Nightmare’s Call

The corpse was standing in a corner, outside of Lin Sheng’s vision from afar.

And he only noticed it after he got close.

The corpse was wearing a grayish-white robe and holding a yellow leather scroll.

Lin Sheng was shocked by its appearance and almost slashed at it. Luckily, he managed to stop in time. He then thrust the blade at the head and the heart of the corpse to stop it from moving.

After ensuring all safety precautions were taken only did he started searching through the body.

The robe on the corpse turned into dust upon contact, and only the leather scroll in his hand was robust without any signs of damage.

Lin Sheng slowly pulled out the scroll from his hand and opened it to see. It was a row of clearly written words and symbols.

Lin Sheng did not understand what it was, but seeing the title, it was probably some sort of musical score.

“Whatever it is, I’ll just take it with me first.” Lin Sheng was not too bothered as he rolled the scroll up and stuffed it into his tracksuit beneath the scale mail.

After a short pause, he continued on. And very quickly he reached the entrance of the dark hall.

The hall was dark as there was barely any light in there. And at the center of the hall stood a white jade-colored stone pillar.

Snake-like creatures coiled the surface of the pillar, looking like monsters sealed inside the pillar, struggling to escape.

But Lin Sheng’s attention was not on the monsters, rather the upper part of the pillar.

There was a slightly grayish humanoid angel sculpture on it.

The angelic sculpture was slightly taller and wider than a normal man as it held a long spear in hand, and a round shield in another as its wings were spread wide.

Lin Sheng looked on intently and felt like every feather on it was clear and intricately detailed.

The angel seemed to have a male face, as his neck had a series of intricate patterns. He wore a thin muslin but he had eagle claws for legs.

Lin Sheng paused for a little and ascertained that there were no movements around him. He then slowly walked ahead.

As he entered the hall, it was still silent all over. Lin Sheng then moved in further into the hall.

And just as he was a few steps into the hall, the great door behind him closed shut.

*Bam!*

The massive door thundered as it slammed shut, and before Lin Sheng could react, the gray angel sculpture on the rock pillar started cracking.

Massive pieces of debris started falling off his body as the wing slowly shuddered, carrying with it a strong air current.

*Hiss…*

The gray angel’s eyes lit up in blue light.

“Purge! Purify!”

A thunderous roar boomed from his mouth.

Lin Sheng was dazed by the sudden turn of events and as he recovered, he quickly brought the shield before him as he felt his sword tight.

Before he could react, a gray shadow slammed itself against the shield. The impact was so great that Lin Sheng felt the entire length of his hand, and half of his body turned numb.

And the shield almost flew off his hand.

“What strength!” he exclaimed as he slashed forward, hitting nothing.

Lin Sheng blinked, and the gray angel had already retreated to a few meters away inside the dark hall, as he flapped his wings while floating in the air.

*Whoosh!*

The gray shadow struck again.

And Lin Sheng quickly raised his shield again.

*Bam!!*

The shield shuddered violently as Lin Sheng was sent flying and crashed against the door behind him.

“It’s too damn fast!”

He was way faster and stronger than he was, and he was flying to boot.

Lin Sheng tried to think of a countermeasure as he rolled on the floor to dodge the third strike.

*Crash!*

A deep, horrifying gash appeared on the wall.

Lin Sheng was sweating profusely as he cut up and ran, quickly scanning the hall.

And soon, he saw a small door, a door that had a hole broken in the middle of it!

*Whiff!*

Another rip in the air boomed.

Lin Sheng panicked and jumped through the hole in the door.

As he dove it, the sword got stuck and he had to abandon it. Carrying only the shield with him into the hole.

And behind the door was a wide bedroom.

Compared to the other decorated rooms, this was a rather Spartan one.

There was a black metallic rack on the wall, with a number of black leather books on it.

Beside the rack was a round glass container, and inside the translucent container was all sorts of golden runes.

The container itself was empty, but on the edge of the floor was a tiny clump of black object, seemingly burnt bones.

Lin Sheng let out a deep breath as he turned back to listen. And was astounded to find that there was no movement behind him.

“That gray angel didn’t pursue me?”

Random thoughts ran through his mind.

A quick circle around the room, Lin Sheng discovered that aside from the simple bed, there was nothing in the room that fit the description of a bedroom.

The book rack, the massive glass container, the black rectangular rock platform, and some seemingly decorative, organ-like flesh chunks.

On the rack of the wall was a gray robe, and by its side was a belt, short sword, staff, and a ring of keys.

Lin Sheng’s eyes brightened as he started rummaging through the pockets of the robe.

The robe tore the moment he touched it as if he had ripped through mere spider webs.

But very quickly, he had found something.

He had pulled out a rock glowing in purple out of the pocket.

“What is this?” He inspected the rock.

The rock was just about the size of a nail and was glowing in purple all over. Its surface was rough and there was a faint scent of blood on it.

Lin Sheng applied some strength to it and felt like it was some sort of tumor that had been cut off.

As he took the rock, he came to the book rack and swiftly swept his gaze along it.

“I love studying, studying makes me happy.” Lin Sheng smirked as he soon found a very interesting book.

He quickly pulled it out and started flipping it in his hands.

On the side of the book, a line was written in Ancient Rehn: Necromancy Spell Matrix.

Lin Sheng flipped over the first page and was slightly surprised.

The first page was a foreword, a page where the author expressed his thoughts.

He saw the neat, elegant handwritings

“I don’t know how long I can hold on. Maybe ten years, maybe a hundred. The light of hope, the sacred child in the legend, the Hope that Ancellia had brought us had faded away with the passing of time. What was left, was the abyss.

But I am not willing to give up.

In my hundred years of living, every problem I’ve faced, I had solved them. There was no other reason, other than I am the strongest mage in Snowgale Fortress.

Sadly, even the strongest of magic is meaningless before the collapse of the world.

Before my end, I have chosen to chronicle everything I have into writing, into books. And hopefully the day it will be opened will come…”

And the name at the end of it was: Qallir Meyer.

“It’s a mage’s tome!” Lin Sheng was elated, and he quickly flipped through it.

The table of contents was long; there were over hundreds of rows at least from top to bottom.

But most of the words were already blur and unclear.

Some were still legible.

Lin Sheng focused as he tried to pick out the parts that could still be read.

As expected, most of the tome was a blurry mess. The tome had spoken of three necromancy spell matrixes, but two were so fragmented that nothing could be identified from it.

There was however an intact one called, “Elementary Summoning of Otherworlders.”