Chapter 302: 77. Ambush
“Right ahead, that’s our shrine.”
Several carriages from the Turan Family slowly moved forward in the snowstorm, leaving distinct tracks in the snow. Inside the lead carriage, Sister Ilos, sitting next to Valentina, looked through the window, facing the cold wind and swirling snow, and vaguely saw a snow-covered building in the distance at the foot of the mountains.
The architecture of that building was peculiar, overall circular, with a hollow center showcasing the celestial dome, situated between two interlocking mountains. The area where the two mountains connected appeared to be artificially carved into a perfectly circular cavity, making it easy to imagine that at night, pure moonlight would shine down upon the courtyard of the shrine.
At this moment, there were no Moon Rabbit Tribe members outside the shrine, as Ilos remembered, but many people from the Turan Family had set up numerous tents, waiting for Valentina and her companions to arrive.
The carriage came to a slow stop, and a small team of fully armed individuals approached steadily, carrying firearms and blades. The leading man removed his snow-blocking mask and shouted toward Haldor, who was sitting at the front of the carriage, “Are you with Miss Valentina? We are mostly ready on our side and just waiting for your relics.”
Haldor nodded, stepped down into the snow, and turned to Fisher, saying, “Let’s go make preparations, we need to find the sigils at night. Before that, let Balzak and Felis take Sister Ilos to get familiar with and observe the shrine; after all, she hasn’t been back since the extinction of the Moon Rabbit Tribe, and we haven’t touched anything inside. I don’t expect any surprises.”
“Sure thing.”
Fisher was about to get off the carriage, but then he turned back to say something to Ilos inside. He turned around to lift the curtain of the carriage but accidentally brushed against a cold little hand for just an instant. Fisher didn’t retract his hand, yet that icy hand flinched back as if startled.
Fisher didn’t speak, paused for a second, and then lifted the curtain, seeing Valentina in a wheelchair inside, rubbing her ring. Her pale silver eyes briefly assessed Fisher but displayed no other emotions.
The hand he just touched belonged to Valentina.
“Ilos, Haldor and I will prepare the magic and place the relics outside. You go with Miss Valentina into the shrine.”
“Eh? Okay.”
After confirming the situation inside the carriage, Fisher finally shook his hand and jumped down to the icy ground.
The grand door of the shrine was wide open, but the Turan Family members remained outside, afraid of damaging any items inside or attracting the mysterious forces that led to the extinction of the Moon Rabbit Tribe.
Haldor had no intention of going in first either; instead, he walked beside the tent, dragging several large steel stakes and looking out across the wide snowy expanse in front of the shrine, seemingly determining where the seal spell cage would be placed later.
“Let’s put the seal spell cage at the entrance. This way, Sister Ilos can reach the relics quickly.”
Before long, the last carriage containing the relics was brought to the front by two exhausted horses, assisted by other Turan Family members unloading it. The enormous egg-shaped relic was carefully placed on the ground by six or seven people, creating a sizable indentation.
As the relic touched the ground, a small opening slowly opened on the front of the egg, revealing a rather cramped space inside. Although it seemed to be made of ordinary metal, in contrast to the snowy backdrop, the egg appeared to be covered with a faint divine light, as if it were a creation of the gods.
No wonder Emhart referred to the Angel Tribe as the Holy Spawn; one could see it from the items they left behind a thousand years ago.
“Mr. Fisher, this is the engraved item prepared for you. I will go check over there to see if there’s a good place to construct the protective magic, and when I return, we can discuss the engraving of other magics.”
“Alright.”
Fisher replied, suddenly feeling a bit of itchiness in his chest. Moments later, Emhart squeezed out one eye from beneath his heavy robes and scanned the relic outside.
“Eh, wait a moment, I think I recognize what this is. It’s a cage used by the Holy Spawn to imprison prisoners, prey, and slaves. I never expected to see it here.”
“The Angel Tribe even makes cages for prisoners so intricately; what luxury.”
Despite Fisher’s remarks being quite valid, Emhart could not contain the mockery hidden beneath his words. The next moment, his solid body, hidden under Fisher’s robe, bumped against Fisher as he exclaimed, “How could that be? The Holy Spawn despise complex and useless features and decorations! There’s a reason for this design, but I don’t quite remember why. Wait, let me think … Ow, my head itches; it seems like it’s going to grow a brain.”
Fisher didn’t bother to engage with the agitated Emhart. He glanced around the interior of the relic and was about to step back when he suddenly noticed sharp markings on the inner walls of the relic, seemingly carved by pointed objects.
The small and concealed letters caught Fisher’s attention. He leaned in closer for a clearer look. The words he saw were familiar; they read, “家に帰りたい” (I want to go home).
Beneath the snow-covered ground in the middle of the Northern Region, within an excavated cave, a faint blue light flickered, revealing massive square objects in the darkness. Upon closer inspection, these square objects turned out to be complete mechanisms.
The square objects were tightly connected by some soft conduits, seemingly allowing numerous streams of information to flow, constructing a complete database.
Before those massive square objects were scattered images, akin to fly eyes, displayed on screens. Most of the screens had already gone dark, with only a few still illuminated, showing the Moon Rabbit Tribe shrine, and the scenes of Fisher and Haldor engraving magic.
In the center screen was a thin figure clad in a black trench coat and wearing a beak mask that seemed to meld with his body. This was the traitor of the Creation Society, Fate Lord Erwind.
At this moment, Erwind was walking through the snowstorm. In the far background, a vague outline of a snow mountain could still be seen; that was the origin of Northern Region myths, Sema Snow Mountain.
“It seems Erwind hasn’t obtained clues about entering the Parasol Tree Key. He only knows to move towards Sema Snow Mountain, which gives me and Fisher some time.”
There was no sound in the cave; all dialogues and thoughts were completed within the illuminated mechanisms. This was the storage location for the Mechanism’s database of the Creation Society, and also the factory he used to produce mechanisms. However, it was clear he hadn’t produced any mechanisms in quite some time.
Among the countless empty boxes stacked behind the cave, there was nothing, not even the most crucial Moonstone minerals for producing mechanisms.
“Drip, drip.”
At that moment, the stillness of the cave, which seemed only to have streams of light, was suddenly broken by the sound of something akin to raindrops falling. This strange sound was caught by the perceptive Mechanism, which focused on the shining screen, but it was just a consciousness without a body, so the only way to observe what was happening in the cave was through his mechanisms.
A small mechanism rose from the back warehouse and saw the scene unfolding in the cave.
It saw droplets of bright red liquid, resembling blood, dripping inexorably from the upper rock walls, falling onto the cave floor, forming a thick liquid that looked like a river of blood. As various mechanisms inside the cave flew warily, the dripping blood spilled faster and faster, as if it were raining, soaking the entire cave.
“Drip, drip, drip!”
“Long time no see, Mechanism Lord.”
The dripping sound of blood intensified, gradually transforming into clear human voices that were indistinguishable in gender yet highly recognizable, causing even the wholly data-constructed Mechanism Lord to experience clear emotional fluctuations.
The floating mechanism glanced at the figure of “Erwind” still walking before the screen, quickly obtaining analyzed results from the database.
“I see now. The so-called move to Sema Snow Mountain was merely an illusion. From the beginning of your arrival in the Northern Region, you have been tracking my whereabouts, wanting to completely eliminate me, Fate Lord.”
Countless droplets of blood suddenly became quiet, either suspending in midair or spreading out on the ground, as if time had come to a halt in violation of common sense and rules, and in the next moment, those countless blood droplets were seemingly drawn together by an invisible black hole, gradually struggling to form a rather elegant humanoid figure.
That figure wore a heavy black leather trench coat. The bird-beak mask that seemed embedded in the face hung slightly down, with only the pupils, which held mockery and appraisal, slightly lifted, gazing at the increasing number of mechanisms before him.
Erwind knew that no matter how many mechanisms there were, the only one who stood before him was just one person.
“It seems the society has truly fallen since the departure of the Magic Lord. The only one left to stop me is you, who doesn’t even count as a human. Just wake up, Mechanism Lord; Fate Lord sees you as a tool, attempting to pull together a society that has already fallen apart. This is destined to be futile.”
“The long stairs to the [Ultimate] have been created; only one person among us can hold that knowledge to reach the truth, while Fate Lord still clings to the old rules of the Magic Lord. Ha, one person can only possess one handbook. The Magic Lord has already betrayed us; she is the creator of the Supplement Handbook, and now Fisher has another handbook that has not been recorded. Do you dare say he has no relation to the Magic Lord? Could it be that he got his handbook from a street stall?”
Countless mechanisms buzzing like bees quickly surrounded Erwind, each one glowing with a blinding light, illuminating Erwind’s beak mask but failing to reveal his true appearance.
“Fate Lord is right; you are utterly beyond saving. No one can read more than one handbook. Even if I do not stop you, while you read the Soul Supplement Handbook, you will descend into madness and become a monster. I will eliminate your consciousness before that happens.”
Erwind raised his head, his eyes carrying mockery, “The Lord of Souls is collaborating with you; you helped him build experimental facilities in the Southern Continent, and he taught you the knowledge of using soul energy. You didn’t tell Fate Lord about this secret, did you?”
“…”
Erwind ignored the silent Mechanism Lord; he shook his fingers, looking at Fisher on the screen who was engraving magic.
“Ha, but I no longer care. I will handle you first to prevent you from buzzing around me like a fly. As for Fisher Benavides, the lucky one who has been given a divine weapon by the Demon Tribe, once I reach the Frost Parasol Tree and obtain the remnants of the Sky God to enter mythology, I will kill him and reclaim those two Supplement Handbooks.”
His gaze slowly shifted to the side, focusing on the glowing database and speaking slowly, “And here, you have clues leading to the Frost Parasol Tree Key, right?”
“Buzz, buzz, buzz!”
The more than a hundred mechanisms before him suddenly burst forth with blinding brilliance, and Erwind’s body exploded into an enormous and terrifying crimson cross, a rancid smell akin to a rotting corpse erupted outward in all directions.
“Ow!”
The mechanical corrosion and explosion sounds were incessant in an instant, among the electric flashes and the stench of burning, the blood recongealed and gathered, transforming into an eerie shape resembling the Mother God Statue. However, at that moment, this Mother God bore no benevolent or kind gaze; the visage of this eerie Mother God was terrifying, as if it were a loathsome creature crawling out of the abyss.
“Howl!”
The moment the eerie Mother God appeared, the surrounding mechanisms became sluggish as if rusted, and then, within their inorganic bodies, bizarre components like eyeballs and mouths eerily sprouted. These infected mechanisms turned into Erwind’s minions, madly pouncing toward the remaining mechanisms of the Mechanism Lord.
“You no longer have combat mechanisms. Once I finish dealing with your mechanisms, I will burn your database. Of course, you can also roll back to Fate Lord’s side right now and stare at that old earthbound spirit who won’t move from her spot for the rest of your life!”
“…Notification has been sent, automatic command completed, database disconnected.”
As the monotonous reporting voices echoed, the remaining mechanisms and database all once again shone with dazzling light like the sun. Seeing this scene, Erwind exhibited no fear. The eerie Mother God abruptly raised a hand toward the database below.
“You are merely a creation, not the true owner of the Mechanism Supplement Handbook; killing a being like you gives me no sense of accomplishment.”
The Mechanism Lord’s unwavering voice rang out again, although somewhat distorted due to the high temperatures in the center of the database.
“Fate Lord has said that your existence will be extinguished, disappearing without a trace. You and your goals, you and your past, will all vanish without a shadow of recognition.”
The howling Mother God slightly quieted, but the countless turbid blood droplets became restless, as if they were overly hot magma. After a long while, Erwind’s eerily calm voice emerged.
“Then let’s consider ourselves even.”
After this utterance, the entire cave erupted once more with a scorching, blinding light, and in an instant, the brilliance of the mechanisms combined with violent explosions completely engulfed the enormous eerie Mother God statue, rendering her no longer visible.
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