Chapter 63
CHAPTER 63
ABANDONED CHILD
A youthful man hung over clasps, his head lowered, arms raised up above his back, broken where they latched onto the shoulders completely, his whole skin infected with deep, crossing wounds . They bled profusely, filling up the small pond beneath him with scarlet blood . His breathing was low, almost inaudible, yet it was there . Smite was conscious, too afraid to fall asleep as it could signal his death .
He"d only spent five hours here, yet it felt like a whole lifetime . He was on the verge of crying out, of breaking down, yet he endured . He knew that, after him, they"d go after others . Fish and Kraval could endure some time themselves, but those mercenaries they brought along would die within minutes . A sound of approaching footsteps startled him, causing him to look up .
His eyes immediately widened as he gnashed his teeth, ready to leap forward like a rabid dog . Standing a few feet away, looking down on him was a thin, extremely pale woman, currently smiling . She wore barely any cloth to cover herself, yet one could hardly call her beautiful; her skin folded over her bones, the latter clearly visible throughout her body .
Her cheeks were sunken, eyes even more so, wholly gray as though she were blind, and her hair half-gone, s.h.i.+mmering in ugly gray . She was currently smiling as she began circling Smite, rather slowly .
"Cultivators are really something else," contrary to her appearance, her voice was rather melodic and warm . "Enduring for so long, still able to bare your teeth at me . "
" . . . " Smite didn"t reply, merely following her by the sound of her footsteps .
"You"ll make a fantastic corpse, you know? So just give up . It"s over . "
" . . . go to h.e.l.l . " he managed to squeeze out, spitting out a mouthful of blood .
"h.e.l.l? Ha ha ha," a shrieking laughter echoed out, bouncing against the wall like a sound wave, a.s.sailing Smite"s eardrums . "Oh, dear, how uncouth of me . h.e.l.l is where I was born . And I certainly do not have any intention of returning . I"d very much like to take you there one day, to show you what sort of a place you wished for me . It should be quite an eye-opener . "
" . . . you"re awfully chatty . Running out of ways to torture me?" Smite taunted, grinning .
" . . . you"re really childish, aren"t you?" the woman sighed, shaking her head . "Do you think I don"t know why you"re fighting back so hard?" Smite"s heart froze for a moment as he perked his ears up . "Putting knives into you and scalping your skin is fun and all, but watching your expression as I do all the things I did to you to them . . . d.a.m.n, I have a feeling I"d o.r.g.a.s.m . "
" . . . " seeing Smite"s panicked reaction, the woman indulged into yet another bout of laughter, heaving her head back in an unnatural way .
"Haah, perhaps this is even more fun . Just teasing you . Playing around . "
"Thank the f.u.c.k you guys are complete arrogant morons . "
"Huh?" as the woman tried to s.h.i.+ft her head sideways toward the source of sudden newcomer, she felt something cold pierce her heart directly . A moment later, a face of a young boy came into view, his eyes barren and cold staring deep into hers .
"Have fun going back home, you b.i.t.c.h . " Lino mumbled as he twisted the spear and forcibly ripped it upward, cleaving the woman in half from waist up . Rather than red blood and organs, black blood and mucus spilled out in droves, some nearly falling all over Lino who quickly backed away, panicked look on his face . "Holy s.h.i.+t, warn me you"re made out of c.r.a.p dammit!" he cursed out as the scene settled . He then finally remembered that Smite was tied up and looked at him, feeling a deep sting in his heart . "d.a.m.n, you look even worse than her . " he said as he walked up to him and cut the chains binding him, helping him stand .
" . . . why the h.e.l.l are you the one saving me?! I don"t want to owe you one!" Smite cried out, causing Lino to roll his eyes .
"You know," he said as he heaving Smite over his shoulder and began walking . "This rivalry that you"re trying to drag me into is kind of dumb, you know?"
"You"re saying our love for her is dumb?! Put me down! I"ll kill you!"
" . . . no, I stand corrected . You"re the dumb thing here . " Lino said as he scurried through the corners and began walking down a dimly lit hallway . "Where are the others being kept?"
" . . . walk down this hallway . They"re in one of the chambers on left side . How"d you find us?" he asked .
" . . . long story . " Lino said . "I"d offer you something to heal up, but I"ve literally got nothing . "
"Just get me out of here . "
"How"d you guys get caught anyway?" Lino asked .
"We were fine at first," Smite explained . "But then some Mythic Realm woman showed up and, well, she was much, much stronger than we were . "
" . . . that"s good to know . " Lino grumbled as he slowly injected some of his own Qi into Smite, hoping it would speed up latter"s recovery as he realized fight was inevitable . And he could hardly afford any distractions if he were to fight a Mythic Realm cultivator . Shortly after, without even realizing it, Smite began feeling better as his wounds slowly closed up, crests appearing on his skin .
"This one, I think . " he said as Lino stopped next to a thick, steel doors . Without trying anything else, he circled Qi into the sole of his right foot and banged it against the doors, crus.h.i.+ng them . Behind, several people jolted onto their feet, startled expressions on their faces . When Fish and Kraval saw Lino, both heaved in relief, while three other men next to them still remained tense
"Relax," Kraval said . "He"s with us . "
"Eh?" one of the three men exclaimed, glancing between Lino and Kraval . "You sure?"
"Yeah, we"re sure," Fish replied . "You"re late, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
" . . . maybe I should just leave . " Lino said .
"Nope, being here is great . Don"t you just admire the architecture of this place?"
"Save the bickering for late," Lino said as he handed Smite over to Kraval . "You guys need to boot it . "
"What about you?" Kraval asked, frowning .
"Well, I"m fairly certain we"ve already been made," Lino said, smiling faintly . "And, not to be brutal or anything, but you guys would only speed along my death if you stayed to fight . So, you know, get lost . "
" . . . that actually hurt . " Smite cried out lowly while Fish nodded . Kraval merely looked deeply into Lino"s eyes for a moment .
"Stay safe . " Kraval said as he walked out, others quickly following after him .
Lino stared at their backs for a moment before departing the other way . He already knew where the Mythic Realm woman was, and he was fairly certain she knew where he was as well . His steps were even and confident as he ran through rather confusing labyrinth of hallways that led around in circles .
It took him almost five minutes until he finally reached the ma.s.sive gates, nearly ten meters tall . Just as he stopped in front of them, trying to figure out how to cross to the other side, they opened on their own . There was no blinding attack of light, nor foul stench . Eerie sounds cried as the gates grated the floor beneath .
Lino walked into a s.p.a.cious hall, decorated with one macabre item after another; coffins, skeletons, decaying corpses, mummified corpses, sculptures of agonizing deaths . . . he immediately realized this hall along denoted everything the whole Necropolis stood for . On the far other end, he immediately spotted a woman cloaked in black, enrobed in thick shadows .
She lacked eyes and instead had two scarlet spheres rotating in thick darkness where a face is supposed to be . On each of her sides was a skeletal h.e.l.lhound, baring their teeth at him . Besides the four of them, the rest of the hall appeared barren .
Above the woman was a makes.h.i.+ft plateau atop of which a single statue stood erected, surrounded by heap of corpses . It was a seemingly middle-aged man with unwound book in one of his hands and a human heart in another, his features hidden behind a thick veil of darkness . Lino found it rather chilly inside, as though there were countless arms reaching out from beyond and gripping at him, which caused his approach to drop down in pace .
" . . . " he stopped at the fifty meters mark away from the woman who merely stared at him, without saying anything . ""Sup?" Lino asked, grinning and stretching out his arm, whereupon a familiar feel of steel inched against the palm of his hand . He whirled the spear around for a moment as though to warm his arm up .
"Empyrean," a cold, hissing voice bellowed out, echoing out through the hall . Lino"s heart froze for a moment as he grasped his spear ever-so-tightly, moving it forward and pointing it at the woman . "You ought to not be . "
" . . . " Lino remained silent, on full alert; he had no clue as to how she knew who he was, but he knew it wasn"t a good thing she did .
"Yet you are . How . . . miraculous . "
" . . . "
"Writs remain ashened in Firmament," the woman said as she slowly got up onto her feet . "In their fires heart"s frost repeatedly birthed . "
" . . . Eshen . " the robotic voice spoke out from Lino, startling him even more than the woman . He barely held back from cursing out yet again . "It is time to go . "
" . . . wait . You know her?" Lino asked, rising his brow .
"I am his failed child," the woman replied, chuckling morbidly . "Unlike you, he abandoned me . "
" . . . you knew I was an Empyrean because you are one too?" Lino asked, growing ever more confused .
"I knew you were an Empyrean because your stench burst my heart apart . " the woman said . "Why else would I wait for you here? In my home?"
" . . . oh, f.u.c.k me . Did you purposefully withhold information from me again?!" Lino asked, but the only reply was silence . "Oh, G.o.ddammit!!"