Chapter 44: Cemetery of Death (1/2)
Chapter 44: Cemetery of Death
The cemetery of death was a legendary, sacred ground for necromancers, and the lofty hope that the band had held upon traveling to the Dark Forest. Han Shuo fully observed his surroundings, connecting it to Fanny’s previous descriptions. He could be certain that this was the legendary cemetery of death.
No wonder Han Shuo had vaguely felt something so familiar about this place earlier. This was because Han Shuo also practiced necromancy magic. The strong pulses of death magic in this area, including the smell given off by the illusioned white bones, were all things that Han Shuo were exceedingly familiar with.
He gazed all over his surroundings, taking everything in. Han Shuo frowned as he thought, everyone who has ever seen the cemetery of death has ended up dead. Now that I stand here, do I go in or not?
The cemetery of death was a place in which mighty necromancers studied necromancy, back when this magic was at its peak. All the necromancers had later died, and the cemetery of death had vanished without a trace.
However, since this cemetery of death had been a place of research for those necromancers, some secrets of necromancy must surely exist here. This was a huge temptation for a rookie like Han Shuo, someone who had just entered the halls of magic. This forced Han Shuo to seriously consider whether or not to take on this adventure.
After a while, Han Shuo walked towards the direction of the cemetery and set foot into the piles of stark white bones, a firm resolution evident on his face. When he’d taken a few steps forward and set foot into the inner parts of this area, the dark green, round ball hung high in the air suddenly landed back into the jade box, and the green light that bathed the surroundings vanished with a trace.
Han Shuo started as he looked around him, stunned. The outskirts, that his eyes had just passed over, had changed again. It had been restored to the sight that he had first seen when he had arrived. Only the surroundings areas around the cemetery to the ground underneath Han Shuo’s feet were the same scene of death and gloom.
Looking at the round ball in his hand, Han Shuo understood that this ball was a pivotal item to enter the cemetery of death. It seemed to be able to open the doors to the cemetery. The entire cemetery was shrouded by a concealing field. No one would be able to detect anything out of the ordinary if they looked in from the outside, nor would this place elicit anyone’s attention.
However, one would be able to reveal the true nature of the cemetery of death with this round ball and envelop the entire cemetery under a veil of silence and desolation.
The stark white bones creaked beneath his feet. The sound suddenly broke through the still and lonely air, giving Han Shuo the creeps. It was a good thing that he had just successfully broken through the “solid” realm, giving him some courage from who-knew-where. He actually walked headlong towards the cemetery of death without paying heed to anything else.
After a while, he finally stood in front of the cemetery. There was a circular moat in front of the door and inky-black water flowing in it. A bridge made of black lines and white bones hung in abject loneliness over the moat.
Without hesitating, Han Shuo’s hands tightened around the jade box, that held the ball and stepped slightly apprehensively onto the bone bridge, slowly walking towards the doors to the cemetery of death. The bridge swayed, throwing his body off balance. He didn’t know what was in the moat below, but a single glance was enough to raise his hair. He somehow felt that whatever was in the still, inky black waters of the moat was highly dangerous.
When Han Shuo walked onto the bridge, the round ball within the jade box started emitting the strange green light again. This seemed to be some miraculous medicine for motion sickness as the wobbly bridge stopped swaying as soon as the green light flashed out. The black lines that had once been large gaps in the bridge immediately solidly bridged the space between the bones.
Han Shuo finally made it to the door. There were skeletons of two enormous evil knights and their steeds in front of the two great, grey doors that were made of unknown material.
Evil knights were dark creatures that possessed extremely strong battle power. Necromancers who weren’t at archmage level shouldn’t even entertain the idea of of summoning evil knights. From the large skeletons of the two evil knights in front of the doors and the shape of their battle steeds, Han Shuo could vaguely tell that these two evil knights were the cream of the crop.
There were complicated and detailed magical patterns on the two grey doors. A round slot was present in the center, where the two doors intersected. The shape of that slot looked like a key that would open the doors.
At this moment, the dark green ball that Han Shuo clutched in his hands suddenly shot out a beam of green light, aiming straight for the round slot in the middle of the doors. Han Shuo’s thoughts raced as he immediately understood what was going on. He raised the jade box without hesitation and brought the ball closer to the slot, slowly inserting it.
In the entire process, Han Shuo took pains to ensure that his hand wouldn’t touch the round ball, because he understood that this ball was no simple object. He wasn’t sure if some undesired changes would occur if skin and flesh touched it, so he therefore avoided touching it with his bare hands as much as possible.
When the ball had been inserted into the slot, a roar sounded out as the doors abruptly opened with a creak. The slot automatically split open with the opening of the doors, and the round ball that had been inserted in it remained in the jade box with no changes.
Hazy gloom and dust from the inside drifted out, accompanying the opening of the doors, causing Han Shuo to cough a few times before calming himself down and observing what was inside.