Chapter 60: The Black and Crimson Cocoon

An entire week had passed since Fafnir had fallen into a coma and that mysterious black-and-crimson cocoon had formed around his body.

Throughout that week, nothing had happened inside the ancient hall that anyone outside could see or understand.

The hall remained sealed, surrounded by the barrier that had formed around it at the beginning of the fusion process.

On the morning of the seventh day, Morgana appeared before the enormous black gate of the ancient hall.

She was carrying another shipment of cosmic treasures that had arrived at the palace, having come to deliver them to Fafnir, her master.

She stood before the gate, then bowed slightly and said respectfully:

“My Lord, I have brought another shipment of treasures.”

She waited for a few moments.

No response came.

Morgana raised her head and looked at the gate.

Then she spoke again:

“My Lord, may I enter?”

Several minutes passed.

But no answer came.

Fafnir did not grant her permission to enter.

Morgana remained standing before the black gate, and concern began to creep into her heart.

This was unlike him.

Even when he was in seclusion, he would answer her whenever she came to deliver the treasures, or allow her to enter if he needed something.

But now, a long time had passed without him giving any response.

Morgana stared at the black gate, then frowned.

Something was not right.

Without hesitation, she summoned the other three.

A short while later, Thorin, Valor, and Eleanor arrived.

Valor looked at Morgana and asked:

“What happened?”

Morgana replied with concern:

“I came to deliver another shipment of treasures to my lord, as I always do. I asked for permission to enter, but I received no response.”

The expressions of the three changed.

Thorin asked:

“Did you try calling out to him again?”

“Yes, but he didn’t answer.”

Valor stared at the gate for several moments.

Then he stepped forward.

Raising his voice, he said:

“My Lord, it is Valor. I wish to see you.”

Silence.

The four waited.

One second.

Then another.

But no response came from inside.

They exchanged glances.

Their concern deepened.

Eleanor said:

“This is not normal.”

Valor slowly nodded.

“No. My lord would never ignore us like this.”

Thorin said:

“We need to go inside and make sure he is all right.”

No one objected.

The four approached the black gate.

Thorin stood before it and reached out his hand.

He expected tremendous resistance.

The ancient hall was under Fafnir’s protection, and this gate was the entrance to the very hall where their master secluded himself.

But when Thorin pushed the gate...

It opened with ease.

He froze for a moment.

He stared at the gate in astonishment.

He had felt no resistance whatsoever.

Morgana asked in a low voice:

“Why... did it open so easily?”

No one answered her.

Thorin entered first, followed cautiously by Valor, Morgana, and Eleanor.

The hall was dark and silent.

There was no sound.

There was no sign of movement.

But the farther they advanced, the more clearly they sensed something.

A terrifying pressure.

A heavy aura that made even the air itself seem denser.

Their steps came to a halt when they reached the place where Fafnir’s throne had stood.

But the throne was no longer visible.

Before them stood a colossal cocoon.

A massive black-and-crimson cocoon surrounded the place where the throne had once been.

Black energy covered its entire surface, while deep crimson lines moved within it like living veins.

And from within it emanated a terrifying aura.

An aura that caused all four of them to freeze where they stood.

They could feel an immense pressure radiating from it, yet they could not determine its source.

Morgana asked in a low voice:

“What is this...?”

Valor did not answer.

He stared at the cocoon in astonishment.

As for Eleanor, she focused her senses upon it.

Eleanor had already reached the second stage of the True Immortal Realm, and her divine sense was extraordinarily powerful compared to that of most beings in Gandalia.

She said:

“I’ll use my divine sense.”

She closed her eyes, and her divine sense began to spread.

She attempted to penetrate the cocoon and investigate what lay within.

But the moment her divine sense touched the surface of the cocoon...

It was repelled.

Eleanor’s eyes snapped open.

She took a step backward.

She said in astonishment:

“I couldn’t get inside.”

The other three looked at her.

Valor asked:

“What do you mean?”

She replied:

“My divine sense... was completely repelled. I couldn’t see anything inside.”

Silence followed.

The sight was astonishing to them.

Eleanor, who was at the second stage of the True Immortal Realm, was by no means weak, and her divine sense was powerful enough to penetrate most barriers that ordinary beings could possibly imagine.

Yet this cocoon had completely repelled her divine sense, not allowing it to pass through even slightly.

Thorin stared at it and said:

“Then there is something inside.”

Valor replied:

“Or the cocoon itself was designed to prevent anything from entering.”

Morgana said:

“But why would my lord create something like this?”

None of them had an answer.

The four exchanged glances.

Then Thorin said:

“We need to find out what is inside.”

Valor said:

“Perhaps we should try to break through it.”

Morgana hesitated for a moment.

“But what if my lord is inside?”

Valor replied:

“That is precisely why we need to know.”

The four remained silent for several moments.

Then they made their decision.

They would attempt to break through the cocoon.

Thorin stepped forward.

He stood before the cocoon and took a deep breath.

Then he began gathering his energy.

In the next instant, a terrifying golden energy erupted from his body.

The energy gathered around his fist, rapidly increasing in density until his fist was surrounded by an intense golden radiance.

The technique he was preparing to use was one of his most powerful techniques.

Heaven-Shattering Fist.

The power contained within this strike was not something that could be taken lightly.

The force carried by Thorin’s fist when using this technique was powerful enough to erase an enormous city in a single instant, leaving nothing behind but ruins.

Even so, his intention was not to destroy the hall or harm whatever lay within it. Therefore, he concentrated the power of the strike into a single point, attempting to pierce the cocoon without causing widespread destruction.

An immense amount of energy gathered around his fist, until the golden light radiating from it became intense enough to illuminate portions of the dark hall.

Then he lunged forward.

In a single instant...

He drove his fist directly into the cocoon.

BOOOOOOM!

The entire hall shook violently.

A tremendous shockwave spread in every direction, the ground trembling beneath their feet as golden energy swept throughout the area.

But...

Nothing happened.

The fist did not penetrate the cocoon.

Not even a scratch appeared upon its surface.

Its black-and-crimson surface remained completely intact, as though the strike—powerful enough to erase an enormous city—had been nothing more than a passing impact against it.

Thorin staggered back several steps, staring at it in disbelief.

“Impossible...”

The punch had not been weak.

It had been a strike capable of erasing an enormous city in an instant.

And yet, it had not even managed to penetrate the cocoon.

It could not tear through its layers.

It could not leave a mark upon it.

That alone was enough to demonstrate the terrifying durability of the cocoon.

The four stared at it in silence.

They realized that the thing Fafnir had created around his body was by no means an ordinary barrier.

But in the next moment...

A terrifying aura emerged from within the cocoon.

A familiar aura.

It appeared for only a single moment.

But that was enough.

The four froze in place.

Morgana’s eyes widened.

As for Valor, he fixed his gaze upon the cocoon.

He said in a low voice:

“This aura...”

He did not finish his sentence.

Eleanor said:

“It’s...”

Thorin answered:

“My Lord.”

There was no doubt.

They knew that aura.

They knew it better than anything else.

They had felt it countless times before.

It was the aura of their master.

Fafnir’s aura.

The moment the aura appeared, it faded back into the cocoon, and everything returned to silence.

The four looked at one another.

Then they understood the truth.

Fafnir was inside the cocoon.

And the cocoon was not something created by an enemy.

It was something their master had created himself.

Valor said:

“My lord created it.”

Eleanor slowly nodded.

“Then there is no immediate danger to him.”

Morgana said:

“And it seems that he is in the middle of some kind of process.”

Thorin stared at the cocoon for several moments.

Then he lowered his fist.

“Then we shouldn’t disturb him.”

No one objected.

They had tried to make sure their master was safe, and they had received their answer.

He was alive.

His aura was present.

And the cocoon was protecting him.

There was no reason to interfere any further.

Valor said:

“We’ll leave.”

Then he turned toward the other three.

“But we must not allow anyone to enter this place.”

The three nodded.

The four slowly withdrew from the hall, continuing to look back at the cocoon until it disappeared from their sight.

They left the ancient hall and then closed the black gate behind them.

Afterward, they ordered the entire inner palace to be sealed, preventing anyone from approaching the area.

No one would be allowed to disturb their master.

And no one would know what was happening inside that cocoon.

Meanwhile, deep within the ancient hall...

The black-and-crimson cocoon remained suspended in place, pulsing with mysterious energy, while Fafnir remained lost in a deep coma.

The fusion process continued.

Without anyone knowing...

what was taking shape within it.