Ring of Fate

Chapter 771 Ferryman

Lumian nodded, and his right hand dropped naturally onto the "Traveler's Bag".

He then walked to the shabby and gloomy boat and saw the highly rotten boatman turn sideways and make way, as if signaling him to get on board quickly.

"Can you take me across the River Styx?" Lumian asked "politely" in Dutan.

He felt that since the former "God of Death" was from the southern continent, speaking Dutan in the underworld should be more easily accepted by "all parties".

After all, in an environment where the breath of death is so strong that it seems to be tangible and where living people cannot survive for even a second, using ancient Hermetic languages ​​or other mystical languages ​​that can leverage the power of nature is likely to produce unexpected effects. For example, the word "Styx" might allow Lumian to have a close connection with the dark and illusory river in front of him, causing him to be swept directly into it by the huge waves it raises.

The "boatman", whose eye sockets were filled with thick blood vessels and yellow pus, faced the river so wide that the other side could not be seen indifferently, motionless.

He seemed to be answering Lumian with his actions:

Why would you want to communicate with a dead body?
I can't hear what you're saying and I can't make a sound.

“It seems that using ordinary language won’t work… I heard that there is a ‘language of the dead’ in the ‘God of Death’ path, but unfortunately I don’t know it…” Lumian muttered silently, letting his eyes turn silver-white with black as he slowly walked onto the tattered and gloomy boat.

In his "eyes of disaster", the fate of the "boatman" is pure darkness, dead silence and nothingness, and there is no change at all.

"This means that no matter how the Boatman struggles, it cannot change its corpse state. The only outcome is that it will completely wither away over time, and even traces of its existence will disappear?
"But this doesn't mean that the Boatman can't do anything during the period before he dies. His actions can still affect the fate of others, including me and other undead creatures. From this perspective, the Boatman, or the awakened undead creature, should still have a fate, but the ending cannot be changed...

"They do have a destiny, but I am not worthy enough to see it? Well, it's possible. After all, objects also have a destiny, but I can't see it now...

"It may also be that the fate of the deceased needs to interact with others in order to be reflected in the fate of others..."

Perhaps because he himself had temporarily become an undead creature, Lumian couldn't help but think about the fate of these "inhabitants" of the underworld.

With the mystical knowledge he currently possessed, he was unable to give an accurate definition of fate, nor did he know how much the mercury-like river of fate actually contained, or whether there were any dark sides or hidden parts that he could not currently see.

He thinks there should be, which comes from a few very simple questions:

Could it be that after I put on the golden mask of the Eggers family and turned into an undead creature, the river of destiny that existed before and corresponded to my own would disappear, and there would be only pure blackness and nothingness?

When I take off the mask, will the long river of destiny return instantly?

What is this long river of fate? Is it a plaything that we can drive at will?
Although the golden mask of the Eggers family was made by the god of death, it did not contain any extraordinary properties. It was just of a higher status, so it would not be easy to play with the river of fate!

"I'll have a chance to find a Beyonder from the 'Monster' path to observe my fate and see the changes before and after I put on the golden mask...

“Uh… never mind. Unless I find a Demigod-level ‘monster’ or a Beyonder, I will only harm them. When I only had the seal of Mr. Fool, the false angel status, and the residual breath of the ‘Blood Emperor’, the ‘machine’ Kolobo of the Pylos Port Patrol Team didn’t dare to look at me, thinking that it would bring him great danger. Now I have the seal of the ‘Underworld Man’ and the bloodline of Omybella…”

Lumian stood in the middle of the shabby boat, and the two eyes hidden by the golden mask turned iron black.

He wanted to observe the "boatman's" weaknesses in advance and be prepared for possible accidents.

At this time, the highly decayed "boatman" moved the oars, allowing the gloomy boat to slowly sail to the other side of the illusory dark river.

Its body was all dark black, and Lumian searched for a long time but couldn't find the pale color that represented a weakness.

Of course, these black colors also mean that the "Boatman" is completely suppressed by sunlight and lightning.

The next second, Lumian heard the voice of the Sword Knight Maric:
"Its weakness may not be here."

Not here? What do you mean not here? Can weakness be separated from the person? As soon as Lumian had a strong doubt in his mind, he remembered a few stories his sister had told him.

In those stories, there is a monster called a lich that creates a phylactery and hides it in a secret place that is heavily protected. As long as the phylactery is not discovered and destroyed, the lich will not truly die, which is equivalent to separating its fatal weakness from the lich.

And among the twenty-two paths of God, it is not too surprising to find similar things.

The Sword Knight continued:
“Were you trying to observe its fate before?

"It's not low-level, it's a dangerous behavior."

Not low in status? Lumian glanced at the boatman, whose body was covered in tattered clothing and whose flesh was highly rotten, and could not see what was so great about him.

However, since it can ferry across the River Styx, which represents death, without sinking into the river, it must be extremely special.

Lumian withdrew his gaze and paid close attention to the "boatman's" every move, patiently waiting for the gloomy boat to cross the Styx and reach the other side.

The tattered boat was rocking slowly as if it was about to fall apart completely. It was unknown how long it took before it reached the middle of the River Styx.

Suddenly, the highly decayed "boatman" raised the long oar and turned his body towards Lumian.

As the gloomy boat came to a stop, the "boatman's" mouth opened instantly, and it split towards the rotten chest, the dug-out belly button, and the crotch.

The body of the "boatman" was like a piece of clothing with all the buttons undone, stretched out to both sides. There were no blackened internal organs or bones in its chest and abdominal cavities, but instead a pile of half-melted and half-rotten broken hands and feet.

Lumian once again felt the fear that made his body and mind tremble, and he dared not even think of resisting.

He was well prepared and clenched his right hand with difficulty.

He grasped the "Sword of Courage" in the "Traveler's Bag" and held the hilt of this iron-black straight sword.

Courage quickly filled Lumian's body, and a crazy smile appeared on his face.

What is there to be afraid of for a ferryman?

Even if the "God of Death" stands in front of me, I will chop him with my sword!
Lumian drew out his straight sword that was burning with white and blue flames, and slashed at the "boatman" who was opening his membrane and rushing towards him.

With a "puff" sound, the "Sword of Courage" split the pile of half-melted limbs in the "Boatman's" stomach, and split the skin behind the chest that was rotten and full of holes.

But the straight sword failed to cut through the rotten skin that looked extremely fragile.

Just as Lumian was about to strike with his second sword, a huge explosion occurred and the Boatman suddenly shrank back, slowly closing his open chest and abdomen.

At the same time, the voice of the Sword Knight rang in Lumian’s ears:

"stop.

“We have it under control.”

“That’s a good opportunity to kill it!” Lumian responded without hesitation.

He and the Sword Knight communicated in Intis.

The Sword Knight was silent for a second and said:

"I know you are not afraid of it and you can kill it, but if it dies, we won't be able to cross the Styx."

Seeing that Lumian had calmed down a bit, the Sword Knight added:
"And you won't get any extraordinary properties if you kill it. It's just the skin of the real Ferryman. It looks like it's been eating other corpses. It seems to want to regain its body but has never succeeded."

Lumian accepted the Sword Knight's explanation.

Having courage does not mean not listening to others, it just means selectively ignoring danger warnings.

He then put the "Sword of Courage" back into the pile of ordinary straight swords in the "Traveler's Bag".

This time, he didn't feel scared anymore, because this was what he wanted to achieve by using the "Sword of Courage". The only thing he felt afraid of was:

"A demigod's skin was flayed?

"What happened in the underworld?"

Lumian saw the Boatman slowly and struggling to put together the torn skin and rotten flesh on his chest, just like buttoning a shirt.

Then, the "boatman" inserted the long, black, rotten oar into the illusory and dark Styx, and rowed it more slowly as if resisting something.

The demigod of the Temperance Sect possessed the Boatman and forcibly controlled him, forcing him to continue rowing? It seemed that this control was strongly resisted... Lumian was always ready to draw the Sword of Courage again to deal with any accidents that might happen.

As the gloomy boat swayed towards the other side of the Styx, Lumian had nothing else to do, so he asked the "Knight of the Sword":
"I saw before that the entire underworld is in a state of winding downwards layer by layer. Crossing the Styx should only reach the other side of this world. Why did you say just now that it is equivalent to entering the depths of the underworld?"

The Sword Knight simply replied:

“The geography of the underworld cannot be completely referenced to the real world.

"According to many notes of the Eggers family, there are two ways to enter the depths of the underworld. One is to go down layer by layer along the worlds surrounding the Styx, which are used to punish sinners, and finally reach the country where the followers of the God of Death live. The other is to cross the Styx and enter directly."

I see… Lumian asked thoughtfully:

"In other words, our destination is the country where the followers of the God of Death once lived?"

The Sword Knight was silent for a second and said:

"The palace of the God of Death should also be there."

The palace of the former "God of Death"? Lumian's eyelids jumped when he heard that.

He and the "Knight of the Sword" were sometimes silent and sometimes communicating, and the border on the other side of the Styx finally appeared.

(End of this chapter)