Chapter 650: The Funeral Of Nameless

All the marks on the spear’s shaft lit up one after another.

The first mark.

The second.

The third.

All the way to the tenth.

Mana began flowing along the weapon, but unlike the previous forms, this time, the energy did not spread around the spear.

All the lights slowly moved toward the tip of the blade, and then the marks on the shaft went dark one after another.

Only a small point of blue light remained at the tip of the spear.

Rindo held his breath for a moment.

Just one strike this time.

He knew very well that he could not defeat the Mourner’s huge power with his own strength.

But there was no need to do that, Lian had already identified the weak mana path, the Sixth Form of the spear had damaged it, and the Ninth Form had pierced the defensive layer around it.

Now he only needed to disrupt the connection for a moment.

The monster moved its right fist downward, and the fifth ring was about to release its pressure.

But Rindo moved first.

[Tenth Form: One Spear Silences the Nine Heavens]

No huge dragon appeared in the sky, no river of light formed across the battlefield, there was only one spear and one strike.

The blade moved in a straight line toward the damaged point.

The Mourner tried to change the position of its arm, but at the last moment, Rindo turned his wrist and adjusted the angle of impact.

The spear’s tip reached the mana connection point.

CRACK!

For a fraction of a second, the energy flow inside the Mourner’s chest became unstable.

The fifth ring broke apart before releasing all its pressure, and then the sixth ring also began to collapse without fully activating.

But this time, instead of moving normally through the skill’s path, the force spread through the creature’s damaged structure.

He breathed out heavily, his fingers became numb for a moment, but he had succeeded.

"Lian!"

There was no need to say anything else.

Vorhelm had already moved, his black wings opened with great force, and his body rushed toward the Mourner in a straight line.

The creature was still trying to stabilize its disrupted mana flow, but this time, it did not have enough time.

Lian appeared directly in front of it, clenched his right fist, and compressed mana into an extremely dense structure.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

His fist struck the damaged part of the Mourner’s chest.

BOOOOOOM!

The layers of natural armor around the point of impact shattered.

The mana structure that Rindo had disrupted for a moment collapsed from within under the huge pressure of the strike.

The monster tried to raise its hands, but the force of the punch had already reached deep inside its body before another defense could form.

The sound of breaking bones filled the battlefield, and the creature’s five-meter-tall body was lifted off the ground, thrown several meters backward, and crashed into the stone wall at the end of the road.

BAAANG!

Part of the wall collapsed, and broken stones fell onto the Mourner’s body, while thick dust spread across the battlefield.

For several seconds, no one moved.

Rindo leaned on his spear, he was breathing with great difficulty.

Lian lowered his hand, his gaze remained fixed on the pile of stones, through the dust, part of the Mourner’s body could be seen.

The creature still made a weak movement for a moment, it raised its head slightly, and its mouth opened, as if it wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

Then its huge hand fell to the ground and stopped moving.

The nine remaining mana rings in the air went dark one after another.

A deep silence settled over the road, and the sound of crying could no longer be heard.

"Is it over?"

Lian looked at the body for several seconds and then nodded.

"Yeah."

Rindo laughed for a moment, but his laughter immediately turned into heavy breathing.

"Good... because I don’t think I can perform even one more form right now."

The young Vorhelm approached and looked at his friend’s injured hand.

"You’d better rest for now."

"I think I actually agree with you this time." Rindo lowered his spear, he had a considerable amount of healing herbs in his storage space.

He took some out to use them.

At that moment, the sound of heavy paws moving could be heard.

Two had come down from the higher platform and was slowly approaching.

The huge wolf first examined the Mourner’s body, then looked at Rindo and lowered its head slightly.

"It seems even he thinks you should rest." Lian smiled and then turned his full attention toward the monster’s body.

[Greater Glutton Activated]

[Available Skills: 3]

He immediately turned his attention to the options.

[Graves of Return]

[Nine-Heaven Collapse Fist]

[Funeral of the Nameless]

His gaze stopped on the third option.

Oh?

Lian looked at the Mourner’s body for a moment.

What kind of creature were you really before becoming a Withered?

Of course, he could not find a definite answer from the skill alone, but now he had another opportunity.

Without hesitation, he selected the third option.

[Skill Acquired: Funeral of the Nameless]

[Rank: Common (+)]

[Upon performing an attack, the user can manifest two gray phantoms that replicate the original attack]

[Each phantom follows the trajectory of the original strike and delivers a delayed, independent impact.]

[Phantom attacks possess physical force and can damage enemies, defensive barriers, and surrounding structures.]

[Effects]

[Phantom Replication: Creates up to two phantoms of a single attack.]

[Delayed Impact: Each phantom can strike after the original attack at a separately controlled interval]

[Attack Synchronization: Phantoms replicate the direction, movement, and offensive properties of the original attack.]

[Limitations]

[Phantom attacks consume additional Mana. Their power depends on the Mana invested]

[Phantoms cannot perform independent movements or execute attacks different from the original strike.]

A faint smile appeared on his face, he had obtained the monster’s annoying skill, it was not a bad result.

He also glanced at his level progress bar, there was not much left before his next level.

"Are you alright?" He then looked at his friend.

Rindo nodded, after consuming the elixirs and healing herbs, he had returned to his best condition.

Then they both looked at the Mourner’s body.

The creature that had once been kneeling and crying in the middle of the road now lay motionless among the broken stones.

They did not know what kind of past was hidden behind those tears.

But something about the creature’s fist skill and fighting style showed that before becoming a Withered, it probably had not been an ordinary fighter.

"The farther we go, the stranger these creatures become."

Before moving again, they divided the loot, Rindo took forty percent of the body, and Lian kept the rest for himself, he could later use it as food for the Devourer Egg.

He finally turned his gaze away from the body.

There was still a long way to go before reaching the center, and they did not have much time left before the next Judgment.

The ancient road became narrower beyond the battlefield.

Both sides still ended at deep cliffs, but the central part was covered with large, evenly placed stones that seemed much older than the surrounding forests and plants.

The huge wolf approached and lowered its body slightly so they could both climb onto its back.

But this calm did not last long.

Because when Two passed between several broken pillars, another sight appeared in front of them.

A huge arch made of black stone stood at the end of the road.

It was nearly twenty meters tall, and parts of its surface were covered with white roots.

On the upper part of the arch, an image of a ring with an empty center had been carved.

It looked very similar to the Hollow Sun.

"That same symbol again." Lian said quietly when he saw it.

Rindo nodded.

"This is another ancient structure."

Two slowed down, several Withered were moving around the arch, but unlike the previous groups, these creatures stopped when they reached a certain area.

Some fell to their knees for several seconds, others hid their heads between their hands, and several stood up again and continued moving despite clearly trying to resist.

"Rindo, look at them." Lian climbed down from the wolf’s back.

His friend pointed toward one of the creatures, a thin Withered with very long arms was standing directly in front of the arch.

The creature was trying to move in the opposite direction, but every time it took a few steps, it stopped, then its body turned back toward the arch against its will.

Rindo narrowed his eyes.

"Just like that creature we saw yesterday."

"Yeah, but this time, almost all of them react at the same point."

Lian activated [True Sequence].

The mana flows around the arch became visible.

Several thin paths moved along the stones and connected to the depths of the ground through the white roots.

But what caught his attention was the short connection between this structure and the mana of the Withered.

Every time a creature passed through the area around the arch, part of the mana flow around its body became unstable for a moment, and then the energy flow returned to normal.

"So there’s some kind of connection point here too." All of this was confusing him greatly, and he could not understand its purpose.

At that moment, one of the Withered near the arch noticed their presence.

The creature had a thin body and a badly twisted face, but unlike most of its kind, it could still speak to some extent.

"Help..."

Rindo kept his spear ready, and Lian took a few steps forward.

"What’s wrong?"

The Withered looked at him for a moment, then raised its shaking hand toward the arch.

"There..."

Its voice became weaker.

"They’re... waiting..."

"Who’s waiting?" The young Vorhelm narrowed his eyes.

The creature opened its mouth, but before it could say anything, its body tightened violently, and its long fingers dug into the soil.

"No..."

Its legs began moving against its will.

"I don’t want to... go back..."

Lian focused on the mana flow around the creature for a moment, the same familiar pulse could be seen, but this time, part of the flow was directly connected to the structure of the stone arch.

Interesting.

He could try again to disrupt the smaller energy path with [Corrupt Sun], but yesterday’s experience had shown that the effect only lasted a few seconds.

And he still did not know what would happen if he completely broke such a connection.

So he decided to observe for now.

The Withered slowly passed beside them, its head was lowered, and its hands were shaking, but its body continued carrying it toward the center.

"Do you think all of them were prisoners?" Rindo looked at the creature for a moment.

Lian shook his head.

"I’m still not sure, but the charges announced by the sun sound more like the rules of a prison."

He looked at the arch.

"And these structures are probably part of the same thing."

Rindo looked at the image of the hollow sun for several seconds.

There was no doubt that this place had once been a prison, and these Withered might have been its prisoners.

Prisoners who were waiting for their judgment.