Chapter 188: The Only Way to Return Home

The Grak Steel was definitely not something edible. It was either a resource used to make potions or pills, or perhaps something the Witches traded for to use in artifact crafting.

But still, what the Witches gave them in return for this trade remained a mystery.

Thinking Rhadak wouldn’t bring him here just to show him their mother pooping, Magna waited for him to start explaining.

Instead of Rhadak, the massive rock monster suddenly started to move.

For a second, Magna thought an earthquake was happening. Then his eyes shifted toward the Stone Mother. He realized that she was moving her head.

Every Stoneman immediately dropped to their knees, including Rhadak.

Seeing this, Magna wondered if he should imitate them as well. He was about to drop to his knees when a sound like a powerful landslide echoed throughout the cave.

"Tarhhhak... Gar-hum..."

The massive rock monster’s huge mouth was moving. Her glowing, ruby-like crimson eye stared directly at Magna.

’Am I in trouble?’

Under that intense stare and the voice that seemed to shake all his organs, Magna was already considering turning around and running.

Before he could put that thought into action, Rhadak’s voice came from beside him. His head was still pressed against the ground while he knelt.

"Mother says she knows why you are here."

Magna felt even more tense after hearing that. He quickly tried to explain. "No, no. I really don’t want to eat your shi..."

His words were cut off when the massive rock monster started speaking again, her voice shaking the entire cave.

"Argh-am Da-m Loth-brok Ra-gnar."

’Ragnar?’ Magna tried to understand what the words meant. Rhadak translated them for him again.

"Mother says she watched you pass through the entrance into this world. As you made your descent, she saw the spirits in the Lake of Souls being turned away from the gates, cast back into the living world."

Magna gave him a side glance. ’Is he just bullshitting?’ The monster hadn’t even spoken for that long.

"Grak-thor’ukh... Khraz-gorg... Tur-skhar krag’throk. Khrr-drak, ghor-vaz... Krt-thrak-zug. Rukh-grak... Khar... tur-kraz."

"She says you are special."

’Are you fucking kidding me?’ That was what Magna wanted to say, though he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud out of respect.

At least the Stone Mother didn’t speak any further. She moved her head upward, taking her gaze off Magna.

All the Stonemen got back to their feet. They continued their work, throwing the rocks in their hands into her mouth to feed her.

Rhadak got up a few seconds later. He spoke again while looking at Magna. "It’s the first time Mother has spoken to someone from another race."

Without waiting for a response, he turned around and started walking. "Come with me."

Magna looked at the giant Stone Mother one last time before following him.

Apparently, this Mother had seen many things, probably including Magna’s spellcasting. He wondered whether that would put him in danger.

But so far, there was still no sign of a threat, so he decided to learn more about what was going on.

Especially the part that he was sure now he hadn’t been dreaming when he saw those ghosts. This monster had just proven it.

He had really seen and spoken with Green, Morrigan, and Titus.

’So he is really dead, huh?’ He felt an emptiness inside.

He knew they had been in a war when he was leaving the Winterborne estate. But he never thought things would escalate this far, to the point that Titus would die so soon.

The man had been rude and a little crazy. Still, he had been like the good big brother Magna never had.

He put his hand into his pocket and held the artifact inside, feeling its coldness against his palm as he silently followed the Stoneman ahead of him.

They kept walking until they reached the end of the massive cavern. There they stopped in front of a huge rock about the size of a 3-story villa.

The rock was completely oval, as though it had deliberately been polished by a pair of skilled hands until its surface became perfectly smooth.

Magna walked around it a little. He saw that the huge stone ball was actually some kind of door blocking the path ahead.

He expected Rhadak to step forward and move it to open the path, since there was nowhere else for them to go. Instead, Rhadak started speaking.

"This is the door to the path that will take you back to your realm."

Magna raised an eyebrow. "So, open it?"

He was already quite bored with this place, mainly because there was no food for him to eat.

It was also extremely hot. The entire land was dry and covered in nothing but ash. To Magna, it was nothing more than a completely dead, apocalyptic world.

Rhadak shook his head. "You need to open it yourself."

Magna turned his eyes toward the huge stone again. ’It looks heavy.’

He walked closer, deciding to try his luck in case it wasn’t as heavy as it looked.

He moved to one side and placed his hands against its smooth surface before pushing.

It was really heavy. The stone didn’t even budge. Apparently, his 625 Strength wasn’t enough to have much effect on it.

He didn’t give up, though, since his competitive spirit forced him to push himself to his limits.

The muscles in his arms bulged. Veins stood out across his skin. He gritted his teeth while he kept pushing with all his strength until his face turned red.

Watching him silently, Rhadak’s red eye suddenly glowed, only to fade again almost instantly.

Magna finally had to give up, since even his competitive spirit had its limits. If something was impossible, then it was impossible.

"Can’t you just open it? It’s so heavy." Breathing heavily, he asked again, this time with a pleading tone.

"I can’t. We have an agreement with the Witches. Only people who came from the living world have permission to open it."

Hearing that, Magna felt troubled.

Apparently, he had 2 choices.

Either he needed to wait for someone to come and save him before he died of hunger, or he had to find a way to push this massive rock out of the way of the exit.