Chapter 37: Ragnarök
The necromancer’s movements stiffened unfathomably.
It was a very strange feeling. As if he lost balance a moment before falling into the abyss, a cold palm suddenly gripped his heart, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of horror.
The pale blue fingers clasped the young man’s white and slender neck like claws of an eagle, and they tightened instinctively without a thought. The sharp black-blue nails plunged into the soft skin, and the cold and protruding knuckles exerted force, and the fragile bones in his neck could be broken any second, as easy as crushing a biscuit.
But the fingers couldn’t break the skin.
As if caught in an invisible prison – the throat bone under his palm quivered slightly with the rhythm of breathing, and he could almost hear the sound of warm blood flowing through the blood vessels. As long as he pinched it gently, he could stifle the warm life at his fingertips – but he couldn’t.
Only then did the Necromancer see what was stopping him from moving. It was an extremely thin layer of dark elements, which fit tightly on the young man’s skin, as light as a feather, but as tough as a dragon scale. He felt shocked at the bottom of his heart, such terrifying control of the dark element…How could it appear in an apprentice from the Academy?
A sigh sounded:
“Pity.”
The necromancer’s eyes widened suddenly, his finger joints creaked, as if being slowly crushed by an invisible force, the blue veins on the back of his hand that strained from the force burst out. The thin fingers trembled uncontrollably, but they were irresistibly stretched by the void controlling his palm.
“…I kind of liked my current team.”
The young man added quietly. His expression still looked innocent, but his pupils were dark like an abyss, and there seemed to be a kind of gravitational force that could suck the soul inside, and the terrifying power that was almost other-wordly in the depths of his eyes filled people with fear.
An alarm rang in necromancer’s heart instantly, and the keen sense of danger he cultivated by dealing with dark creatures made him decisively act —he chanted spells in his mouth, trying to get away from here as fast as possible, but, strangely, those dark elements that always followed his call were reluctant and cold, as if they had been diluted many times, and it was impossible to gather enough elements to perform complex high-level spells.
——It was as if they abandoned him.
His face suddenly became distorted, his expression savage. He raised his hand and crushed a spell spar. The huge scroll unfolded in an instant, the complex dark purple patterns lit up in mid-air, and countless skeletons and low-level liches* controlled by forbidden magic kept appearing in the open space, soul fire flashed in their dark and hollow eye sockets, quietly waiting for orders.
Ancient and complicated spells poured out of his mouth.
All the creatures made by alchemy attacked the youth that seemed innocent.
Ge Xiu lifted his eyelids indifferently, seeming a little bored.
He lifted his finger without any interest.
In the next second, all the skeletons and liches stopped moving, as if they were frozen in place.
The blue soul fire flickered wildly in the eye sockets, the rigid and cold joints made a harsh gurgling sound, and then – suddenly fell down.
“Bam”…”Bam, clank, clank”
Th corpses controlled by magic knelt down one by one, their hard kneecaps hit the ground, making a crunching sound. The scene was both so magnificent and terrifying it made people shudder.
A crowd** of black-coloured heads bent down and bowed to the young man in an posture of absolute surrender.
The necromancer was so angry his eyes were about to pop out***, and he muttered:
“…no…impossible…how is this…impossible!”
But he did not attract the slightest attention from the other.
Ge Xiu closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
This feeling of being surrounded by dark elements was so familiar.
So… enjoyable.
The dark elements scattered around the body looked as if they received an invisible call, and they rushed towards Ge Xiu swiftly and hurriedly. The very sparse elements on this side of the mainland gathered into a huge vortex, and they entangled and intertwined around their master intimately. They were so active and exuberant, even the mages that could barely perceive the existence of the elements could feel the sudden drop in the temperature around them, and the terrifying and vague feeling of darkness penetrated muscles and bones, making them instinctively fear and shrink.
The slender young man stood in the void, his eyes drooping slightly, and his expression was serene and calm.
His skin was pale, his face, that seemed to have been kissed by the God of Light, was beautiful and holy, it felt almost inhuman, and even a little childish.
However, behind him, the pitch-black vortex condensed into a dark cloud, like a shapeless creature guarding behind him loyally, spreading out wildly from where he stood, eroding every ray of light in the air.
Countless lifeless heads hung down, surrendering to him, bowing to him, forming an extremely strange picture.
The necromancer has completely lost will to fight.
The strength that had previously imprisoned him has disappeared. He staggered back, his skinny figure slumped on the white bone chair, his fingers trembling and curled up, and his long nails scratched on the bone, making an unpleasant sound of friction.
He looked at Ge Xiu in horror:
“You…what are you…”
Ge Xiu was pulled back to reality by his voice from that mysterious state.
“You tell me…” He smiled, showing sharp tiger teeth, looking pure and cute: “Actually, I don’t know too much.”
There was dead silence in the air, and it was as quiet as in a cemetery. The heavy pressure that almost crushed their hearts made them breathless.
——No one could foresee such an astonishing turn.
People raised their heads and stared at the unimaginable scene in front of them in disbelief, their expressions horrified and at a loss. Their limbs felt like stuck in a net, they resembled sculptures and couldn’t move for a long time.
Ge Xiu raised his eyes and glanced over the crowd in front of him. Everyone involuntarily stiffened at the moment they met his gaze. Instinctive fear urged them to escape, but their feet were rooted in place and they couldn’t move.
The familiar faces were full of the same emotions, filled with the same unfamiliar gazes, aversion, fear and terror.
Ed’s brows were furrowed, his eyes were full of hostility, the long sword blessed with light spells flashed with a faint and clean white light in the dark, Dreiter’s staff was facing him vigilantly, his eyes were complicated and his expression was solemn.
Ge Xiu casually retracted his gaze.
Unsurprisingly.
The bone throne has lost the support of the spell at this moment, and fell heavily to the ground along with the necromancer in it. The liches and skeletons kneeling on the ground were motionless like puppets without a soul, staring coldly and ruthlessly as their former master struggled in the mud.
Ge Xiu slowly fell to the ground.
Everyone’s bodies tensed up instantly, and they retreated subconsciously.
He took a candy out of his pocket, unhurriedly peeled off the glutinous rice paper wrapped around it, stuffed the candy into his mouth, and squinted his eyes slightly, like a cat being cat with smoothed fur – but no one dared to think of him as the harmless and lovely victim from before. They stared at the young man in front of them with fear, as if staring at some unknown and deadly threat.
Ge Xiu raised the corners of his lips carelessly, bowed dramatically to them, and said with some ambiguity:
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
After speaking, he turned around and walked away without reluctance.
But before could walk away for a few steps, a voice suddenly sounded behind him: “Wait!”
Ge Xiu paused and turned his face slightly. The lines from the brow bone to the cheek were smooth and intricate, and his long eyelashes were drooping slightly, and his posture was almost demure, as if waiting for the other’s next words.
Ed gripped the long sword in his hand, the muscles on his shoulders and arms were tense, and he stood in a unquestionably hostile posture.
His voice was cold and unkind: “Where are you going.”
He knew he could not stop him, but he couldn’t just let him leave in front of his eyes.
As much as he was aware, according to Ge Xiu’s current strength… he was likely to become the biggest threat to the Holy Pope in the future.
At this moment, the dark clouds gathering in the sky slowly dissipated, revealing the clear night sky little by little.
As if Ge Xiu felt something, he raised his head and looked towards the sky.
In the sky where the clouds have disappeared, a complete moon hung high.
It is round and bright, like a little wet mark on the curtain.
Ge Xiu’s pupils shrank.
Thin bloody red scars crawled out of his neckline slowly, and the familiar piercing pain trashed under his skin.
He glanced coldly at the overpowering knight behind him, and didn’t even bother to reply, he raised his fingers, and the cloud formed by the dark elements wrapped around his body, then he disappeared in front of everyone in a blink of an eye.
Miles away.
Ge Xiu’s knees softened and he fell to the ground.
The scarlet lines on the body broke free from the flesh just like the first time, swaying and gradually rising, the magic circle unfolded, and a strange and bright red light shone under the cold and white moonlight.
The familiar, strong dark elemental aura spread from the center of the magic circle, and infiltrated the surrounding cold air little by little.
It’s bad.
On the opposite side of the mainland, the moon was full only once in hundreds of years.
However, on the front side of the mainland, he would experience the full moon once a month.
Obviously, he didn’t know what was this magic circle but to it it didn’t matter whether it was blood moon or the ordinary moon in the middle of the sky, it would appear as long as the moon is full.
On the other hand, luckily, since he came to to this part of the mainland, the pain he has experienced every day was much lighter than usual.
Ge Xiu took a deep breath, propped himself up and stood up.
Through the scarlet totem suspended in the air, he could hear the familiar sounds coming from it – the greedy roar of creatures from the abyss and the faint sound of many limbs creeping closer.
Although Ge Xiu didn’t know where the magic circle had opened this time, he was certain that this channel was two-way.
And those dark creatures have obviously noticed the difference here, and already smelled the fresh breath of life in the air, and now were trying to get through the passage to the light part of the mainland.
The concentration of dark element in the air was increasing sharply.
-Fortune in misfortune.
Ge Xiu took a deep breath slowly, and the scarlet patterns from the magic circle reflected in his dark eyes, like waves floating on the dark water, strangle and bright.
He raised his hand.
Following his movements, the dark elements in the sky happily responded and jumped, quickly gathered around him, condensing into a hard and thick wall, blocking the glowing red magic circle tightly.
If there were people nearby, they could definitely hear the sound of countless limbs hitting and gnawing the barrier from time to time, coming from the circle, densely packed, leaving chills on ones back and raising hair, weird sounds spread in the dark night, only the moon above was coldly looking down on the empty ground.
On the opposite side of the mainland, inside the Mage Tower.
Melville stood up suddenly, turned his head and looked out the window.
The waning moon above his head hung high, and the magic city below was huge and dark. It was the shelter of countless creatures, and it seemed that no change had taken place.
But…
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
What was the difference.
Melville walked hurriedly to the fortune-telling table, and countless dominoes were tossed down, stars and sand scattered in the meantime.
A few minutes later, Melville watched the results of the divination on the table, and a fanatical flame lit up in the purple pupils.
This was… a gate****!
He mobilized all the demons in the family, except for defence, and sent them to carry the magic spar to detect the light element and to conduct a thorough search on the dark side of the entire continent.
The fierce wind stirred by the demons’ bone wings beating swept over the city.
Melville looked up at their distant backs, with an expression of ecstasy and excitement that could not be concealed.
At the same time.
On the front of the mainland, in the center of the Sona Empire, a huge white pagoda stood tall. The sacred god pattern was intertwined to form a holy white crown. The flaming red and bright yellow flags were billowing in the night breeze. Gold and silver threads were embroidered on the coat of arms of the Knights Templar composed of sword, silver shield and staff.
A knight in heavy armour hurriedly pushed open the huge hall door.
He took off his helmet and clamped it between his arms. Traces of time were left on his face. He walked over to the bishop priest and knelt down on one knee:
“Just a moment ago, the concentration of the dark element surged in the northern part of the empire, and recently, knights under my command found many unusual traces of the necromancer’s activities…Those followers might have indeed found a way to break the seal.”
The priest had an old face, with a long silver-white beard hanging on his chest, swaying slightly with his movements.
He also had the same solemn expression, as if facing an deadly danger.
After pondering for a long time, he commanded: “Take 20,000 elite knights to the place where the concentration of the dark element increased to explore the reasons, and find out the reason for the abnormal movement of the necromancer recently, at all costs.”
The knight nodded: “Yes! “
·
As the time passed, strength in Ge Xiu body was fading rapidly.
The wall made of dark elements gradually became thinner. With some strength from the opponents, appeared dents and bulges, he could almost see the shape of the sharp and huge mouthparts of the creatures on the opposite side.
Ge Xiu gritted his teeth, the cold moonlight above fell on his head, making his face seem pale as paper.
Dense beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, meandering down the lines of his face, and the hot sweat swept across his cold face, leaving a distinct, burning touch.
His lips were white, sharp canine teeth bit down onto the soft lips, and red blood dripped from the wound, soaking the tips of the teeth and the corners of the lips, like a crushed petal.
At this moment, there was a miserable wailing and roaring on the other side of the barrier, which seemed distant and faint due to the elemental barrier, but it was still sharp and piercing, cutting through the night sky like the sound of metal friction.
Then there was deathly silence.
Nothing smashed or gnawed the elemental shield anymore.
But Ge Xiu knew that this was not a good thing, and such a situation only confirmed one thing-
an ever more powerful existence was approaching.
Sure enough, there was almost no time to breathe for Ge Xiu before terrifying force came from the other side of the barrier, and that incredible force directly knocked Ge Xiu back a few steps before he could stop.
A hand passed from behind the barrier, and blue veins bursting on the pale skin, and the hard purple-black nails dug shallow traces on the barrier formed by the dark elements.
Demon!
His internal organs seemed to be crushed under heavy pressure, the warm smell of rust spread from the throat, and blood filled his tongue and mouth in an instant.
Ge Xiu’s eyes were still amazingly bright.
It seems that just like burning stars continuously release heat and light, no matter what the situation, the light in the depths of his eyes couldn’t be extinguished, just like humans couldn’t destroy the sun, and darkness cannot swallow the light.
He made a decisive choice.
The next second, the elemental shield was disappeared.
The passage connecting the front and back of the mainland was immediately unobstructed, and there was no longer any barrier to stop it.
What stretched out from behind the magic circle was no longer just a hand, but an arm, shoulder, head, waist and abdomen-
In just a few seconds, the demons behind the barrier had already passed through the magic circle with most of his body — he stared at the blue-white full moon above his head, on his expression intertwined ecstasy and blankness. He could hardly believe that after 30,000 years being sealed after the barrier, he could actually see the legendary other side of the mainland.
However, before he could recover from the impact of this scene, a series of complex singing sounds came from behind him-
It was a sentence composed of ancient and powerful words, each syllable filled with burning power.
That was the spell that Dreiter once sang, and it was perfectly copied at this moment, sang from mouth of a human who had never received any training – without stopping, extremely proficient, as if he had done it tens of thousands times before.
The blunt light elements gathered under the power of the spell, the ball of light element ignited by the attack spell illuminated the darkness, and instantly slammed into the body of the demon without mercy!
The light elements blessed by the god on the front of the mainland were like flames and sharp blades, and they were extremely terrifying threats to dark creatures.
The demon wailed and fell backwards. The body that had been leaning out instantly retracted for more than half, leaving only a pale palm still firmly holding on the edge of the formation.
Across the scarlet totem, one could hear the angry howling on the other side.
Ge Xiu curled up his lips slowly.
A face that was exquisite and handsome, like a child of God, was illuminated by moonlight, making it seem more holy and brilliant.
At this moment, the full moon above his head slowly shifted by just a little, leaving the top of the sky.
The huge scarlet totem instantly folded without warning, and dissipated in the night sky.
“Patter.”
A severed hand landed on the ground, the place of cut was smooth and flat, and purple-black blood was flowing out and gurgling, all the five fingers were stiffly spread, as if they were still leaning into the distance.
Under the moonlight, it all fell into dead silence, as if all the voices were swallowed up.
The scarlet lines slowly hid into the depths of Ge Xiu’s skin again.
After opening the magic circle for the first time, he felt the extreme exhaustion and emptiness hit like a tide. This time the feeling of weakness became worse, as if every trace of energy in the body was drained, and he couldn’t lift a finger.
——Every time he opens the magic circle, it consumed his vitality.
Ge Xiu collapsed to the ground.
Every joint and every inch of muscle was clamouring with pain and fatigue, his ears were buzzing, and only the noise of blood rushing in the blood vessels could be heard.
Breathing seemed to be suffering.
On the slender collarbone half-covered by the collar, a gold-red coat of arms flashed suddenly, like a brand on the pale skin, before being noticed, it was once again engulfed in the darkness.
At this moment, Ge Xiu felt a vibration from the ground under his body.
The vibrations ranged from light to heavy, from far to near, rumbling like thunder. It was felt like a thousand horses marching and galloping in the valley.
He turned his head with effort and looked in the direction of the sound.
Through the dense jungle, the reflection of heavily armoured knights and blades could be seen in the dark, like a murderous wave under the moonlight, coming in his direction.
His vision blurred.
All the sceneries around the body were collapsing and disintegrating, turning into fuzzy and abstract colour patterns.
Before every inch of his vision has blackened, Ge Xiu saw a pair of feet appear in his vision.
Immediately afterwards, he felt as if he was being picked up by someone. The suspension from the ground and the sense of weightlessness made him dizzy, and he could hardly remember anything.
Ge Xiu’s last memory was – that man’s movements were gentle and cherishing, as if embracing an unparalleled treasure in the world.
*In fantasy fiction, a lich (from the Old English līċ, meaning “corpse”) is a type of undead creature.Often such a creature is the result of a wilful transformation, as a powerful wizard skilled in necromancy who seeks eternal life uses rare substances in a magical ritual to become undead. Unlike zombies, which are often depicted as mindless, liches are sapient, retaining their previous intelligence and magical abilities. Liches are often depicted as holding power over lesser undead soldiers and servants.
**黑压压 Describes that there are many people, animals, or things that are crowded together (also called “black crows”). Wanted to add the note because first character means ”black”and they’re creatures of darkness…smart one Sangwo!
***目眦欲裂 so angered that the eyes seem about to pop out (idiom) lit. translating into so angry eyes are about to split but that wouldn’t make sense in english
**** actually said 生门 which means gate for marriage blahblahblah I don’t think author meant THIS gate
Little Theater:
Dark elements: sorry necromancer human, we like that crazy human more
Necromancer: °Ω°
Elinor: Wrong, I like him more
Bamboo has something to say:
I am so weak for the trope where one catches his love at the very last second, in a warm embrace…. I have read this trope 111222233334444 times I am never getting tired of it!
This translators needs to add: i cant translate such long chapters anymore my headachee!!! (I THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER END)
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