Chapter 2018 Ifig <TOC> Chapter 2020 Invisible Creature
Translator: SumTLMan
Ifig stared with his pale eyes, furiously howling. The budding tentacles growing from his severed limbs, although not fully formed, began to rapidly twine together like several muscles entwined into a twist, attempting to resist the invisible Silent Slaughter by increasing their density.
Yet, what could resisting once or twice achieve?
Even as Ifig’s limb regeneration accelerated to an incredible pace, under Rhine’s absolute power, his resistance still failed to cause any ripples.
With a thunderous roar, the spherical creature above Ifig’s head was reduced to rubble, and Ifig’s skull traced a parabola in mid-air, bounced thrice, and finally landed before Rhine.
His mouth was still open, revealing sharp teeth; from his pale eyes, a stream of foul-smelling green liquid flowed.
Though his visage was ferocious, in these final moments, Rhine and Sanders somehow discerned a sense of transcendence.
Sanders vaguely remembered the man with deep blue hair, his beautiful, gem-like eyes, and a proud demeanor. But now, Ifig no longer had any pride to speak of, pathetically becoming an eternally unrestful wreck.
As Ifig’s skull slowly turned into dim light spots, like black smoke dispersing and blending into the darkness, there was an inexplicable sense of a ritual of dust settling.
Perhaps, this was the best liberation for Ifig.
As Ifig vanished, the air fell into silence for a dozen seconds. After a long while, Rhine deeply sighed.
“Ifig was one of the rare wizards from the Song of the Deep Sea untainted by the bitterness of the world. Even with a cold demeanor, he was worthy of association, a pity indeed.” Rhine looked where Ifig’s skull had disappeared, a trace of compassion in his eyes. “Entering this time, I didn’t expect to not only fail to achieve my goal but also to receive a tragic piece of news as the first information.”
“Doesn’t seem like his soul was felt?” asked Sanders.
Rhine nodded: “His soul should have been bound when it was being crafted into a Stitched Corpse Creature. It’s highly likely that it’s in the hands of the one pulling the strings behind the Stitched Corpse Creature.”
When mentioning the puppeteer, both Rhine and Sanders’ expressions darkened. An entity capable of creating Stitched Corpse Creatures is definitely not of low intelligence. And in the Nightmare Plane, any being with a hint of intelligence is not easy to deal with.
All they hope for now is that this puppeteer doesn’t show up.
At this thought, Rhine turned to look at the ancient gate. The sight of the ten-meter passage behind the gate was very quiet, with no anomalies. Even the flames on the candelabras on both sides were as calm as ever.
This calmness gave Rhine a bit of relief.
However, the excessive tranquility also made Rhine feel a bit surreal. With so many creatures appearing outside the passage, could the ruins really remain this quiet? Is that even possible?
Rhine put these thoughts aside for the moment, not willing to ponder over them. Then, he slowly walked forward a few steps. Although the Stitched Corpse Creature representing Ifig had vanished, remnants of the Sphere Creature remained on the ground.
It seemed that the Sphere Creature really couldn’t be consumed by darkness.
Rhine didn’t ponder why this was the case but simply pointed towards the ground. The remnants of the Sphere Creature slowly floated into the air.
The almost unreasonable amplification displayed by the Sphere Creature also sparked Rhine’s curiosity in this odd creature. However, now was certainly not the time to study the Sphere Creature. Rhine planned to collect some of its remnants and study them thoroughly with Dulmatin upon returning.
Of course, collecting a living specimen of the Sphere Creature would be ideal.
Rhine raised his head to look towards the darkness ahead… just wondering if there would be any living Sphere Creatures appearing later?
As Rhine was pondering about the Sphere Creature, suddenly, he felt something and turned his head sharply.
Sanders also sensed danger, one that made every inch of his skin tighten and the hairs on his skin stand on end, as if an unprecedented danger was looming over him.
“…That’s the feeling!” Sanders’s expression changed abruptly; the last time he was observing the passage and saw those pair of shoes, he had the same sensation!
Danger, warning, as if a great terror was about to descend.
Sanders first glanced at Rhine, wanting to alert him. However, Rhine had obviously noticed as well, his expression grave and serious, eyes tightly fixed on the gate behind the ruins.
Seeing Rhine aware of the anomaly, Sanders also turned his gaze towards the ruins’ gate.
Inside, it was as calm as usual, the short ten meters of space showing no change. But, the candles on both sides seemed to start flickering.
As if, from that nearly right-angled turn in the passage, a gust of wind was blowing through.
“Take Angel out with you.” Although Rhine was conversing with Sanders, his gaze was firmly locked on the passage behind the gate.
Even now, without any signs of danger, Sanders was well aware that by the time the danger was visible, it would be too late.
With this thought, Sanders didn’t hesitate to grab Angel’s shoulder: “Open the gate, retreat!”
Angel, who had been immersed in controlling his mental power, was completely unaware of what was happening outside. Because of his focused control, he arrived at the back of the gate a minute earlier than expected, and he had even seen the magic rune image behind the gate.
Just as Angel was searching for a corner of the rune that might represent a “map,” Sanders’s voice suddenly entered his ears.
Angel was stunned for half a second, then immediately came to his senses. He naturally understood that when Sanders said “open the gate,” he wasn’t asking him to push open the gates of the ruins but was telling him to use the Gateway of Fantasy to retreat back to the entrance of the passage, to leave the ruins.
Although Angel felt regretful, as he would have been able to discern the details of the rune within half a minute more, he had no intention of disputing.
He was well aware that staying alive was paramount above all else.
With this in mind, Angel didn’t hesitate and swiftly retracted his mental tendrils from within the gate, while also preparing to activate the gateway model in his mental space.
However, at this moment, a voice suddenly emerged.
“Ah, ah, humans really don’t appreciate the finer things, huh? Even my adorable little pet was killed by you, which really breaks my heart~” This was a somewhat sharp voice, speaking the common tongue with a strange accent.
As the voice carried through, a strange shadow, elongated by the firelight, gradually appeared at the corner of the ten-meter passage behind the gate.
At the same time, a pair of leather shoes appeared, stepping outward.
They were the same plain, yet ominously peculiar shoes that Sanders had previously seen.