I, Guinevere, am going to crush you, you curry stick, today!

The words that were about to slip out caught in her throat, but she swallowed them back. Lily looked up at Guinevere intently.

Their eyes met, and the serious look in his eyes made the latter pause for a moment: "Okay, I do mind."

"oh oh."

“You tend to get carried away when you have the upper hand, which is a bad habit of yours, Fina. Underestimating your opponent is a major taboo. Although nothing terrible has happened because of it so far... accidents are never too frequent. I don't mean to criticize you, but like this morning, no matter how confident you are, you shouldn't speak so confidently. What if…”

She paused, not continuing. But when those direct eyes looked at her, Guinevere couldn't help but feel a little guilty. She scratched her cheek, wanting to laugh, but then felt that would seem unserious, so she swayed her body, sat up straight, and placed her hands on her knees, loosely clenching them into fists.

"I see."

Lily gazed at her for a moment before looking away and softly replying, "Mm." Then she said, "Then wait a moment..."

“Let’s stick to what we agreed on earlier.” Seeing that Lily was about to speak, Guinevere hurriedly waved her hand: “It would be best if the princess took the jewel directly, but if there are any more twists and turns in the middle—I have a feeling things won’t go that smoothly—Eleanor is a very powerful magician, and it seems even Merlin suffered at her hands… Regardless of whether it’s true or not, considering the worst-case scenario, we should at least leave someone behind to send a message or call for help.”

"And in this respect, although you are Merlin's student, but..." She paused, then changed to a more tactful approach: "Based on my observation, you seem to be more skilled in swordsmanship than magic. If Elaine truly harbors malicious intentions, I am better able than you to stall her and buy her time. Moreover..."

"and?"

"Do you remember the strange thing that happened to me when you touched King Perinoa's magic bow?" Guinevere suddenly asked.

“Of course I remember. Back then I thought…” What she thought she was, she didn’t need to say at this moment. Lily paused and only said, “It’s so good that you’re alright.”

Guinevere smiled, then her expression turned serious: "At that time, I seemed to see something. Something... very magical, which led to some speculation and ideas. According to King Perinoa, the bowstring of that magic bow was actually the sinew of the sea beast that the Fisherman King defeated, and that sea beast is still alive to this day—most importantly, no one knows the origin of that sea beast."

At this point, Lily realized what was happening: "But when I touched the bowstring, the cursed power within you suddenly intensified."

“We had just finished the ceremony at that time…” Guinevere blushed slightly as she brought it up herself. “The connection between our magical powers hadn’t been completely severed, so I was indirectly affected. And the curse of dragonification originated from Fafnir, the fifth of the so-called Seven Nightmare Children. In other words—”

"That sea monster that wreaked havoc on the area thirty years ago could very well be the monster from my nightmares?"

“Even if it isn’t, there must be some kind of connection,” Guinevere said with certainty.

"Then aren't you in even greater danger..."

“Merlin has the ability to foresee the future.” Guinevere tightened her grip on her hands in front of her knees and looked at the girl in the chair: “I suspect that she had already ‘seen’ all of this in some way long before she told us about the Tower of Radiance. Lily, this might be an opportunity.”

"Moreover, don't forget that this is only the worst-case scenario. Things are unlikely to develop to this point, but if it does happen—let's make it clear—you go to King Perinoa, or find a way to inform Merlin. Based on the cards we have now, this is the best course of action."

Lily hesitated for a moment, looked at Guinevere, and reluctantly nodded.

"All right……"

Guinevere finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. She leaned back, supporting herself with her hands, and looked up at the inn's ceiling. In the corner was a spiderweb with a small gray spider perched on it. Her gaze fell on the spider, and she thought to herself, "Now, let's wait for His Highness to send someone over."

……

Tap, tap, tap—as the scepter struck, a rhythmic sound echoed along the long mountain path. A man with long, silver-blue hair, bare-chested, and resembling a fisherman, walked slowly.

As darkness fell and night descended, with no light source around, the man's imposing figure loomed in the darkness. At one point, he turned his head as if listening to something, and after a moment, he frowned.

“I remember there’s still about half a month left on this contract. Aren’t you quite satisfied with your new identity…? Why?”

His gaze fell on the empty space, yet in the darkness, something rippled like water on a lake. Fisher's brows furrowed deeper, his expression growing increasingly grim: "...Impossible!"

"Guinevere...King Arthur, so what? I will not agree, not even if it kills me...No one knows better than you what restoring the Trident of Poseidon truly means!"

He slammed his scepter down hard, his voice like a roar, yet the volume was extremely low, each word seeming to be squeezed out from the very marrow of his bones, sending chills down one's spine.

He took a couple of breaths, calming down a bit, and shook his head: "I'm coming right now. Guinevere, Merlin, even King Arthur himself, I'll drive them all out. No, this is none of your business... Elaine? Elaine!?"

Before anyone knew it, the ripples in the air had quietly disappeared. Fisher called out twice more, but there was no response. His face changed: "Crazy... They've all gone mad!" He cursed angrily, gripping his scepter tightly. A dreamlike light flashed across the sapphire at the tip of the scepter.

The man suddenly turned around and strode forward, disappearing into the vast night in no time.

……

The night stretched out endlessly. In the distance, only a single, flickering candle brought a faint light to the room, but the candle was almost out, and the flame seemed to have dimmed even more than before.

Suddenly, even though there was no wind blowing in, the dim candlelight flickered violently.

Sensing something, Guinevere opened her eyes.

Just then, I saw a drop of water quietly fall from the ceiling, passing through the small spider web and dripping down, landing precisely on the burning candle flame.

The room suddenly went dark.

It was as if I heard a "drip-drip" sound. The sound was almost right next to my ear, yet it also seemed to come from the far reaches of the sky, incredibly ancient and long.

Immediately afterwards, a mist suddenly formed, quickly spreading and filling almost half the room in the blink of an eye.

Amidst the mist, a hazy figure appeared out of nowhere. Its features were indistinct, but its shape suggested it was a woman.

The figure raised a hand, and mist billowed out, transforming into a lantern that landed in its hand. The dim light shone through the mist, barely illuminating an area of ​​two or three steps around it: "Where is Merlin's prized student?"

The rustling voice was somewhat similar to that of the red-haired woman from that morning, yet subtly different—it sounded a bit like the voice of the woman whose eyes had been gouged out in that gloomy castle that Guinevere had once heard.

"Isn't having me enough?"

She didn't answer the question, but smiled slightly.

"...Hmph, forget it." The figure snorted coldly, seemingly too lazy to pay attention, and gripped the lantern, changing direction in the mist: "As agreed, in addition to lending out the pearl I'm keeping, I'll also give you a chance to meet Fisher. As for whether you can seize the opportunity to persuade your brother, that depends on your ability... Come with me."

With that, the figure moved forward along with the swirling mist. Guinevere was about to stand up when, with a slight movement, she found herself floating—she turned around and saw that her body was still sitting perfectly fine on the bed.

Looking down again, I saw that my hands had become transparent, and I could clearly see through them to the floor below.

"This……"

"The Trident of Poseidon possesses all sorts of incredible powers. Father originally split it into three parts, each inheriting different abilities. Just as my brother's scepter has the power to control water, the pearl I keep has the ability to communicate between reality and illusion, between the present world and the ordinary world... In other words, you, like me, are now in that other world—"

The rustling voice spoke these words, seemingly with a hint of amusement. And as soon as she finished speaking—

The scenery before my eyes suddenly changed.

A crimson full moon illuminated a sinister, ancient castle. Flocks of dragon-birds fluttered and clung to the vines surrounding the walls, crowding the area with bizarre patterns resembling human faces. In this drastically changed environment, only a misty haze and the figure holding a lantern within it remained unchanged.

The figure turned around.

Under the crimson moon, in front of the castle's main gate, he made a gesture resembling a bow towards Guinevere:

"Welcome to the Underworld."

……

P.S.: Please vote!

Chapter Ninety-Seven: Truth and Price

"...So where should we begin?"

A young woman with long, icy blue hair, a rusty lantern with a dim light that seemed ready to go out at any moment, old-fashioned windows spaced at intervals, and dragons, birds, and strange beasts screeching and hovering outside the windows—even though these were scenes I had seen before, being actually there still sent a chill down my spine, an indescribable coldness and terror.

She "walked" down a seemingly endless corridor—though it was debatable whether this ethereal form could truly be called walking—closely following the slender figure concealed in the misty fog. Her footsteps landed on the thick carpet, making almost no sound, only the woman's hoarse voice echoing:

"Thirty years ago, my father, Peres, saw the monsters ravaging the sea and could not bear to see the countless people along the coast die. After years of hard work, he finally managed to infiltrate the underwater temple and retrieve the Trident of the Sea God that was placed there. You should know the story after that."

"After a fierce battle, the Fisherman King finally defeated the ferocious monster. I originally thought that monster had been slain, but according to King Perinoa, it is still alive, only sealed away..."

Guinevere paused, not continuing. But the unspoken meaning behind her words—that the monsters from back then were still alive—was enough to prove that the decisive battle thirty years ago was not as simple as the world knew.

Given this, one can't help but wonder what the Fisher King went through that caused him to disappear for thirty years. Furthermore, it seems that the current siblings Fisher and Elaine, who are in charge of the situation, also have some secrets.

"A seal..."

The woman chuckled softly: "Indeed, after realizing that the demonic beast couldn't be completely killed, my father ultimately used the power of the Trident of the Sea God to seal it within the temple located in the deep sea. As long as the Trident of the Sea God remains, it will never be able to escape; it's practically foolproof..."

“Absolutely foolproof.” She repeated, with a hint of sarcasm: “But after that, people gradually noticed that the fisherman king, who had always been kind to his people, seemed to have become a bit strange… He issued orders in the morning, but changed and revoked them immediately at noon, suspecting that his loyal subordinates were spies from another country and wanted to find an opportunity to assassinate him… Because he was afraid of being poisoned in his food, he didn’t eat anything for five days in a row and starved to death. In the end, it was his mother who chewed up the food and fed him herself, which ended this farce.”

Seemingly recalling that time, the woman's tone grew even lower: "...It was like he'd gone mad. Later we learned that Father had truly gone mad; from the day he won, he began, little by little, irreversibly, to descend into insanity..."

"So, this matter is related to that magical beast?"

"About four or five years ago, a druid master passed by and helped us investigate the identity of the magical beast sealed deep within the temple." Without directly answering Guinevere's question, the figure in the mist only sighed, "It was originally a gentle creature."

“Gentle…” Guinevere blinked thoughtfully.

"It is said that these magical beasts have a lifespan of six to seven hundred years, and to grow into an individual capable of causing the kind of destruction that occurred thirty years ago, it would take at least two hundred years... Do you understand what this means?"

In the empty corridor, the woman with long, icy blue hair walked forward, speaking in a cold tone: "For nearly 170 years, this monster has remained peacefully in the deep sea, and we were completely unaware of its existence. But one day, it suddenly surfaced and began to wreak havoc, summoning giant waves to submerge ships and coastal houses, or pointlessly slaughtering lives... This is not normal."

"Although we didn't confirm this until that druid master came, my father had already sensed the beast's past experiences more than 20 years ago... Something was lurking inside it, causing it to lose its mind and become a ferocious beast. During that fierce battle that lasted for many days, that thing somehow transferred to my father's body and slowly affected his mind."

"After reaching this conclusion, we tried dozens of methods and made all sorts of attempts, paying a huge price, but ultimately we still couldn't improve things. We could only confirm that the thing did exist... Nothing else could be done." A moment of silence followed, broken only by soft gasps. "We could only watch helplessly as my powerful and wise father gradually turned into... a capricious madman. More than once, as my father's condition worsened, that aura of madness became clearly visible, and began to constantly affect those around him..."

"Fortunately, my father briefly returned to normal and during that time dismantled the Trident of Poseidon into three parts—or to be more precise, the Trident of Poseidon was originally composed of three treasures, and what my father did was simply restore it to its original state—the scepter with the power to control water was given to my brother Fisher to protect the territory and defend against foreign enemies."

"And the jewel that can connect the present world and the afterlife was given to me. Together with the third treasure, it was used to imprison my father in the rift between the two worlds before he completely lost control. This is it—" She stopped and raised the rusty lantern.

The light flashed and shone forward, revealing a large door that had appeared there at some unknown time.

The door was tightly closed, and a huge circular magic circle was painted on it. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that this large magic circle was actually composed of dozens of smaller magic circles, which made people feel dizzy at first glance.

Guinevere had seen this door once before. Her gaze instinctively fell on the woman's left hand, but this time, the woman holding the lantern did not remove the golden ring, and besides, the fog obscured the view, making it impossible to tell whether she was wearing it or not. She took two steps forward, lantern in hand, and easily pushed open the seemingly insurmountable door—with a gentle push, the door opened silently, revealing the scene behind it.

A pitch-black darkness.

But as the woman went inside, the dim light illuminated the narrow space. Guinevere followed behind, and when she saw what was behind the door, despite having guessed it, she couldn't help but gasp.

This is a completely empty room, without windows or a bed, surrounded by high, dark gray walls, resembling a prison for serious offenders. Only in the very center of the room is a chair with armrests.

There is a person sitting on the chair.

A woman in her early twenties sat in a chair, her head slightly lowered, as if she were asleep, completely still.

She had long, slightly wavy, ice-blue hair that cascaded down almost to the ground, partially concealing a chair. She wore a gold ring on the middle finger of her left hand, and her high cheekbones and thin lips, pressed into a line, made her appear older than her actual age.

The eyes were covered by a white cloth, on which were stained with blood.

Guinevere looked at her, and for a moment, she didn't know what kind of expression to make.

The woman holding the lantern seemed to glance back at them before walking towards the center of the room: "In the last few months, not only Father himself, but even those who looked directly at him went mad. Famous doctors and magicians brought in from all over the country all went insane... People were injured every day because of this. When we locked up the madmen, they had all committed suicide a few days later, in all sorts of unimaginable and incomprehensible ways... Then came the servants who served in the palace. Even if they hadn't seen Father with their own eyes, just walking past his bedroom would drive them to madness the next day. They would kill anyone they saw, scratch with their nails, bite with their teeth..."

She walked to the chair, bent down, and carefully and cautiously removed the gold ring.

“We tried our best. We tried our best… but we still couldn’t find any way to improve the situation. The only thing we could do was follow our father’s orders and use the jewel and this ring left by King Solomon to create a prison between the mortal world and the underworld to imprison him, to imprison our king… my father. And a proper prison, besides prisoners, should also have jailers, and a gatekeeper to keep watch, but that’s not easy. In order not to be affected by that frenzied aura, we must use a secret technique to sever all our senses and completely cut off contact with the outside world, so as not to risk going insane…”

“The living dead.” Guinevere’s tone was also somewhat somber.

“A very apt analogy.” The figure seemed to chuckle. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have such a skilled magician back then. My father was one, but he was no longer of any use. And although I could do it, I could only do it with sight and hearing… So, in addition to my half-baked secret techniques, I ended up using a rather clumsy method.”

"Gouge out your eyes, poke out your ears... So, Princess Elaine, you are the gatekeeper."

All the doubts and speculations until now seemed to be answered in this one sentence. Guinevere let out a breath and spoke.

The woman in the mist laughed again: "Only those of King Solomon's bloodline can wield the power of this ring, and apart from our lineage, there aren't any other descendants of Solomon to be found anytime soon. If someone has to sacrifice themselves, it could be Fisher, Uncle Perinoa, Uncle Alan, or even Percival—if he had been born then. It just so happens to be me..."

With what sounded like a sigh, or perhaps a helpless chuckle, she turned around, holding the ring.

"This is the truth."

"A self-perceived victory, a 'victory celebration' filled with blood and slaughter, madmen, a prison just a stone's throw from death, and... two people who can neither live nor die. Perhaps it was my father's last act of kindness; he left me this precious pearl, allowing me to temporarily possess other people's bodies... of course, with their consent. So I periodically sign contracts with those I deem fit, 'borrowing' their bodies for a few months, in exchange for what they desire. Treasure, power, and so on... For a skilled illusionist, these are not difficult matters."

“But now, what you and Uncle Perinoa want is a complete Poseidon’s Trident. Whatever the reason, how many people will be affected by Avank’s awakening and the contaminated water source… Although my brother and I know how to reassemble the ring, scepter, and orb into the Poseidon’s Trident… For what we might encounter in the future, Father used his last little bit of time to teach us how to assemble them, but time was limited, and Father didn’t have time to tell us how to disassemble these three treasures after they were assembled.”

She chuckled, "Restoring the Trident of Poseidon means I can no longer experience this world through another's body as I have before. It means I will become the 'living dead' you speak of, forever trapped in empty darkness, unable to escape—"

P.S.: The diligent First Emperor, Qingbai, is now online! Don't forget to vote for him! We've only gotten a little over a hundred votes in the last two days! (Knocking on a bowl)

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Sacrifice is Inevitable

Nothing in this world is perfect. Just as a needle has no two ends, you gain some things and lose others. Therefore, when deciding what to keep or what to discard, there must be sacrifices.

I unexpectedly remembered this passage.

The source was probably a novel I had read in a previous life, but I couldn't remember the title or the author. However, I had a deep impression of the sentence itself. After listening to the blue-haired woman, Elaine, narrate the story, Guinevere immediately remembered it.

But the truths of the world are always easy to understand, but difficult to put into practice.

She couldn't help but look again at the figure sitting in the chair, only to see a white cloth stained with blood. The blood had long since dried, but the empty, sunken eye sockets seemed to bring back the bloody scene that had occurred thirty years ago, across the river of time, to her eyes once more.

A ferocious beast wreaked havoc, causing immense suffering to the people. The young warrior endured hardship and finally obtained the divine artifact, defeating and sealing the vicious monster, restoring peace to the sea and the people. He was revered as the Fisherman King and the savior of the southern border of Britain. In the general public's perception, the story of Fisherman King Pelles is undoubtedly a heroic legend that stirs the blood and evokes boundless pride. But the truth revealed at this moment is so heavy that it is suffocating.

Throughout, Elaine recounted the past in a calm and even tone, occasionally with a hint of mockery. Yet, between the lines, Guinevere could easily imagine how absurd, bizarre, and desperate everything had been thirty years ago.

In this profound despair, what drove this young girl—as Guinevere knew, Elaine was only twenty-four years old thirty years ago, which in later years would be just a recent college graduate, the prime of her life—to step forward, gouge out her own eyes and ears, willingly losing all five senses to become a living dead, "departing from this world." Even if Elaine could temporarily possess someone else through some means, a compromise, it's easy to imagine that the feeling of being a wandering, homeless ghost would be far from pleasant.

And the purpose of my trip.

They even wanted to snatch this last straw from Elaine's grasp.

"...Does King Perinoa know about this?"

After a long while, Guinevere finally let out a breath and asked.