Chapter 3344: The Last 5182 Years

The power Sister Dervin shared was a one-time use; compared to this, the "Noble Fate" shared by Luvia in the dream seemed too strong.

"This can help you fight against powerful undead. If you really encounter that King of Graves... perhaps it can help you."

The sister continued after withdrawing her hand. She looked a bit weak. Xia De nodded:

"Then I will set off now. See you later, Sister."

Sister Dervin stood up:

"I will go with you to your home to wait for news."

Xia De then thought about whether the breakfast at home was enough:

"I can take you back directly from here, but do you need to say hello to the other sisters in the sacrificial ground?"

The sister shook her head lightly, so Xia De grabbed her hand. After the crystal shoe was thrown out, the two disappeared from the spot, leaving only the flames in the bonfire continuing to lick the greatsword that was tilted and inserted into the fire.

Galina and Luvia were of course welcoming of Sister Dervin's arrival, but when Xia De was washing his hands to prepare for a meal, the Duchess complained quietly:

"Why didn't you give a heads-up in advance? This way the sister knows we spent the night here yesterday."

"Didn't the sister already know?"

"I believe Sister Dervin will keep the secret, but exposing such privacy in front of the sister is too embarrassing."

Everyone ate breakfast together. Afterward, Xia De brought along Little Mia, who still wanted to go on an adventure with him, and confirmed that he had brought the three elements required to return to the world of the living—the Heart of the Living Dead, the black rune stone given by the priest, and Luvia's sash—before taking out the key to prepare to leave.

"Take this too; safety first."

Galina also gave Xia De the handkerchief she carried with her, and then they watched Xia De take out the key and insert it into the keyhole of the bedroom in Room 2. Although Sister Dervin also came to see him off, she didn't say a word, only using her left hand to hold her right wrist to cover the ornament on her wrist.

Luvia urged Xia De to pay attention to safety quite worriedly, and asked Little Mia to remember to take good care of Xia De. After Xia De laughed, she waved her hand:

"We are waiting for you here."

"Don't worry, it's only three seconds. May the World Tree protect me in the infinite time."

Click~

After the key turned, the door opened, and Xia De walked into the white fog door carrying his suitcase.

【Outsider, you have officially stepped into the "Corridor of Time."】

An arched door made of slender tree trunks, vines, branches, and green leaves stood in the endless white fog. Xia De stuffed the cat toy into the pocket where Galina's handkerchief was placed, and recalled before walking into the arched door:

"The mission this time is to obtain the secret of the Ancient God. Now I know: the Ancient God's throne sealed the Gate of the Dead, intercepted the souls that should have left, and forged his own kingdom; the Ancient God inherited a certain golden artifact of the ancient Death God, and thus controlled this kingdom."

"The priest clearly told me that the golden artifact is a golden bracelet. If I can shatter it, I can briefly drive the god out of the kingdom... How come it feels like all the current information points to me having to fight that god?"

"She" smiled gently. Xia De took a few deep breaths and stepped into the arched door.

【Message from the Ancient God "Father of the Infinite Tree":】

【Autumn, 5182, Fifth Era, Central Continent, Tombstone Wasteland.】

【Event: Grave Robbing.】

【Duration: 60 minutes → 120 minutes (3/3).】

【You have obtained additional information.】

【The figure of the Father of the Infinite Tree is watching you.】

【The Ancient God of Time gives you a test.】

【Assist mortals in learning the secret of the Ancient God - "King of Bones."】

【The Father of the Infinite Tree will give you a reward: Miracle Spirit Rune - Envy.】

The field of vision turned into darkness the moment he crossed the arched door. The change in the direction of gravity and the appearance of a foul smell meant that Xia De had appeared in a grave once again.

However, he was not in a hurry to break out of the soil. His left hand was still clutching the suitcase containing the "Heart of the Living Dead," while his right hand groped around in the surroundings and easily felt the burial item in the grave—a metal bracelet.

The feeling of the flow of spirit being suppressed was quite terrible, but the numbness of the soul did not have much effect on Xia De.

Soon after crawling out of the grave, he leaned against the tombstone and took a few breaths. When he looked around again, the starlight-like candlelight and the light of old-fashioned oil lamps illuminated the graves densely packed around him. The figure of the gravedigger's hut could not be seen in the thin fog, but the good news was that the shadows of other strange buildings could not be seen either.

The bracelet in his hand was indeed pure gold. After going around to the front of the tombstone to look at the content on the tombstone, the first time was a moon, the second time was a moon and a sun, and the third time was nothing at all. Xia De did not know the meaning of it.

Sighing lightly, Xia De stayed where he was and waited for the girls to find him. The scene of saying goodbye to Luvia and the others at home a few minutes ago felt like it had been hundreds of years ago. A sense of loneliness arose spontaneously, but fortunately, Little Mia was still by his side.

Patting his jacket pocket lightly, the cat, which had returned to its original state, poked its head out of the pocket. After discovering that the surroundings were the familiar environment of tombstones, it let out a "Meow~" and was then held by Xia De and placed on his shoulder.

The cat suddenly sniffed fiercely at this moment. Xia De thought it was dissatisfied with the corpse smell around, but he didn't expect that after sniffing, it turned its head to look in the direction of Xia De's left side.

"What's wrong?"

Patting Little Mia's head lightly, out of absolute trust in the cat's sense of smell, Xia De also looked in that direction.

About five seconds later, Xia De saw some blue light drifting toward this side. At first, he thought it was something like will-o'-the-wisps, but when the blue light gradually became clear in the fog, he saw that it was a group of butterflies with blue flames burning on their wings.

Those butterflies looked very beautiful, the best-looking group of butterflies Xia De had ever seen besides the "Red Butterflies." And among the butterfly group, a familiar figure walked toward Xia De from the darkness shrouded in thin fog with big strides.

About 1.77 meters tall, wearing a deerstalker hat, holding a cane, with a medium-to-sturdy build. Xia De could never have imagined that this person would appear here:

"Detective Sparrow Hamilton?"

After subconsciously shouting that name in surprise, the middle-aged detective smiled and walked toward Xia De faster, as if he was looking forward to this meeting with Xia De.

Thus, a silver moonlight flew out and split "Sparrow Hamilton" horizontally from the waist, but the corpse disappeared on the spot before it even hit the ground:

"Sure enough, it's an illusion. I said Detective Sparrow hates me bothering him so much, how could he walk toward me smiling."

Those butterflies with blue flames burning on their wings were unaffected and continued to fly toward Xia De and Little Mia, completely surrounding him before Xia De left this area.

Thus, not only Detective Sparrow, but more "dead people" Xia De had quite an impression of in this world appeared from the darkness one after another.

Count of Darac of the Midhillburg incident, Lady Hela Olsenfort of the Randall Valley, Megan of Green Lake and the many Edwards family relatives of Audrey, Miss Knight the female knight of the Gravel Sand Sea, the little black cat mother and daughter of Moon Bay... In the end, even enemies like Ivan Darkness appeared.

Familiar figures walked toward him one by one, but they were all split apart by the moonlight Xia De swung. The group of butterflies burning with blue fire became denser and denser around him. A single blue-fire butterfly had a very weak whisper element, and when combined together, the butterfly group was undoubtedly a relic capable of creating "illusions."

"Butterfly-type relics..."

When getting along with Helen and Grace, they had discussed this topic many times, so a memory of Grace sitting in Xia De's arms with a blushing face surged up.

"This is the 'Dead Soul Butterfly,' a document-level relic, which only appears in graveyards or other environments like battlefields with a large number of dead people. It can be considered a biological community, but it can also be considered a strange phenomenon."

"When the butterflies are in a blue fire state, they will make the encounterer see the dead related to themselves. If they cannot break free from the illusion in time, or even take the initiative to touch those 'dead,' then their own soul will leave the body and turn into part of the butterfly's blue flame;"

"When the butterflies are in a green fire state, they trigger the resurrection of nearby undead, and the undead army follows the butterflies forward, and will actively protect them;"

"When the butterflies are in a black fire state, a diffusive large-area instant-death curse appears, which can be called a mobile disaster."

Xia De recalled this information. He even remembered Helen pouting and saying "Sir, did you take a fancy to other butterflies" at that time.

The good news was that the flame color would not easily change after the relic 【Dead Soul Butterfly】 appeared, and the blue fire state was the safest state; the bad news was that the cracking method of this relic was to run out of the area with a large number of corpses, and obviously, Xia De could not leave the 【Tombstone Wasteland】. If he just ran in the wasteland, these butterflies would catch up soon.

"If Grace and Helen were here, they could scare these butterflies away in an instant."

Xia De thought in his heart, and then realized that he could also turn into a butterfly. After hesitating for a moment, before the new illusion appeared, he put the suitcase on the tombstone, put the cat on the suitcase, and then turned into a group of red butterflies.

Two red butterflies landed on the cat's head to protect it. The smart cat seemed to recognize that this was Xia De, so it didn't swat at them. The remaining red butterflies soon mixed with the increasingly dense blue-fire butterflies around.

The red butterfly group and the blue butterfly group approached each other from two directions, then mixed together and flew wantonly. Some blue butterflies even wanted to approach the cat that was obediently squatting on the box listening to Xia De's orders, but after being looked at by the cat, they flew in other directions.

Although Xia De did not have the power of Grace and Helen, after transforming into red butterflies, there were really no more illusions of the dead around. The butterflies burning with blue flames seemed to be "dancing" with the red butterflies. However, in just two or three minutes, the blue butterfly group automatically flew away from this area.

?? PS: The picture of this chapter "Red and Blue Butterflies."

? Although the details of this picture are not quite the same as the description in the text, the composition is still quite good.

? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3345 =====