Throne of Magical Arcana

Heidler city was dim, gloomy and grey, as monotonous and frozen as the World of Souls.

Before the entrance, Douglas, Fernando, Vicente, Klaus and Erica had all arrived. They were waiting for Lucien.

“You’ve brought the Shield of Truth, too?” Looking at Lucien who had finally come, Klaus speculated with a smile, “Together with the Thorny Crown that you borrowed, you have five legendary items with you in total. That’s quite unprecedented. Even I, a sorcerer who specializes in alchemy, cannot compare to you. Even Mr. President only has four.”

“Mr. President’s items are either top legendary or level-three legendary. Mine are not worth mentioning at all.” Lucien said ‘modestly’.

The number of legendary items were rare partly because the main ingredients needed were too precious and partly because the demand on the crafter was very high. Apart from the legendary sorcerers and the saint cardinals, vampires and primordial dragons could only craft items with their racial talents with a high failure rate. The legendary knights had to count on other people’s help. Therefore, few similar objects had been passed on from the Magic Empire, although the number of legendary items had doubled since the last years of the empire.

That was the reason why Hathaway, who was adept at ‘Luxury Cracking’ and ‘Elements Resolve’, was so terrifying. She could ruin somebody’s life collection easily.

Vicente interrupted their conversation. “Now that we are all here, it’s time to go.”

“Yes, it’s time to go.” Said Douglas with a vague smile. He was solemn but not nervous.

After receiving the intelligence about the World of Souls, the Congress of Magic had resolved the problem that the gap was invisible. At this moment, enshrouded in the special magic circle, the twisted gap could be seen clearly. It emitted the intense stink of death and dullness.

Passing through the gap and the curtains of shadows, Lucien entered the World of Souls. Around him was the messy reflection of Heidler city, where the high magic towers leaned on each other like children’s toys. Vague greyness was everywhere.

They could find no additional colors in the whole world except from each other.

“It’s been ten years since I first entered the World of Souls, obtained the Sun’s Corona, and learnt that Maskelyne was trapped. I’ve finally begun my quest to explore the World of Souls.” Lucien felt complicated. He had just become an official sorcerer back then.

Because teleportation was suppressed in the World of Souls, they jumped through the seven advance bases and approached the frontier, where they saw Bergner, the Prophet.

He was still wearing a grey hat, and his white eyebrows seemed to be longer now.

“My astrology tells me that the mysterious existence of the World of Souls shows no sign of waking, but there are other dangers in the Temple of Spirits. You must not be careless. Remember, if you encounter great danger, don’t hurry to retreat, and you will only see hope if you press forward.” Bergner spoke of the result of his prophecy that he prepared for two months.

Fernando asked in confusion. “Forward? But our destination is only the Furnace of Souls. We will return after preliminary exploration. I don’t think the legendary undead creatures are an actual threat to us.”

According to Adol’s memories and Viken’s files, there were only four level-three legendary spectres in the area: the Lich King, the Servant of Death, the Primordial Mummy and the Wraith Lord. Douglas would be able to suppress three of them on his own. It was needless to say that there were the Lord of the Undead and ‘Millionaire’ Lucien. It shouldn’t be a problem even if they were surrounded by forty unintelligent legendary spectres.

“Adol was only a senior-rank spectre. He barely knew the area outside of the Temple of Spirits. Also, the rooms, houses and corridors inside the Temple of Spirits are changing all the time. It’s like a living maze. There are possibly dangerous rooms and pathways he did not know.” Vicente argued cautiously.

After he publicized Adol’s memories and Viken’s files, Lucien finally understood why Maskelynes pattern of coordinates changed. That was because the buildings inside the Temple of Spirits were in constant changes. Even a senior-rank spectre like Adol only knew the changes at the periphery. He had to be led by the legendary spectres when he visited the Furnace of Souls.

Bergner said solemnly, “I don’t know where the danger comes from. Perhaps you won’t run into any, but you need to be careful.”

Douglas nodded and spoke to the team. “Our exploration is divided into two parts. The first part is to reach the Furnace of Souls without causing much noise, like Maskelyne did, and check if the Church is cooperating with the World of Souls. The second part is to return to the edge and clear the unintelligent spectres.”

They had discussed the plan before. The reason why they did not clear the enemies before their investigation was that the noise might terrify the intelligent legendary spectres, who would then turn on the defenses in the Temple of Spirits or ask for the help of other forces. In such a way, they wouldn’t be able to finish the exploration.

After confirming the plan, the six legendary sorcerers left the advance base and flew deeper stealthily.

About an hour later, Lucien finally saw a gigantic area of blackness. It was a group of magnificent palaces that were countless times larger than Allyn. Their height was inestimable, because their tops stuck deep into the grey sky.

The battle of legends might destroy a regular city, but for this group of palaces, it would be nothing more than the collapse of a palace or a garden.

“The deeper we go in, the harder the materials of the palace will be. Perhaps, the rooms in the deepest part are all made of ‘Wall of Sighs’.” The Lord of the Undead was unusually talkative, apparently eager to explore the Furnace of Souls.

‘Wall of Sighs’ was one of the strongest defensive spells of the school of necromancy. It could not be broken by any attack except for real sunlight. He was only using it as a metaphor.

Lucien was not very keen about that spell, because ‘Eternal Blaze’ was its bane.

In the wilderness outside of the Temple of Spirits, corpses of humans, elves, dragons and sphinxes were everywhere. Their skin had decayed, revealing the muscles and the white nerves. Weird maggots were wriggling in and out nonstop.

Those corpses moved slowly and aimlessly. Since there were no sound or colors, it was like a black-and-white silent film.

“They are all excellent bodies.” As they lowered their height, the Lord of the Undead observed the corpses in great delight, like a child who saw his favorite toys.

Erica cast a spell of collective illusion. In such a way, every undead creature would feel that Lucien and his team were spectres.

After they approached the Temple of Spirits, the six of them landed and walked among the undead creatures in the stink.

In this area, the wandering undead creatures had senior-rank leaders. Some were intelligent, and some were merely acting with instinct.

Suddenly, a cerberus looked at them, as if it had smelled the disgusting scent of life.

It opened its mouth and was about to roar a soundless roar.

At this moment, Vicente glared at it, the crimson fire in his eyes bouncing. Then, the cerberus suddenly crouched and wagged its tail that was made of white bones, obviously terrified.

Around the cerberus, the other undead creatures stopped their movement, too, and made all kinds of weird gestures, as if they were welcoming the return of their master.

“This is truly as expected of ‘Lord of the Undead’.” Lucien truly understood the meaning of the legendary class.

Thanks to the invisible deterrence and the cover of the illusion, it did not take them long before they saw the infinite wall that was shimmering in coldness.

“Six kilometers to the left after the entrance.” Douglas calculated according to Adol’s memories. This group of palaces seemed highly immune to reconnaissance spells.

Therefore, the six of them changed their direction and moved along the city wall. Then, they found a swarm of mummies on their way. Some of them were humans, and some were sphinxes. Their grey cloths had stinky stains.

The two parties approached each other. Because of the illusion spell, those mummies did not sense anything but kept wandering ignorantly.

They were about to pass by each other, when a sphinx in the mummies suddenly halted. With weird and cold brilliance beaming out of its eyes, it suddenly expanded to almost three times its peers. A gold crown that was full of Sun Stones and Moonlight Stones appeared on its head, too, making it look terrifying.

“The Primordial Mummy?”

There were many primordial mummies, but only one of them was intelligent. This sphinx was clearly not it, because its eyes soon became brutal and bloodthirsty in a demonic haze. However, it was still a legendary creature!

The mummy widened its mouth and was about to send the signal of alarm.

Suddenly, a low voice echoed: “Advanced Time Stop.”

There was nothing but greyness before Lucien’s eyes, as if the whole world was frozen. By the time it became normal, he saw quite a few beams of light bouncing on the ancient mummy, before it was destroyed by a brilliant meteor.

Hualala. The sphinx turned to countless pieces. From the broken body, black beetles crawled out.

“Is this the ability of a top legendary? A legendary undead creature has been eliminated instantly, even though it’s only level one.” Lucien thought with mixed feelings, but then he sensed that the mummy was familiar. “Huh. Did I see it from somewhere before?”

“Move on.” Said Douglas peacefully.

Lucien was about to step forward, when he suddenly recalled a few pictures, so he spoke through the telepathic bond. “Mr. President, wait a moment.”

“Is there a problem?” Asked Fernando.

Lucien pointed at the broken body on the ground. “I think I saw it before. I would like to observe it for a while longer.”

No legendary sorcerers would let go of the tiniest clues. So, they waited for Lucien.

After a moment, when Lucien almost remembered the pictures, the black beetles crawled back into the decayed corpse, and the pieces of the corpse began to wriggle and gather towards the center!

“It’s not dead?” Erica was well aware of the destructiveness of the president’s ‘Fateful Meteor’. That was a legendary spell which could destroy someone together with their phylactery!

What was exceptional about the mummy?

Douglas also frowned, wondering why ‘Fateful Meteor’ lost effect. If Lucien hadn’t asked them to stay and observe, he would’ve probably been deceived by the creature in the World of Souls.

Lucien was briefly stunned. Then, he transformed into a legendary knight and drew the silver longsword, slashing the decayed body that had been regathered.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

Miserable cries were transmitted into Lucien’s soul along the sword, which made Lucien see a peculiar illusion: Inside a monochrome, gloomy mausoleum, countess red and brown ‘spider threads’ were tying a grey coffin. Above the coffin was a rusty ball of light that was stained with blood. After he slashed his sword, the spider threads were cut apart, and the light ball broke into half after violent trembles, vanishing into thin air. The cover of the coffin was knocked open, and a sphinx mummy sat up, howling in pain. Then, it fell apart, disintegrated into a pool of stinky, yellow mucus.

Was it Finks, the King of Sphinxes?