The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 172 - 126 Unspeakable

Chapter 172: Chapter 126 Unspeakable

Rod, surrounded by his companions, reached the top of the battlements. Each warrior gave him a hug before Egger turned into white smoke, wrapping the two of them and plunging headlong into the darkness.

The thick Black Fog came at them head-on, and the faint glow at their waists could only dispel the darkness nearby.

As the luminous battlements receded into the vast darkness, Rod felt as though he was leaving heaven behind and falling into the Abyss.

Bach was using the Star Disk to identify their direction; this magical crystal compass ensured they wouldn’t get lost in the boundless dark.

Egger, like a white cloud, enveloped them and flew towards the depths of the Corpse Wasteland.

On the once-empty wasteland, monsters surged in from the tide of darkness, mostly Blade Demons and Ghouls with their eyes glowing red, chaotically rushing in every direction.

They showed no reaction to the three people swooping by overhead.

But the skies were not absolutely safe either, with flying Blade Demons, wandering Evil Spirits, and some other strange unidentified creatures.

Rod tried to direct Egger away from them as much as possible; the too frequent changes in direction left Egger, who could see nothing, somewhat dissatisfied.

"Hey, this way of flying consumes a lot of Spiritual Energy," Egger complained.

Rod hesitated before asking, "Shall we fight through?"

Bach shook his head and said succinctly, "It’s a hunt, not a clear-out, stay hidden."

Rod didn’t quite understand these words until he looked up and saw an immense presence pass through the cone of his vision above the dense Black Fog.

His vision darkened as Bach covered his eyes.

"Don’t look at the sky... too high, you’ll go blind," Bach warned.

Rod lowered his head and only then did Bach remove his icy hand from in front of Rod’s eyes.

That’s when Rod realized he was crying, feeling a stinging pain in his eyes and something throbbing in his spirit.

A sense of fear rose from his heart; had he looked a few seconds longer, he might indeed have become blind.

"What was that?" Rod couldn’t help but ask.

Bach’s reply remained terse.

"In the dark, there are unspeakable horrors. Do not seek them, do not come close, or misfortune will befall you."

A surge of incomprehensible dread rose within him. He thought of many things and couldn’t help but ask, "Have you encountered such entities before? Have you... overcome them?"

Bach, staring at the Star Disk, was silent for a while before answering, "I don’t know what you’re speaking of; we have defeated many immensely strong enemies, but we have never encountered the unknown entities from the true depths of darkness."

Egger chimed in, "There have been several great rifts in Trolian history. Many scholars believe that the last great rift happened because the Royal City expanded too rapidly, coming into contact with these unspeakable entities in the dark, leading to a great extinction."

Rod found it hard to believe, "They recovered from extinction?"

"It’s said that they saved the Fire Spark of civilization. The remaining humans hid the Holy Fire underground and, after the disaster passed, relit the Holy Fire. It took hundreds of years to rise again, but many precious historical records from the Great Book Library were also lost, making it difficult for us to clearly understand earlier history."

Rod asked blankly, "If the fire of human civilization is so fragile, then what are we desperately protecting?"

Egger smiled and said, "Of course, we’re protecting ourselves, our beliefs, our homes, our loved ones and friends, everything we love. Existence itself is meaningful. We don’t need to keep looking back; flowers that have withered can’t bloom again, but those that remain can bloom in a hundred different ways."

Bach also unusually showed a smile, "Our fire will not go out."

"Exactly!" Egger shouted. "We will succeed in our mission this time, kill the Evil Spirits, hold back the tide of darkness, return to the Royal City, and grow taller!"

Rod let out a breath.

Good thing your wish is just to grow taller, not to go back home and get married.

This time it should be stable.

Before long, Egger landed with the two of them at the foot of a hill.

"Is this the place?"

Egger glanced at the hill that was barren on top, with nothing on it.

"It’s below."

Bach circled the hill and quickly found a narrow passageway.

"Go."

He said just one word and took the lead into it.

It was pitch dark inside the passageway, with rancid black fluff covering every inch.

The silence was oppressive to the eardrum; the deeper they went, the more wreckage Rod saw. Most of it was extremely decayed, maintaining its usual state over the years. Any slight disturbance would cause them to quickly collapse.

This didn’t seem to be a tomb made by humans but more a den that some beast had dug out, with the remains being what it had left behind from its meals.

The wreckage became more frequent, and along with it, a large number of broken armors, which hadn’t decayed much in the Black Fog, still barely showing their original form.

These armors were mostly made of brass, primitive and thick, with traces of claw marks and gnawing where they were damaged. The corpses inside had long become black fluff, flowing out with their footsteps and collapsing onto the ground.

Rod couldn’t help asking, "Are these the Dusk Legion?"

Bach nodded silently.

"How many years ago was this? Why don’t we have this legion now? Was their formation disbanded?"

Egger answered, "They belonged to the Third Epoch; they’re unrelated to us."

"What is the Third Epoch?"

Egger looked at him strangely, "The Third Epoch is the Fire Epoch. It’s said that during that time, the light of fire shined everywhere, human cities sprawled across the land, brave warriors hunted monsters in the dark everywhere, and darkness only occupied remote areas and a small part of the continent. But no one knows why it ended."

"Which Epoch are we in?"

"The Fourth Epoch, the epoch of waning fire, also known as the Dark Epoch. Humans only have a few remaining Fire King Cities left, and the Holy Fire can’t even shine beyond the Royal City. Darkness covers the land, with monsters and demons rampant. We can only huddle behind the thick walls, surviving under the protection of the Holy Fire. According to our calendar, this is the beginning of the Tesrivian Calendar."

"1325?"

"Hmm."

The profundity of history hit him like a wave; these remains were all from over a thousand years ago.

By normal standards, they should have turned to dust long ago, and the armors should have corroded into slag.

Clearly, the Black Fog was to blame.

Rod couldn’t help but ask, "What about the First and Second Epochs?"

Egger answered calmly,

"The First Epoch is what we consider a conceptual epoch, commonly referred to as the Chaos Epoch. Everything then was sheer chaos, an era before civilization emerged."

"The Second Epoch is known as the Epoch of the Gods, an age of legends when gods and mortals coexisted. It’s said to be an epoch without the Black Fog, too distant in time for its era to be verified. A group in Royal City is dedicated to studying this epoch, but I’m not very clear on the details."

Rod then asked, "Do we know where the Black Fog came from?"

Egger replied with a wry smile, "The academic material stemming from that topic could fill the entire Sword Pass. All I can tell you is that no one knows where this fog, full of evil and curses, came from. It appeared one day out of the blue, enveloping the whole world. Monsters thrive and grow within the Black Fog, while people slowly lose their sanity and transform into monsters, and so do other creatures."

"Only fire can dispel it."

He touched the lamp at his waist, which contained some residual light, and added,

"As well as powers derived from fire."

Rod asked, "What about the animals and plants we have now? I heard we still have Beast City, Wood City, Mushroom City, and the like."

Egger said with dissatisfaction, "Why do you have so many bizarre questions?"

"Some are seeds that have been preserved."

Bach, who rarely answered Rod’s questions, spoke up,

"Some are remnants we’ve found and then cultivated within the Holy White Tree."

Rod exclaimed in surprise, "The Holy White Tree has that ability?"

Egger revealed a proud smile,

"There’s a lot you don’t know. Take some time to visit the botanical garden district in Upper City, and you’ll understand why it’s called the Tree of Life."

His vigilance had somewhat relaxed since they hadn’t encountered any abnormalities for a while, even Rod was beginning to doubt whether the high-ranking Evil Spirit had already fled.

Suddenly, Bach raised a hand, stopping them.

"What’s wrong?"

Rod instantly became alert, scanning the area with his Eye of the Soul, but still detected nothing out of the ordinary.

Bach said calmly, "I smell decay, death, taboo, and devouring; it’s right ahead."

This was the first time Rod encountered someone whose nose was more sensitive than his eyes.

"What should we do?"

Bach replied succinctly, "With my characteristic reaching six fireworks, I can execute a very powerful attack once."

"If it’s killed, Egger will drag us away and back to Sword Pass."

"If not, Rod will use the Spiritual Energy Cannon."

After speaking, he fell silent.

Rod felt something was amiss and was about to ask when Egger suddenly interjected,

"Mr. Bach, your very powerful attack must come with a price, right?"

Bach glanced at him and answered calmly, "My characteristic will drop by one rank."

Egger breathed a sigh of relief, "That’s not too bad."

Bach continued walking forward, and Rod had no choice but to follow.

The number of corpses increased, the space expanded, the smell of decay assaulted their nostrils, and the sound of rustling accompanied their steps as piles of corpses collapsed, scattering armor all over the ground.

Suddenly, Bach stopped.

"This is a Ghoul."

"What?" Rod looked around but saw nothing unusual.

The physical barrier in the passageway was too thick for him to see very far.

"The stench of blood, greed, ancient—it’s been here digging and devouring the bodies of the Dusk Knights for hundreds, even thousands, of years."

Rod and Egger grew tense, "Isn’t our enemy supposed to be a high-ranking Evil Spirit?"

"Yes, a high-ranking Evil Spirit is being born from the body of the Ghoul. The Ghoul ate countless corpses, accumulating numerous residual spirits of knights. They gathered and nurtured within the Ghoul’s body, undergoing multiple metamorphoses, and it has become a powerful high-ranking Evil Spirit."

"It’s about to break free from its shell."

Egger exclaimed, "What do we do? Shall we hurry and kill it?"

Bach didn’t answer.

He continued moving forward, but his steps were much more cautious, his nostrils flaring as if sniffing the scents in the air.

"Regret, resentment, hatred. Aside from hate, there’s only devouring and slaying left."

"A very strong Erosion Spirit Field. It has a special connection with the Evil Spirits on the wastelands, devouring their spirits."

Rod suddenly recalled hunting Evil Spirits on the wastelands, noting that their souls were exceptionally scarce and their spiritual bodies riddled with holes.

He had thought it was natural at the time, only to realize they had been eroded.

Bach continued, "Its discarded shells, driven by it, hunt for fresh living things and spirits."

In an instant, Rod connected it to his experiences of killing strong monsters without obtaining their souls.

Were they just its shells?

Such powerful monsters were merely its shells?

For the first time, Bach’s tone became urgent,

"We must hurry. One of its shells is on its way back, and I can smell its spiritual body emitting hunger and impatience."

He picked up the pace, his Spiritual Energy rising around him and gathering rapidly.

Rod and Egger followed him tensely; suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way, and the countless corpses and broken armor below collapsed into a heap.

And in Rod’s vision, a massive spiritual body of unprecedented scale appeared.

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