Chapter 643: We Were Never Meant to Wake ( PS Bonus - )

Chapter 643: We Were Never Meant to Wake ( PS Bonus Chapter )

The creature placed its hands on its head, and its body shook violently.

"W-we..."

Lian waited.

The Withered tried to pull its legs beneath its body for a moment, but its muscles tightened against its will.

It took one step toward the center.

Then a second step.

The creature threw itself onto the ground in fear.

"I don’t want to...!"

Rindo raised his spear without thinking, but Lian made a small gesture, asking him not to interfere for now.

[True Sequence]

The mana streams around the Withered’s body became visible.

He examined them for several seconds, on the surface, the energy inside the creature’s body was extremely unstable.

This was not strange for a mutated creature, but a small part of the streams behaved differently.

Every time the Withered’s body moved toward the center against its will, a weak pulse appeared in some of its mana channels.

A pulse that seemed to match an energy flow beneath the ground.

Interesting.

Lian slowly moved closer.

"I want to try something for a few seconds."

The creature raised its head, but before it could answer, Lian activated a very small amount of [Corrupt Sun].

A thin line of dark light formed beside his hand, and he carefully directed it toward one of the energy channels he had seen around the Withered’s body.

The contact lasted only a moment.

But that was enough.

Part of the mana structure began to break down, the strange pulse stopped, and the Withered’s body stopped moving.

The creature remained still for several seconds, then slowly lowered its head and looked at its own hands.

"I... I..."

It moved its long fingers, and this time, the movement followed its own will.

"I... stopped?"

Lian examined the energy flow.

So it really does affect its movements.

But the effect lasted only a few seconds, a new flow of energy entered from the same unknown structure, the damaged path became stable again, and the Withered’s body began moving against its will.

The creature let out a weak, broken cry.

"N-no..."

Lian stopped the corrupted light.

He could use more energy, but he still did not know what effect such interference would have on the Withered’s body or soul.

Especially when the main structure was outside the range of his examination.

"So something is controlling them?" Rindo asked quietly.

The young Vorhelm nodded.

"Most likely, but I still don’t know what it is."

Then he looked at the Withered again.

"Is there a prison down there?"

The creature remained still for a moment.

The word prison seemed to cause a reaction in its damaged mind.

"Pri... son..."

Lian waited.

The Withered placed its hand over its face and then continued in a weak voice.

"We... weren’t... supposed to..."

Its body shook.

"Wake... up..."

Rindo looked at Lian, but Lian was still staring at the creature.

They weren’t supposed to wake up? The third charge against Sareven suddenly came back to his mind.

[Disobeying the State of Stillness]

Could it be that the Withered had been in a state similar to sleep or imprisonment before the awakening of the sun?

He still had no evidence to fully confirm this theory, but now, the possibility seemed more reasonable than before.

"Who kept you down there? Was it the Judge?"

The creature tried to answer.

But an unclear sound came from its throat.

A few moments later, it turned its head toward the sky.

"J-Judge..."

Its fingers began to shake.

"Awake... again..."

Then its body suddenly tightened, the Withered stood up from the ground against its own will and began moving toward the center.

This time, Lian did not stop it, he watched the creature’s movements for a few moments and then looked at Rindo.

"I think we’re getting close to some interesting things."

"Interesting? I’d rather call it worrying." Rindo answered with a serious expression.

He gave a faint smile.

"That too."

They both continued moving.

But this time, Lian was not only paying attention to the path of the Withered, he was also watching the mana flows beneath the ground.

And he gradually noticed that the closer they moved toward the center, the more white roots and underground energy structures appeared.

In one area, a deep crack had revealed part of a stone wall.

Unlike the natural rocks around it, the wall had a relatively smooth surface, and several worn marks could be seen on it.

Rindo approached.

"Is this structure natural?"

Lian shook his head.

"I doubt it."

On the stone, an image of a huge ring with an empty center had been carved.

It looked very similar to the Hollow Sun.

Around it were complex lines and ancient writings, most of which had been damaged over time.

The young Vorhelm examined them with [True Sequence].

A very weak amount of mana still remained in some parts of the wall, but most of the energy paths had been broken.

He slowly moved his hand toward one of the marks, among the worn lines, a geometric opening could be seen, a shape that looked more like part of a locking mechanism than a simple decoration.

A key?

For a moment, Lian thought about his conversation with Rindo that morning, of course, there was no reason to believe that this structure was necessarily connected to the exit key.

It could be part of an ancient seal, a defensive mechanism, or even a completely different structure.

"Did you figure anything out?" Rindo asked.

"Not much, but I think we should record its location."

He examined the wall for a few more moments.

On its lower section, several marks remained that seemed to have once been part of a longer writing.

But in their current condition, it was impossible to read them completely.

He finally stepped back.

"Let’s go for now, I don’t want us to still be in this area when it gets darker."

Rindo nodded, and they both continued along their path.

But a few minutes later, they came across signs of a recent battle, several Withered were lying among the rocks.

Some of the bodies were badly damaged, and signs of heavy impacts could be seen around them.

Rindo knelt beside one of them.

"These haven’t been dead for very long."

Lian looked at a broken rock, several impact marks could be seen on it, but what was even stranger was the condition of the bodies.

Some of the Withered had apparently been attacked several more times even after receiving deadly blows.

He looked at one of them for a moment.

What kind of fight was this?

Rindo checked the map.

"Roderick’s last recorded location was near this area."

"I know."

Roderick was one of the powerful Chosen, and his aggressive fighting style could have caused this kind of destruction.

"Do you want to investigate further?" Rindo asked.

Lian looked at the path ahead.

"Not for now, record its location. We’d better get away from the dangerous areas before the next Judgment."

His friend agreed, but just as he was about to close the map, the ground beneath their feet shook.

The shaking was not very strong.

Both of them stopped for a moment.

"Another crack?"

Lian activated [True Sequence], the mana flows beneath the ground shook for a moment, and then the shaking stopped.

"Probably."

He waited for a few more seconds, when nothing else happened, they both started moving again.

But they had not even traveled a few hundred meters when the second shaking began.

This time, it was stronger.

Small stones fell from the edges of the cracks, and one of the golden trees near the path cracked with a loud sound.

Rindo immediately stopped.

"Lian."

Vorhelm also stopped moving and fixed his gaze on the ground.

This one is different.

The mana flows beneath the ground were no longer the same as they had been a few minutes earlier, several paths that had previously been relatively stable had begun changing direction.

And in some places, energy was moving toward the depths at a very high speed.

He raised his head.

But before he could say anything....

CRAAAACK!