Ring of Fate

Chapter 772 The Mutilated Corpse

Unlike the wilderness with exposed gray-white rocks that Lumian and others had passed through before, the soil on this side of the Styx was dark black. There were no withered blood-red flowers, nor were there white bones and rotting corpses.

The sky is no longer illuminated by the pale, dim, and temperatureless "sunlight", and thick darkness dominates this world with no visible boundaries.

In the depths of the darkness, pale green flames quietly floated in the air, far apart from each other, as if acting as street lamps.

With the help of the nearest pale flame, Lumian quickly jumped from the gloomy boat to the shore.

After his feet touched solid ground, he felt a lot more at ease. At the same time, he felt that as he crossed the River Styx, the breath of death in his undead body became stronger and more obvious. His spirit and consciousness, which were closely protected by the golden mask of the Eggers family, also felt a little chilly.

Then, a sinister coldness appeared in his body, and the "boatman" in a highly decayed state, with empty eyes, reinserted the long oar into the water of the Styx.

It did not attack Lumian again.

It does not appear to be attacking targets on shore.

Looking at the gloomy boat gradually moving away from the shore and the "boatman" with his back to him, Lumian thought for a moment and said:

“Don’t you want to kill it?

"As a rotten human skin of high status, it is a perfect match for your messenger."

This refers to the "Half Fairy", the messenger of the "Knight of the Sword", who is a spiritual creature who has lost half of her outer body. In other words, she just happens to be missing a human skin, and the "Boatman" is the human skin peeled off by the demigod of the "Death" path.

The Sword Knight was silent for a few seconds, letting his voice echo in Lumian's ears:

"All she lacks is her own human skin."

The answer was restrained and concise, but Lumian seemed to hear the Sword Knight roaring:

Don't just find a random human skin and let my messenger wear it!
The Sword Knight paused for a second and continued:

"We may have to go back to the other side of the Styx later, but we don't know how many 'ferrymen' are left on the Styx."

Do we need to go back to the other side of the Styx? Lumian then began to consider a very serious and important question:

"Once we've dealt with Osetto's child, how are we going to leave the underworld?"

This obviously cannot be solved by "teleportation".

"Our companions in the outside world should be looking for the Sequence 5 Gatekeeper of the Death Path or the corresponding demigod to help us. This may require us to return to the outer area of ​​the Underworld where we were before, so that we can see the bronze gate to the Underworld."

Lumian nodded, and following the vague sensation brought by the black mark on his right shoulder, he took a step forward.

He did not ask whether the direction taken by the Sword Knight and the Temperance Demigod himself had strayed from the path to find the child of Osetto.

If they are wrong, they will remind you.

When Lumian reached the nearest pale flame, he realized it was actually a street lamp.

It is made of gold and is in the shape of a kneeling human with hands tied behind the back, head tilted back, and chest and abdomen curved.

A pitch-black and evil wick stretched out from the mouth of the humanoid statue, its surface covered with a layer of light yellow translucent grease, and the pale flame burned quietly, as if it had been burning for thousands of years without any sign of extinguishing.

Starting from this human-shaped street lamp, there are dark, broken stone slabs on the ground.

Lumian could already imagine how solemn and dignified the road leading to the Palace of Death was.

He walked along the stone road that had cracked and shattered for unknown reasons, under the illumination of human-shaped street lamps made of gold and spaced far apart from each other, and walked quickly but cautiously into the depths of the darkness, to the place where the part of the body of the "abscessed hand" was suspected to be hidden.

This road also slopes downward.

This reminded Lumian of the Aurela Hotel where he had stayed before, and the words said by Ivelista, the descendant of the "God of Death" - many people believe that the real hell and the origin of death are deep underground, so they have to keep going down, deeper and deeper into the earth.

This is also reflected in the underworld... After walking for a while, Lumian suddenly raised his hand and pinched out a huge, blazing white flame.

The bright light quickly dispelled the darkness in the distance, allowing Lumian to see the situation nearby clearly:

The mausoleum-like buildings either collapsed completely or half-collapsed. There was deathly silence, with no bones or corpses.

These buildings come in different colors, not just black, but also pale white, golden yellow, dark red, dark green and other colors.

"Did the followers of the God of Death live in these houses?" Lumian asked the "Sword Knight" who was quite knowledgeable about the history of the southern continent and the legends of the underworld.

The Sword Knight replied succinctly:

"do not know."

He then added:
"We can only be sure if we find creatures that have been in and out of the underworld before the death of the God of Death."

"Okay..." Lumian didn't ask any more questions and walked a little faster.

This is because he felt that part of the body of the "abscessed hand" was not far ahead!
He put the "Traveler's Bag" into his right hand again, ready to draw out the "Sword of Courage" at any time.

As for the "Devil's Whisper" ring, he has no plans to wear it for now. He doesn't think that becoming an undead creature will make him immune to the negative effects of the sealed object that allows malice to spread.

Undead creatures can also have malicious intent!
You know, undead creatures such as vengeful spirits and evil spirits are formed around their own obsessions and residual malice.

Moreover, Lumian's spirit and consciousness are protected by the golden mask of the Eggers family and are in a living state.

After jogging for a while, relying on the pale flames of the human-shaped street lamps and the blazing white light balls above his head, Lumian discovered a magnificent building on the side of the broken stone slabs.

The suspected church was completely black and about 50 to 60 meters high, but the upper half had collapsed and crashed into the lower part.

Lumian concentrated his mind and listened attentively, and heard a faint and strange sound coming from the magnificent but ruined church.

It was like someone was cutting a human body with an unsharpened knife, sawing bones, making those who heard it feel the same way and their teeth ache.

"I have another matter that needs to be dealt with in this church." Lumian then informed the "Sword Knight" and the Temperance Demigod of his intentions.

He then added firmly:
"Should be soon."

He remembered that the "Magician" lady said that the danger of the "abscessed hand" itself would only appear after all its body parts were gathered together. At present, there were still two parts of it in the "Exile City" Morola, so there was no need to worry about this problem.

The next enemy you have to face may be the undead creature that made the sound just now.

"Okay." The Sword Knight didn't ask what it was.

“Thank you,” Lumian responded sincerely.

The fact that the Sword Knight and the Temperance Demigod did not object and did not leave his body meant that they tacitly agreed to provide the necessary assistance later.

Lumian extinguished the white fire ball floating above his head to avoid irritating the undead creatures in the ruined church.

He transformed into a shadow, blending into the area not illuminated by the pale flames, and silently sneaked into the building whose upper half collapsed and crashed into the interior.

From the shadows, Lumian saw stone pillars driven into the ground, a dome shattered into pieces, and a half-broken bird statue.

After walking around in the ruins for a while, Lumian's eyes suddenly lit up.

There were a few bone torches burning with pale green flames stuck on the ten-meter-high ruins ahead. The thick darkness from above flowed in through the huge hole created by the collapse of the dome, and was blocked outside by the not-so-bright light.

Below the bone torches was a long table made of grayish-white stone, on which lay a half-body with its head cut off and cut open vertically.

The corpse was naked, blue and black all over, swollen from decay, and oozing with yellow and red pus.

It looked much larger than a normal human. I didn't know if it was a half-giant or if it was expanded by the decaying gases after death.

Lumian recognized it at a glance; this was the body of the "abscessed hand"!

It belongs to the left half, with a hand and a foot.

In front of the corpse of the "abscessed hand", a huge figure stood sideways to Lumian.

The figure was four meters tall, with pitch-black skin etched with a large number of evil patterns, but most of them had already rotted away, and the flesh and blood had either fallen off long ago, revealing white bones, or were in a half-melted and sticky state.

At this moment, the figure was bending over, holding a larger pale leg bone that came from someone unknown, and was slowly cutting half of the body of the "abscessed hand".

Lumian saw that the figure had two curved, tattered, black goat horns on its head. From the side, it looked like a human face and a goat's face merged together. The more he looked at it, the more terrifying it seemed.

The "demon" is an undead creature that a Beyonder turns into after death? Just as Lumian had this thought, he saw the goat-faced giant cut off a piece of blue-black rotten flesh, stuffed it into his mouth, and began to chew it, causing pale yellow pus to splash.

On the half body of the "abscessed hand", rotten flesh and blood began to wriggle and grow, filling the wound created by the cut.

Eat one and the other will grow? Lumian was thinking about how to take away the body of the Abscessed Hand when the demon-like undead creature suddenly turned around, looked towards the shadow where he was hiding, and spoke a language he could not understand in a hollow and decayed voice.

Although he could not understand, Lumian felt his flesh and blood pulsating strangely, and was forced out of his shadow creature state and transformed back into the appearance of an undead creature wearing a golden mask.

However, the goat-faced rotten demon did not take the opportunity to attack him.

Two seconds later, the voice of the Sword Knight reached Lumian's ears:

“It is asking:

"Do you need meat?"

Need meat? Lumian was stunned at first, then he was glad that he had a translator.

Looking at the huge, devil-like undead creature with a bent back, Lumian suddenly had an inexplicable thought:

Is this a deal with the devil?
The aftereffects of my previous use of the "Powerful Person's Black Box" have finally come?
PS: I recommend a book, "Brilliant Years of 1991", author: Dao Yigeng

A story about a time travel story about a programmer who returned to 1991 and had to go on a blind date because of the debt he owed to his predecessor, but was not chosen...

(End of this chapter)