Chapter 647: The Kneeling Mourner

In the distance, parts of the plain were still relatively intact; the same areas that hundreds of Withered were moving toward.

"Do you think the answer is there?"

"I don’t know, but most of the clues we’ve found point in that direction, the energy flows, the paths of the Withered, the underground structures..."

Lian paused for a moment.

"Even if there’s a key to get out, we’re more likely to find it in an area where the structures are still intact."

Rindo thought for several seconds and then picked up his spear.

"Alright, we’re going to the center."

The young Vorhelm looked at Two.

"Then we’d better get moving."

The huge wolf immediately lowered its head.

Rindo looked at its large body for a moment.

"Are we going to ride it?"

"Yeah, it’s much faster than walking."

Then he climbed onto the wolf’s back without arguing.

Lian sat in front of him and then placed his hand on the wolf’s neck.

"Let’s go."

Two placed its paws firmly on the ground, the muscles in its legs tightened, and a moment later, it jumped into the air from the rock with a huge leap.

Rindo tightened his grip on the shaft of his spear without thinking.

Two landed on the rocky platform on the other side of the cliff and immediately prepared for the next jump.

Rindo glanced at the crack behind them and then sighed.

This is going to be a long journey.

The fourth day began under the usual light of the Hollow Sun.

Of course, in a land where day and night were no longer very different from each other, only the passage of time and changes in their bodies reminded them how many hours had passed.

After a short rest in one of the relatively stable areas, Lian and Rindo had started moving again.

Two moved through the rocks at an impressive speed, every time it reached a deep crack, it pressed its paws firmly against the stone and jumped to the other side without noticeably slowing down.

Sometimes the distance between two platforms was so large that Rindo could only see the cliff and the molten rock beneath them for a moment.

But Two landed accurately every time.

"I didn’t think a wolf could be this fast."

The huge wolf moved its ears slightly, but it did not slow down.

Lian placed his hand on its neck.

"It isn’t even using its full speed yet."

Rindo looked at him for a moment and then decided not to say anything, in his opinion, their current speed was more than enough.

During the journey, the young Vorhelm had more time to examine their surroundings.

He no longer had to focus all his attention on moving himself and could use [True Sequence] to observe the mana flows around them.

The closer they got to the center, the more underground structures appeared.

In some areas, huge white roots stretched through several layers of stone and carried energy toward the depths.

In other areas, ancient walls had been revealed from beneath the soil; walls that did not look much like ordinary buildings.

But what was even stranger was the condition of the ground.

Parts of the paths near the center were still relatively intact, while many of the areas behind them had been almost completely destroyed.

Why are these areas still intact?

Lian could not be sure, perhaps the underground layers in this area were stronger, or maybe the buried structures played a role in keeping the ground stable.

But he needed more information to examine it properly.

After some time, the number of Withered increased, the creatures were moving toward a common area from different paths.

Some could barely walk on their changed legs, while others dragged their bodies across the stones using their long arms.

Even so, most of them showed no special reaction even when they saw the huge wolf and simply continued along their paths.

Two also continued moving without paying attention to them.

Until near noon, they reached a very old road.

The road passed between two huge cliffs, and unlike the surrounding paths, a large part of it was still intact.

The road was nearly forty meters wide, and broken stone pillars could be seen along its edges, ancient patterns had been carved into some of the pillars, and white roots were growing out of their cracks.

Rindo looked toward the end of the road.

"This path leads straight toward the center."

"And it seems to be the only intact path around here." Lian nodded.

But Two slowed down, and it did not take long before it stopped completely.

The huge wolf raised its head and turned its ears toward the end of the road, a low growl came from its throat.

Two kept its gaze fixed on a point in the middle of the road.

Lian followed the same direction, and a few moments later, he also heard the sound.

The sound of crying.

At first, it was so faint that it was difficult to hear over the sound of flowing molten rock.

But the more he listened, the clearer it became, it was a broken and rough voice.

"I... I... didn’t want to..."

"What is that?" Rindo had also noticed the sound.

Lian climbed down from Two’s back.

"Let’s find out."

He took a few steps toward the road, but when he looked past the broken pillars, he stopped.

In the middle of the road, a huge creature was kneeling.

Even while kneeling, the creature was nearly three meters tall, its body was covered in gray, cracked skin, and old wounds could be seen along its arms and chest.

Its two very long hands rested on the ground, thick chains hung from its wrists, but their other ends were not connected to anything.

Dirty white hair covered its face, and black liquid was dripping from beneath it onto the stone, the creature had lowered its head.

Its huge shoulders shook slightly with every cry.

"Please..."

Its voice spread across the road.

"Not... again..."

Lian remained still for a moment and then examined the creature’s information.

[Race: The Withered]

[Rank: Mutated]

[Level: 50]

Rindo, who was standing beside him, slowly breathed out.

"Level 50."

Lian nodded, but his attention was not only on the creature’s level, several other Withered were also present around the road.

Some were moving along narrow stone edges, while others were taking more difficult paths to avoid getting close to the kneeling creature.

Even those who seemed to be pulled toward the center against their will changed their paths when they reached this area.

So even the others are avoiding it.

Rindo had noticed this too.

"Do you think it attacks them, and that’s why they’re afraid of it and stay away?"

"Maybe, but we haven’t even seen it stand up yet."

"Even so, it’s crying...? A monster? Crying?"

The young Vorhelm also found this interesting, seeing a monster crying was not something you could see every day.

The Mourner continued crying.

Lian looked at the surrounding paths for a moment, he could fly over the road with Rindo.

But unlike most of the Withered, this creature was neither moving toward the center nor paying attention to its surroundings.

It was also sitting on a path that seemed to have some of the underground structures passing beneath it.

He wanted to know why.

Then he signaled Two to stay near one of the higher platforms.

The huge wolf took a few steps back and stood on a section of stone that was wide enough.

Rindo took the Ten Star Spear from his back.

"Are you sure we should get close to it?"

Lian looked at the creature.

"I want to examine something, if it shows a dangerous reaction, we’ll retreat."

Rindo nodded, and they both entered the road, the sound of their footsteps spread across the old stones.

The Mourner showed no reaction.

The young Vorhelm took a few more steps forward, the distance between them was now about thirty meters.

"Hey." He said in a relatively loud voice. "Can you speak?"

The creature did not raise its head, but the sound of its crying became weaker for a moment.

"I... didn’t want to..."

"What didn’t you want to do?" Lian raised an eyebrow slightly.

He received no answer, and only the sound of black liquid dripping onto the stone could be heard.

Rindo looked down at the ground, one of the drops fell near the creature’s foot, but instead of spreading across the stone surface, it remained still for a moment.

Then....the drop slowly separated from the ground and began moving upward.

"Lian." He immediately held his spear in front of his body.

Vorhelm had also noticed the change, but before he could examine the energy structure, the Mourner’s crying suddenly became louder.

"Not... again...!"

A heavy pressure formed in the air, and a moment later, the first wave was released.

BOOOOM!

Rindo redirected the pressure with a quick movement of his spear, but the remaining force pushed him several steps backward.

Lian only moved half a step, his gaze remained fixed on the Mourner.

"So you finally reacted."

But just as Rindo regained his balance, a second wave spread from the creature’s body.

This time, the pressure was wider and more destructive.

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( Scene Visualization )