novelThe Strange Maze
| ← Ch.411 | Ch.413 → |
In the cave where the Altar existed, it was of dead silence. This place had been turned into a world of ice. The Blue Guardians had been frozen into exquisite ice statues of different postures: some of them were holding a trident, and some were holding a coral staff. Their shining scales were revealed in the finest details.
Only the part of the ocean water that was close to the Altar still flowed under the extraordinary power. Stepping on the red coral reef, Lucien walked forward and laid his hand against the boundary of the frozen and the unfrozen.
Lucien started his casting. A complicated magic circle showed up in the dark blue water, surrounded by the many mysterious magic symbols.
According to Rhine's description, it would take Lucien three to four minutes to crack the defense magic circle sealed in the Altar, if he wished to avoid triggering the hidden trap. However, Lucien was not worried about this at all. Watching how the magic symbols changed, Lucien made complex gestures and directly opened the defense magic circle using his spiritual power.
Bang! The waves surged fiercely in the cave from the explosive power, and the red coral reef suddenly began to make a deafening sound.
Normally, the chief priest would sense the alert immediately and come to deal with the invaders. However, now the sharp alert could not cause Lucien any trouble, since the chief priest had been captured by Thanos' Maze and the rest of the senior-ranks were far away looking for food.
It was thus a piece of cake for Lucien to walk through the layer of dark blue water and step onto the precious altar made of Wave Stones.
Although Lucien did take some risk with this plan, carrying it out was still much easier and safer than somehow luring the chief priest away from his base.
Even if the chief priest was cautious enough to turn on the Altar against Lucien, Lucien was still confident that he could break out of the encirclement. A level seven chief priest of the Kuo-toans could cast only a very limited number of spells relying on its own talent, as it could not receive power from the Lord of Ocean who had fallen asleep for many years.
For sorcerers, knowing an enemy well beforehand to prepare accordingly was a great advantage.
In the middle of the Altar, there was a dark blue pool where the tall Murloc statues stood. Except for the pool, this area was completely water-free.
Lucien took a look at the statue of the Lord of Ocean: Amboula had six arms and each was holding a trident. Lucien smiled and shook his head at the primordial religious taste of beauty.
Without wasting any time, Lucien cast Strength and Bull's Strength on himself and washed down a tube of magic potion. Holding Pale Justice in his hand, Lucien took out the filthy blood ball from his magic pouch and put it into the pool. The blood ball quickly dissolved in the water and dyed the water into the color of rust.
Lucien stood up and started casting the long and mysterious spell. The ocean water around shivered with his voice.
As the shiver was getting more and more intense, the blood-colored water dyed the statue.
It was not until now that Lucien finally sensed that there were two distorted space gaps within the statue. One belonged to the World of Souls as expected, while the other was warm and comforting, giving Lucien a familiar but also strange feeling.
However, Lucien had to stay focused and had no time to think about it.
When the casting came to an end, the blood merged into the statue, and the water in the pool became clear once more. All of a sudden, the six arms of Amboula started waving, and something very powerful landed from above.
Finishing the last line of his spell, Lucien's eyes saw an entirely different world. His right eye saw that, in a space of black and white, an about ten-meter-long Murloc with tightly closed eyes and lackluster scales was lying in a pale pool. Although he seemed to be dead, its illusory body still gave Lucien a somehow divine feeling of heavy pressure.
Meanwhile, Lucien's left eye saw a silent and deadly wasteland, where countless specters were wandering.
In the middle of the wasteland, there was a grand palace built with huge bones. Under Lucien's gaze, it started becoming more transparent. Surrounded by the specters, dead bodies, and bones, a dreadful monster wearing a long black robe emerged. It was holding a heavy and huge sickle, and its cheekbone was only covered with a thin layer of dried skin. Its two eyes were just two hollow holes, showing no sign of vitality at all.
The monster slightly turned aside. Looking from across a great distance, its sight met that of Lucien.
A freezing feeling came out from the inside of Lucien's body, while irresistible numbness seized him. Lucien could feel that his life force was leaking out and under this speed, he would end up as a decayed corpse in seven to eight seconds.
Although he was still able to think, Lucien could not resist the numbness at all.
Suddenly, a warm stream rose from Lucien's left hand and chest, driving away all the numbness and coldness.
When he was able to move again, Lucien couldn't help but trembled a little. Instantly, the eerie world disappeared and Lucien came back to the altar made of Wave Stone. Facing the statue of Amboula, what just happened to Lucien seemed to be a dream.
Based on his knowledge, Lucien recognized that the wasteland was in fact the place called Skeleton Land. Therefore, the monster he just encountered could be Apomos, one of the devil lords. But according to the legends, he should have gone missing for more than a thousand years.
Apsis ruled Skeleton Land, which was the 123rd layer of Abyssal Maw. He has many titles, and the most important ones were the Lord of Specters, Life Reaper, and the Lord of Death.
Shaking the confusion out of his head, Lucien started erasing all the traces he had left. When he left the Altar, he turned himself into a common demonized fish and swam quietly to a faraway spot in the ocean. Then he cast Invisibility on himself and started flying.
Three minutes later, when Lucien was far away from Contaminated Water, he thought to himself in amusement.
"Every time when I tried to do something, there were always difficulties. I never expected that things would work out so well like this."
"There are always good things and bad things. I guess I am not that unlucky all the time..."
......
In the dark night sky, countless dazzling stars were hanging.
When Branhit approached one of the stars, he found out that it was not a real one, instead, the world he was in was actually an incomplete, very complicated constellation diagram.
Branhit's breath became heavy. He realized that this was the most vicious and strange maze ever.
Although he was not a caster who mastered a lot of spells, Branhit still knew that if he could find the exit of the maze, he would be able to get out earlier. Most mazes were distorted spaces, but this one was different. He had to find the several incomplete constellation diagrams and put them together to find the way out.
For most senior-ranks, this was the most spiteful maze ever! Because most of them were not experts in astrology at all! To get out, one had to either break the maze using power exceeding that of the caster or wait until the maze expired, which usually took three to fifteen minutes.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Two minutes later, Branhit burst out roaring painfully. His eyes were lit up with great anger. His intelligence could not support him to figure out the puzzle pieces!
If Branhit had known that Lucien had already started planning on coming up with more mazes when he reached the eighth or ninth circle, such us Evans' Math Maze, Lucien's Brain Teaser Maze, Evans' Antinomy Maze, Lucien's Riddle Palace, Branhit would have bit his tongue off out of annoyance.
Three minutes later, Branhit desperately watched the star sky breaking into pieces.
He assumed that the Altar must have been ruined already, and the imperial family would not admit what they did for sure.
Branhit knew that even if they had been in a fair fight, there was no chance for him to beat the Murlock, since it had such a powerful magic item.
He wondered if it was the prince who lent the invader the magic items.
Branhit had no idea at all that the invader was in fact not a Murloc but a sorcerer, as he could not see through Lucien's Transfiguration.
When Branhit returned to the cave, he found that the ice was already gone. Except for a few guardians who were injured more seriously by the cold, most of the Murlocs were safe and sound. These Murlocs were looking around with a confused look on their face. Obviously, they were wondering why they were still alive.
"What happened?" Branhit asked himself.
He hurriedly looked back at the Altar, and to his surprise, the Altar remained intact as if nothing had ever happened to it.
Being cautious, Branhit checked the altar carefully but found nothing strange. Now, Branhit was totally lost.
He almost felt that what happened was just his illusion, but the moaning of the few injured Murlocs reminded him that it was not.
The Murloc mage also felt very confused. With some hesitation, he said, "Maybe... Maybe he found the wrong place."
Found the wrong place?!
Branhit cast an angry glance at the mage since the explanation just sounded so absurd. However, he could not find a better answer either. The senior-rank Murloc had frozen the entire guardian team and trapped the seventh circle leader, and then he just left without achieving anything... How was that possible?
......
After a few days, Lucien had flown back to the port. Through a noble's castle in the Duchy of Calais, he entered Night Highland again and caught a vampire viscount there. Turning himself into the viscount, he used another space joint guarded by a vampire marquis using the excuse of gathering materials and arrived at the Dark Mountain Range. Using Viscount Nour's identity too frequently would attract unnecessary attention, and Lucien could not use the space joint in Rhine's castle anymore since Prince Dracula must be closely watching it.
The tall trees had blocked all the sunlight, and the environment was very damp with a moldy smell. Lucien, who had turned himself into a vampire bat, approached Observer's Castle following Rhine's instruction while carefully avoiding the powerful dark creatures.
Two days later, the castle was visible from the distance.
| ← Ch. 411 | Ch. 413 → |