. "I don't know. I only know one third of the weird customs at best."
The doll emitted the air close to level-three legendary. It slowly took shape in the weird, crying laughter.
"Let's go!"
Lucien had no intention of fighting. Although there was still hope for him to defeat this strange rag doll if he used all of his strength and items, in addition to Rhine's rich collection, doing so would waste a lot of time. It would be troublesome if the real monster caught up to him. Moreover, after killing the rag doll, it was very likely that other undead would appear. The battle might go on forever.
Having no time to deactivate the transformation, Lucien grabbed Rhein's arm and flew quickly in moonlight, illuminating the gray wilderness.
Very soon, a black gate appeared among the tombstones.
"Wu, wu, wu!"
The weird, crying laughter suddenly echoed next to Lucien's ears, dispersing the wall of space around him and the moonlight.
Lucien shuddered hard. He felt that a cold wind poured into his neck. The body of the legendary Knight showed signs of melting. It seemed that only the Robe of Grand Arcanists and other clothes were not affected. Of course, they could not work either.
Faced with the "doll" that could not be understood by common sense, Lucien did not look back but still flew straight to the black gate. In the meantime, he slashed the Sword of Truth behind him without looking back.
"Wu!"
The silver sword flashed, and the crying that was countless times more miserable burst out. The cold wind that blew into his neck came to an abrupt end.
Lucien did not check the result of the battle or the black gate. He simply crashed into it.
"Wu, wu, wu!"
After he jumped into the gray hall, even more unbelievable laughter and crying came into Lucien's ears. He activated his air, and moonlight glowed on his body, blowing the black gate shut.
Dum, dum, dum!
Somebody bashed the gate, and the black gate bent forward, as if it would be opened at any moment.
His blood was freezing. Calculating the coordinates, Lucien opened different black gates and shuttled.
After a few gray halls, Lucien and Rhein finally got rid of the mysterious doll.
"The location that Mr. Maskelyne left is right next to us …" While he was calculating, Lucien's pupils constricted violently. His heart was pounding hard beyond his control.
What would he see there?
Could he find the secrets of the monster?
Would it be an unimaginable scene, or a sign of horror and desperation?
Rhein, on the other hand, was rather calm. Fixing his black shirt and red coat, he pointed at one of the black gates with a smile and said, "It should be behind that, right?"
"Yes." Lucien walked over and checked it with magic. After confirming that there was no danger, he slowly pushed the gate open.
Moving backward without a sound, Lucien and Rhein saw everything behind the gate.
"Why is it like this?" Lucien tried to control his feelings so that his rationality would not be overshadowed by his disappointment.
Behind the black gate was an identical gray hall, which was no different from other places. Even the silver magic patterns were not left.
"Let's check carefully." Rhein's smile was gone. He walked into the gray hall and searched for all the traces attentively.
After confirming that the coordinates were fine, Lucien followed him in. Suddenly, he sensed that 'Sun's Corona' on his chest had subtle waves, as if it were resonating with something in the hall.
Following the connection, Lucien stood before a gray pillar and examined it with all kinds of magic.
After a long time, Lucien heaved a sigh and said, "As expected of a level-three prophet. This secret door is a classic example of invisibility. Without the guidance of 'Sun's Corona', only a top legend could possibly discover it."
As he talked, Lucien activated the secret door and stuck 'Sun's Corona' on it. Although Lucien had many ways to crack it, 'Sun's Corona' was the simplest and most time-saving method.
The gray hall was illuminated by the sunlight that did not belong to this place. A secret door was slowly opened, revealing a messy gray chamber. Broken magic tubes, alchemy furnaces and potion pots were everywhere.
Such a scene seemed to be caused by the owner's unstable mood or because he left in a hurry. If it had been a battle between legends, Lucien believed that they would not have survived at all.
The layout of the chamber was typical of an ancient magic laboratory. Lucien found a hidden desk without much effort. Three items were placed on the desk. One was the torso of a puppet, one was a magic notebook, and the last one was a gray mirror on which countless mysterious patterns were vaguely floating.
"'Mirror of Fate'. It is indeed Maskelyne's laboratory." Rhein recognized the mirror after the first glance. He explained to Lucien casually, "Maskelyne once worked with McLeod to create a legendary item that could reflect the river of fate. However, even the demigods could not reach such a level. In the end, they only created an item with a limited number of uses. In the two uses, it worked very well. One time, it accurately predicted the location of Thanos' relics, and the other time, as you know, it predicted that he would be trapped."
"So, it's a legendary item of prophecy." Lucien found that Rhein knew more than he thought. He cast Identification on the 'Mirror of Fate'.
"'Mirror of Fate', level-three perfect legendary item. It can predict what has happened in the past and a certain scene in the future. It is a projection of the river of fate and should not exist in this world. It will be completely broken after five uses. "
"Number of uses: Four."
"Fate has been decided a long time ago. It's just that the eyes of mortals cannot see through the dense mist."
"From: Waldo K. Maskelyne"
"There's only one use left. It seems that Mr. Maskelyne used it after he was trapped in this place." Lucien picked up the 'Mirror of Fate' and said solemnly.
Rhein smiled. "If it were me, I would've predicted the secrets of the monster with the 'Mirror of Fate', too. I wonder if he has any conclusions."
Lucien was not in a hurry to open the magic notebook. Instead, he picked up the green body of the puppet and asked, "Why did McLeod's puppet parts appear in Mr. Maskelyne's laboratory?"
"Perhaps Maskelyne found a clue after McLeod 'went missing'." Rhein looked around and suddenly smiled. "This place has been processed by Maskelyne. The flow of time is the same as the outside world. Even if the monster comes in a moment, we will have enough time to recover."
Lucien still did not open the magic notebook. He said solemnly, "I have two questions."
"What are they?" Rhein asked.
"First of all, as mentioned before, why did the monster not destroy the items left behind? I don't think that it couldn't have discovered them with its strength, could it?" Lucien clenched his right fist and tapped his chin softly. "Think about it in reverse. Why did Mr. Maskelyne and the rest of them, who left the paper, notes, and items, believe that the monster did not destroy them except for the last struggle in desperation?"
Rhein did not say anything but listened to Lucien's analysis quietly.
"The second question is that there are so many gray halls, but we found the pieces of gray paper, the puppet parts, and the traces so easily and simply. Isn't it too much of a coincidence?"
"You suspect that the monster is deliberately misleading us?" Rhein pursed his lips.
"It's possible, but what's the point of misleading us? Can't they defeat us? " Lucien suspected that it was an illusion or a dream through hints, but the Library of the Soul could be opened normally.
Taking a breath softly, Lucien said in a low voice, "Perhaps there are some clues in the notebook."
He opened the magic notebook, and Maskelyne's familiar handwriting appeared.
"… Through the 'Mirror of Fate', we found one of Mr. Thanos' secret laboratories. It was truly unbelievable that he was running such an experiment. It gave us great inspiration …"
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