Chapter 327 - 327 Egg and Arrow
After a prolonged period, Ebony broke the oppressive silence and asked in wonderment,
“So, where are we?”
“This is the so-called… World’s End,” William responded slowly.
Having said that, he paused and continued with a sigh, “However, I never expected the so-called World’s End to be the actual World’s End in every sense…”
With that said, he disregarded Ebony and Floral’s exclamations and crossed the boundary stone.
“Please wait, it’s…”
Ebony attempted to pull William back, but perhaps because it happened too suddenly, he was a tad too slow.
William stepped into the empty darkness.
However, the other party didn’t plummet into the dark abyss and vanish as he had anticipated or be directly swallowed by the limitless dark void.
William was like a white ink blot that dripped onto a black piece of paper. He maintained a distinct and abrupt presence, standing alone in the pure darkness.
Even though it appeared as if he was continuously moving forward, the distance between him and the boundary stone didn’t alter at all.
As the individual involved, William could sense the purest form of nothingness—no gravity, temperature, scent, distance, sound, or even the passing of time and the changes in space… In other words, it was the extreme loneliness he had experienced inside the Treasure Hall.
If he didn’t turn back, he would have felt as if he was the sole existence in the entire world.
The sight before him reminded him of the legends he had heard about the Blind Sisters—according to legend, the Eighth Holy Spirit’s treasure was concealed at World’s End when William Kane departed from Currere.
William was perplexed as to where the Treasure Hall he had summoned from the console was located.
The prototype of the Treasure Hall should be an empty room utilized by game developers to modify various items, NPCs, monsters, and other objects. As a result, it didn’t seem like it was in Currere or the Moon Realm, let alone the legendary Astral World or the Realm of Light.
The sight before him provided him with the answer: it was situated in the void beyond a map’s borders, the actual World’s End.
While William was taken aback, he resolved another issue that had been weighing on his mind.
At the very least, World’s End wasn’t a wall of air—although this didn’t make much difference in practical use, at least this endless nothingness explanation gave him some peace of mind.
William recalled that Creation Gods everywhere shared similar concepts of ‘infinite light’ and ’empty void.’ According to the hypothesis of the Seven Holy Spirits Creation, which was believed to be closest to the truth of creation, after the Seven Holy Spirits sank from the Realm of Light, they created Currere in the void.
Since it floated in the void of World’s End, it should still be an unhatched World Egg or an incomplete miniature Currere.
In other words, once Camilla’s scheme succeeded, it would never be as They had mentioned. It would only become a new history that would be incorporated into Currere… It was highly probable that the entire Currere timeline would begin to extend into the past and future from this point.
A Currere that had been governed by the deceased since the creation of the world and would slowly progress towards an endless demise.
William pivoted and stepped back across the boundary stone.
“Since you’ve seen the World’s End scenery, I presume you now recognize that the world you’re in is nothing but an illusion, right?” William retreated and queried Floral.
She nodded with a somber expression.
William lifted the magical medium in his hand and drew a door that flickered with lightning in midair.
As he cast his spell, he uttered, “In that case, we can go back to Holy Tree City now and confront Ravenwood.”
“C… confront?”
Floral couldn’t help inquiring, her voice filled with apprehension at the ominous-sounding words.
“To right the wrong history caused by Camilla and let all the dead used by Them to this day rest in peace.”
Since the way out of Ravenwood was conceptually blocked, William had to resort to extreme measures.
With that said, the portal outside Holy Tree City suddenly ignited.
Lightning illuminated the surrounding darkness. William stood in front of the portal and gazed at the two of them. He said, “Hurry up and return to Holy Tree City with me. We still have a race to save.”
…
“This… It’s impossible!”
Nizemar’s eyes widened as she watched Floral rise from the altar.
“Why not?” Bishop Sigmond inquired, looking at Nizemar’s expression, which was nearly out of control, and maintaining his previous politeness.
“Because…”
Nizemar subconsciously gazed at the ceremonial trigger on her left hand, the brass ring that resembled an Ouroboros.
The trigger of the ritual to revive Floral’s soul was still in her possession. According to her agreement with the Presiding Judge, unless there were exceptional circumstances, she should activate that spell three days later… As for the tree spirit’s soul, it was sealed in the Soul Storage Crystal by the Presiding Judge.
Furthermore, even if Floral had awakened unexpectedly early, why hadn’t the Presiding Judge returned with her?
Considering this information, who could the revived “Floral” be?
With this in mind, Nizemar glanced at Floral, who had stood up. She gazed around the Canopy Temple’s furnishings with a bewildered expression, like a newborn baby.
“Duke Floral?” Nizemar probed.
The other party didn’t appear to hear her voice and continued inspecting the surroundings.
“Duke Floral, are you back?!” Nizemar raised her voice and planned to approach her.
However, at that moment, she sensed as if her feet had taken root. She couldn’t even lift them.
Upon looking down, she discovered that numerous tough dark-brown vines had clung to her ankle at some point.
They had literally taken root. Additionally, it wasn’t only her; everyone present, including the forest druids from the Oak Council, was restrained by the roots.
“I previously stated that my objective was only to bring the duke with us.”
Nizemar gazed up. Sigmond, who had been at the temple door, had appeared in front of her at some point. For some reason, several withered leaves floated around him.
“For now, I don’t want to have a direct conflict with you.”
The leader of the Second Order’s Return Church still wore a polite smile on his face, but the dangerous aura he exuded caused Nizemar to touch the object hanging from her belt…
“Really? If you want to activate that terrifying thing here, that’s a completely different story.”
Before Nizemar could retrieve the Sealed Magic rune left behind by the Presiding Judge, which contained powerful summoning spells, more vines sprung up from the ground like snakes and firmly bound her hands.
“I must say, I’m truly sorry about this. Daughter of Silver Blood, Nizemar, we should have known each other as devout believers of the Holy Spirits Church…”
At this moment, Bishop Sigmond’s expression was filled with regret and compassion. Nizemar had heard in the Eighth Order that these Mother believers often had this expression every time they had to take someone else’s life.
With that said, Sigmond’s right hand transformed into a wooden awl carved from dead wood and stabbed Nizemar’s chest. However, simultaneously, the silver pendant hanging on her chest burst forth with silver light, and invisible ripples immediately appeared between the two of them.
It was a life-saving item left behind by William because he was concerned.
“Holy Spirit Protection?”
Sigmond was slightly surprised. He gazed up at the motionless Nizemar and continued, “How surprising. You haven’t been abandoned by the Eighth Holy Spirit? However, this is meaningless…”
As he spoke, the withered-leaf-colored pendant on his chest emitted a dark-brown light.
Both were blessings from the Holy Spirits, and these two forces began to cancel each other out. His right hand, which had turned into a wooden stake, began to press towards Nizemar’s chest little by little.
However, at that moment, Sigmond’s expression changed. He abruptly turned around and placed his withered right hand in front of his chest. A wooden shield as thick as black iron formed instantly in front of him…
Then, he was hurled through the air.
He only came to a complete stop when he was about to reach the edge of the temple. Countless roots and vines formed a vast net behind him and caught him.
On the thick shield produced by his right hand was a transparent arrow.
“It’s you. The Obliteration Tower’s information is indeed correct…”
The arrow had penetrated the shield and pierced Sigmond’s right arm, tearing through and emerging at his elbow.
He gritted his teeth and glared at the indifferent woman at the door. He spoke fiercely,
“You’re indeed here, Remides Shadowmoon!”