403 Astonishmen (2/2)

While keeping Relph under control, using Secondary Telepathic Bond, Lucien made sure that neither Relph nor Metatron knew the existence of the other secret passage and the inner part of the palace, and then he secretly examined the slaughterhouse-like chamber and made sure that no one was in it.

Then, when Sophia was busy with casting spells to help Beyer defeat Fredrick, Lucien cast Persistent Image and Gaseous Form and sneaked into the chamber where they found Frederick.

Compared to Frederick's power, what concerned Lucien much more was the fact that Metatron was also down there in the palace. But as long as he was not in the secret chamber, things would be much easier!

Once Lucien stepped into the secret chamber, he was overwhelmed by the strong, disgusting smell of blood and flesh, but he was not affected by it at all. He walked to the painting of the first Gorse Duke and started casting a long and strange spell, with the help of complex hand gestures.

The sound of metal collisions was loud, and no one wanted to stay close to the secret chamber because of the strong smell of blood. Therefore, no one heard the low voice casting a spell in the chamber.

Finally, Lucien finished casting the long spell given by Rhine. In the gas form, his body rose in the air and somehow entered the painting!

Inside the painting, there was a passage which was not very long. Without any barriers, Lucien had successfully entered the inner layer of the palace, which looked exactly the same as the hall above the ground!

In the middle of the hall, there was a sun altar, on which there was the statue of Sun King, Thanos.

It was a middle-aged man looking up, as if nothing else was worthy of his attention except for the endless and mysterious starry sky.

Thanos' face was well-featured and the look on it was serious. The statue was wearing a magic crown inlaid with magic precious stones and a black magic robe with complicated red patterns on it.

The statue was very well-built, which showed the great manner of Sun King when he was still alive. Meanwhile, the statue's right hand reached out, as if it was holding something invisible.

Lucien could simply put the gorse brooch back on the statue and then he could start the advanced magic rite, but now, he frowned and stood where he was.

Why… Why he could not sense the existence of the World of Souls?

According to Lucien's experience in the tomb of Finks, he believed that the three places that Rhine told him should all have some close connection to the World of Souls, but…

After a few seconds' of thinking, Lucien took out Sun's Corona and wore it around his neck.

Instantly, his eyes became blurry and the statue changed.

Above the right hand reaching out, there was a half-transparent, white light ball. However, there were other colors hiding underneath, that Lucien could not tell what they were with his bare eyes. The light ball was going through some constant changes, like a beating heart.

The light ball felt very familiar to Lucien, just like the rust-colored one that Lucien saw in Finks' tomb. Although it was right there in front of him, he felt that the light ball did not exist in this world.

In the light ball, there was a small black crack, twisted and disgusting.

Lucien sensed the weak smell of death from the crack.

The gap of the World of Souls was wrapped in the light ball! No wonder Lucien could not feel its existence!

Lucien still had a few more minutes, thus he could not help being curious and wondered what was in the light ball.

Calming down, he cast a series of detection spells, but all of them directly went through the light ball.

After thinking carefully, Lucien cast a few layers of defensive spells on himself. Then, with great determination, he reached out his hand.

His fingers slowly touched the margin of the light ball.