Chapter 768: Premature Birth

Looking at the young man wearing red gloves, Franca asked cautiously:

"Who are you?"

She wasn't the type to believe whatever a stranger said just because they appeared suddenly, unless she had been influenced by some supernatural ability.

"'The Hanged Man', 'The Chariot', you don't need to participate in what follows." The young man in red gloves called out Franca and Jenna's Minor Arcana card names directly, and he possessed a natural air of authority from long-term leadership over many people, making Franca and the others feel a faint sense of dread.

He knows our "Tarot Club" codenames accurately... A member of the "Tarot Club", a helper invited by "Knight of Swords"? His attire looks very much like the "Red Gloves" of the Church of the "Evernight Goddess"... As Franca pondered, she didn't notice her spiritual intuition giving any warning.

Just as she was about to respond, the young man in red gloves took out a Tarot card.

The front of the card depicted a sky full of stars and a goddess pouring out holy water.

A Major Arcana card, "The Star"!

So it's Mr. "The Star"... Franca and Jenna no longer hesitated and nodded in unison, saying:

"Alright."

Lugano, however, looked a bit stunned:

Why take out a card?

I seem to have heard of something similar, but I can't recall it for the moment...

Almost simultaneously, Anthony appeared from nowhere and squeezed in beside Franca and Jenna.

Franca was taken aback for a moment and muttered to herself:

"I really did forget about you..."

Mr. "The Star" didn't say much more and opened his mouth slightly.

In an instant, Franca and the others were enveloped by an invisible, massive spiritual body, and then, like traveling in a hot air balloon, they entered the Spirit Realm where rich color blocks were layered upon one another.

…………

At the edge of the city covered in crystalline frost, Lu Mian, wearing the golden mask of the Aigris family, withdrew his gaze.

He could roughly guess that the blurry figures within his two eyes were the demigods of the Temperance Faction responsible for this operation, among whom the headless one was suspected to be the Temperance Faction angel he had seen before, and the translucent insects crawling in and out of his mouth were likely helpers invited by the Temperance Faction.

In that moment just now, how many people actually moved into my body... Lu Mian grumbled to himself as he followed "Knight of Swords" Malic and sprinted.

They entered the wilderness outside the city of Dalsh, and under the pale, cold "sunlight," they headed rapidly toward the direction of Lake Dalsh.

—Affected by the special influence of this "Other Side World," Lu Mian could not "teleport" to places he could not see with his naked eye; in other words, he had to lock onto a target with his gaze to complete the positioning, making it difficult to appear at the edge of Lake Dalsh in one go.

After running for a distance, he reached out and grabbed "Knight of Swords'" shoulder.

Almost simultaneously, scorching white flames surged from within his body, instantly covering his entire frame.

"Knight of Swords" didn't ask questions; he easily understood his intent and directly etherealized himself, turning into a vengeful spirit and possessing him.

Lu Mian burned into a scorching white spear and was projected toward the distance with a brilliant, ostentatious display.

The flame spear swished through the sky, and after a few leaps, it arrived at the edge of Lake Dalsh.

Lu Mian, having detached from the scorching white flame spear, saw that this lake remained tranquil, clear, holy, and beautiful even within the "Other Side World" that had merged with the Kingdom of the Dead.

In the dim environment, the grayish-white water seemed to have lost its weight, or perhaps attracted by something in the high altitude, it extended upward into a massive curtain of water.

In front of the water curtain, countless human skulls formed a head the size of a small hill.

Among those skulls of various colors, one was the most conspicuous; it was located at the very top of all the skulls, crystalline and transparent, as if carved from crystal, and it was a full circle larger than a normal human skull.

Within the eye sockets of this crystal skull, there were no pale or dark red flames burning; instead, they reflected a bronze-colored gate covered in mysterious patterns, exceptionally ancient.

The gate was opened a crack, and behind it was endless darkness, within which seemed to hide dense, indescribable eyes.

They were watching the outside world, yet they were unable to come out.

At the edge of the crack in the bronze gate, strange, terrifying, or disgusting palms were gripping the door, as if trying to squeeze out but unable to fulfill their wish, only capable of producing sharp noises that pierced human eardrums.

Many, many undead and human skulls were attracted here, gradually becoming part of the massive head.

That crystal skull was the "Undead" skull used back then? The bronze gate within its eye sockets was the gate to the Netherworld opened by a "Gatekeeper" of the "Death" pathway, Sequence 5? Hmm, a Sequence 5 cannot maintain the Gate of the Netherworld for more than a certain amount of time; they can only fix it with the help of the "Undead" skull and the special nature of Lake Dalsh... The problem is, where did "Witch King" Oseto go? Lu Mian had just flashed this thought when he saw the countless human skulls forming the hill-like head in mid-air open and close their white, bone-like teeth, speaking in unison with different voices:

"Why couldn't you give me a little more time?

"Since I cannot have it, then I will let this place be destroyed, and see how many of you can survive the catastrophe of this 'Other Side World' collapsing!

"As for me, I have already abandoned this place and left the Leclaire region with the help of prior arrangements!

"Hahaha, hahaha!"

Amidst the sharp, hoarse, aged, or low laughter of the human skulls, Lu Mian felt the massive shadow in the high altitude descend toward the top of his head, while the ground beneath his feet cracked open one massive fissure after another; those fissures split deeper and deeper, vaguely revealing a profound, nihilistic darkness.

All the skulls, including the crystal skull, also developed tiny cracks, as if they would be completely pulverized before long.

At this moment, Lu Mian felt the chill within his body decrease by a cluster, and the cracking of all the skulls stopped abruptly, as if temporarily blocked by an invisible external force.

This also caused the process of the "Other Side World" collapsing and being destroyed to stagnate; although it hadn't been reversed, it wouldn't happen immediately.

"Is this a Temperance Faction demigod or the helpers they invited using their own abilities? Oseto seems to have really run away. After testing it with a banshee's wail, she decisively abandoned this 'Other Side World' which is clearly stronger than the other 'Ladies', and used the pre-prepared arrangements and the special nature of this place to escape before the Temperance Faction people could act..." Seeing this scene, a series of thoughts flashed through Lu Mian's mind.

An aged voice suddenly rang in his ears:

"Don't just listen to what Oseto says herself.

"According to my experience, anyone who leaves behind so many words before running away is either already insane or trying to cover up something.

"Oseto did indeed decisively flee this place before we locked onto her, and she did indeed intend to destroy this 'Other Side World', but why would she tell us these goals? Purely to vent her emotions?

"That is one reason, but there should be a more important reason; she wants us to focus our attention on the collapse and destruction of this 'Other Side World' and ignore everything else."

It wasn't that Lu Mian hadn't felt some suspicion after Oseto left behind a declaration-like message with those human skulls, but it was quite normal for the Rose School of Thought's Pleasure Faction to have similar behavior.

People accustomed to indulgence are always eager to reveal their own emotions.

The aged voice finally said:

"Time will tell us the answer."

Just as these words fell, Lu Mian saw those insects with translucent rings flying out.

Suddenly, everything around them slowed down.

Everything Lu Mian saw before his eyes was covered in a grayish-white mist, becoming exceptionally illusory.

Immediately following, everything projected on the illusory "curtain" began to reverse; those human skulls no longer had countless tiny cracks, the ground returned to being level, and the rich shadows returned to the high altitude.

This wasn't time flowing backward, but the recent history, the things that had happened over a past period of time, manifesting.

Lu Mian then saw a pair of brown wings that could cover the sky; the current shadow was what it had left behind.

In the middle of these wings, where each feather was as large as a human head, was a female figure with her abdomen exposed.

That woman was as beautiful as the moon at night, her face radiant with a mother's glow, but her hands and feet were all curled, and sharp nails that shimmered with a cold light had grown out.

This was precisely the "Witch King" Oseto.

Lu Mian, who had seen her appearance when she was male, recognized her at a glance; her contours were softer, and the details of her features were more refined.

And her belly was bulging high, with black blood vessels stretching out on the surface, stretched so thin that only a thin layer remained; one could vaguely see that inside were a large number of bird-clawed monster infants merging together.

This... she stuffed all those bird-clawed infants born from the corpses into her own belly... What kind of monster is she gestating? No wonder I couldn't find the bird-clawed monster infants using bloodline connections, only able to sense them indirectly within a certain distance... As Lu Mian realized this, Oseto in the past scene reached her hands toward her belly.

Amidst a tearing sound, her abdomen was ripped open, bloody and gory.

Oseto forcibly pulled out an infant slightly smaller than Ludwig's size; the infant's skin was pale, its flesh rotting, with four or five heads and seven or eight bird claws remaining on the surface, and its body covered in a layer of pure, clear water film that seemed to come from Lake Dalsh.

Oseto wailed in pain and threw the infant toward the eye socket of the crystal skull.

That rotting multi-headed infant was clearly much larger than the eye socket and the bronze gate within it, yet it strangely became smaller and smaller, finally squeezing through the crack that could only allow one palm to extend, disappearing into the boundless darkness behind the gate.

Oseto's deep-seated goal was to send that monster infant into the Netherworld, thereby making some terrible thing a reality? Now, she was forced into a premature birth? Lu Mian had just flashed this thought when he discovered that all the chill within his body had disappeared.

The female figure wearing a small black soft hat and the "Knight of Swords" wearing a shirt and vest appeared simultaneously in front of the crystal skull.

But they seemed unable to pass through the crack that had split open in the "Bronze Gate" and were attempting to open the gate a bit more.

The Netherworld... Lu Mian, wearing the golden mask of the Aigris family, felt a stir in his heart. Taking advantage of the opportunity where the collapse of the "Other Side World" was being stalled by the Temperance Faction demigods, he activated the black mark on his right shoulder and "teleported" in front of the crystal skull.

In his eyes, that bronze gate suddenly became exceptionally tall.

He extended both hands and pressed them against the sides of the bronze gate.

An illusory and dull creaking sound followed, and the bronze gate opened a bit more.

Lu Mian immediately felt a terrifying suction force and was involuntarily squeezed through the crack in the gate, thrown into the depths of the darkness.

Two more clusters of chill were added to his body.

PS: There will be an extra update for the first place in monthly votes at 7 PM~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 769 =====