Adrian nodded. "Yeah, they both have the body of a snake, but I feel like I’ve seen this one somewhere… Do you get the same feeling?"Rozi pondered for a moment, then said, "Oh, it’s that drawing on the pillar! A snake man was leading the immortals against the giant shadow.”"This is their leader?" Adrian asked in shock.The corpse was thousands of years old, and Adrian was curious about why it had a snake's body. There's no such species in this world. They existed only in myths."It’s right before us. How do you think that is?" Adrian said curiously. Rozi pondered with a frown, then shook her head. "I'm not sure. Something feels off about this, yet something seems to match up as well."Adrian shifted through his memories. He then said, "I got something. Do you remember that snake woman from before? She said the Creator made her to defend this place and kill all its invaders.""How is that related to this?" Rozi asked. "This means the monster has been guarding this place for
Adrian vaguely recalled seeing something similar to this rock but he could not remember what it was. Mya would definitely have recognized the rock if she were there. After all, it was very similar to the metal block they found at St. Elmer's Church. In other words, the rock was an imitation of the metal block. Adrian had assumed the rock was some kind of explosive, but it was not. Rozi curiously asked, "Have you seen it before?"Adrian thought that maybe his subconscious was making him think he had seen the rock before. He shook his head. "I can't remember, but this rock is a fake. Someone took the real thing a long time ago. Wait…" Adrian was stunned as he noticed an engraving next to the corpse."Distraction?" He looked at Rozi after reading the engraving. "Did you carve this? It looks to be written by the same person from the platform. I think you opened up this coffin in the past too." Rozi scratched her head but was unable to recall such a memory. After taking a deep bre
Their objective was to kill Adrian and the others. "Stay calm." Adrian frantically thought of a way out of the situation. "We've proven he can just reset us if he wishes to eliminate us, so it's clear he has exhausted his powers. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to send this many monsters after us. We can get out of this… Cian.""Yes, sir!"There’s just too many of them. I need you and the others to hide inside the coffin. Rozi and I will think of a way out of this. We’ll come back for you guys after we've activated the mechanism.” Adrian gripped Dragonbane tightly.Cian asked anxiously, "Will you two be all right? Why don't we all fight our way out and leave our fates to destiny instead? It'd be our honor to be able to fight alongside you, sir.""He's right, sir. We've sworn to follow you to the death, so we choose to fight with you," another said.Rozi said, "They may not be safe even if they hide inside the coffin, Adrian. Rather than letting them stay here and possibly die, I thi
Noticing that the monsters seemed terrified of the rock, Adrian led Cian and the others away. They managed to break out of the encirclement after about five minutes.Rozi said, "Follow me. I'll take you guys to the sundial. Quickly now. It won’t be long till they realize the rock is a fake and start coming after us again.” Some of her memories had suddenly returned. Adrian and the others followed her, and twenty minutes later, they arrived at a spot within the palace. There was a faint beam of light about the size of a coin shining inside the location. The beam was shining directly onto a huge and well-crafted sundial."What is that?""Is that a sundial? I've never seen one before.”Cian and the others, stunned by the sundial, began to examine it. The sundial was placed atop a giant stone platform. However, the light was too weak for them to identify the directions.Rozi studied the sundial and said, "This palace is constantly revolving, which means our direction is always chang
Rozi nodded. "We'll be able to identify the North after we determine one particular direction. After that, we'll shift the Big Dipper's oil lamps toward True North. This way, the balance system will be activated and we can go deeper into the Profound Circle," she explained. Padraig asked in confusion, "What's the Profound Circle?"Rozi shook her head. "I can't remember, but I get the sense it's some kind of magic circle deployed by the immortals back in the day. We'll reach another location once we get through the magic circle. I recalled it being a place with thunder strikes.""Thunder strikes?"Cian and the others exchanged looks of confusion. At that moment, a memory popped into Adrian’s mind, "Mount Thunder!""Mount what?""I remember you talking about a Celestial Lake atop Mount Thunder. That’s how you were able to see the future," Adrian said. "When did I ever say that?” Rozi asked."My memory is still fuzzy, so I can’t remember.“In any case, we have to be sure to n
After hanging around the sundial for almost two hours, the light was nearing the center. Just a little longer and the light would be perfectly aligned.Right at that moment, monsters were heard coming from outside.“Sir, it's the monsters. What should we do?" Cian asked when he spotted shadows approaching. “The rock's a fake, so it's useless against them. Otherwise, they would never have come here." Rozi had given up on using the rock like before. Frowning, Adrian said, "We're running out of time. Cian, you looted some explosives from those Rondoniers, right? We'll use them to buy some time."Cian nodded. "Understood. Come on, guys. Let’s blow those f*ckers sky high!" He grabbed his bag and fished out some explosives. He was familiar with them as he had received formal training. Soon, the remote-detonator explosives were in place."All right, throw on the count of three. Remember, we have to hit them all!” Cian said. "Okay!" “One… Two… Three!”Everyone hurled their explosi
Adrian nodded and shifted one of the oil lamps. Clink!The sound of chains was heard as the oil lamp was moved. As part of the mechanism's design, the oil lamp entered a track and moved along it. More tracks started appearing on the palace floor, and the oil lamp continued to move along it."Over there." Rozi pointed at one of the tracks. Adrian watched the oil lamp and pressed it when it got to its destination. As the oil lamp stopped, the mechanism stopped as well. Then, he walked over and shifted the second oil lamp. The process repeated once again. After a moment, all the oil lamps had been moved, still in the pattern of the Big Dipper. The sound of chains rattling grew louder after the final oil lamp was moved. The chains were covered in rust after thousands of years, and the sounds they made while moving caused goosebumps. Rumble! In the distance, the floor split open and beams of light emerged from beneath. The Profound Circle emerged and four statues popped up from
Everything was so glaringly bright that it was difficult for them to open their eyes. After a few minutes, they managed to adapt. They realized they were in the middle of a beautiful canyon dotted with rocks and surrounded by tall mountains. The scenery was breathtaking. Even rabbits rushed in and out of the bushes."Woah…”"It's a miracle. Nobody could've possibly found such a mysterious place. I feel like we're in heaven!"Cian and Padraig were mesmerized by the stunning scenery. Everyone felt delighted upon basking in the sunlight after being trapped inside that dark palace for over a week. They were over the moon as they gazed at the rainbow-colored canyon. "How did we end up here, sir?" Padraig scratched his head and looked at his surroundings in confusion.They felt as though they had traveled through space and time and arrived in another world, and this world felt like heaven. Even a white crane was soaring through the sky. There was a giant revolving stone at the top of