Chapter 625.1: A Choice That Can’t Be Chosen (1)
Chapter 625.1: A Choice That Can’t Be Chosen (1)
Following the place where he had disappeared a year ago, the spirit guide led him to Tark Stronghold, though it wasn’t the reconstructed Tark Stronghold but the old one that had been devoured by Shrouding Fog several years back.
Walking through the corridors of the now-empty fortress, he was unsurprisingly led to the communication room. At the same time, he took a small sip of the bitter serum, which hastened his red blood cell production once more. This made him feel a little better.
He had only teleported into the space governed by Shrouding Fog—from a certain perspective, he hadn’t even walked at all—but even so, he had depleted a sizable amount of his blood.
Meanwhile, the spirit guide began moving haphazardly once more.
The time the spirit guide stopped at a location seemed to correlate to how long Alicia lingered in the area, just that it was greatly shortened. Roel ended up stopping in this fortress for quite a while.
Has it been a few hours? Or half a day?
The dark environment blurred Roel’s grasp of time.
He continued to diligently follow the spirit guide. After what seemed to be hours of traversing the massive Tark Stronghold, the spirit guide emanated a brilliant glow, and his body was enveloped by the white fog once more.
This time around, when the white fog dissipated, Roel was stunned by the barren scenery before him.
“This is…” he murmured with raised eyebrows.
He had been brought to an unfamiliar land with no traces of civilization at all. There was hardly any greenery around him, either.
He had always known that the Sia Continent was massive. As a matter of fact, the territories occupied by humankind were insignificant compared to the Sia Continent’s total landmass. It wasn’t surprising that there were places he didn’t recognize.
What baffled him was the fact that Alicia had come to a place like this.
Fortunately, someone seemed to recognize this location.
“This was probably the main battlefield back then,” Grandar suddenly remarked.
“You recognize this place?” Roel asked.
“I didn’t participate in that battle, but I know the location. Many things have happened since, but the mana remnant in the ground wouldn’t lie,” Grandar said with a sentimental voice.
Roel placed his hand on the earth beneath him and slowly infused his mana in.
After penetrating the upper layer of the soil, he finally sensed the earth that had been stained with the blood of countless soldiers in the ancient era. In their powerful mana, he could sense their fighting will, their killing intent, and their regrets. These strong emotions were imprinted in the mana, lingering on even after so many years had passed.
Roel sighed with a frown before returning to his feet. He could roughly guess why Alicia had come here.
This was the battlefield for the decisive battle between the Mother Goddess and the Savior, meaning that it was likely to be the place where the Black Moon descended and plunged the Savior into lunacy, as well as the place where the Mother Goddess went into hibernation.
This was the turning point of the world, marking the end of an era and the beginning of another. It wasn’t surprising for Alicia, as the incarnation of the Black Moon, to come here after regaining her memories.
However, Roel didn’t feel too good about this place.
“…”
His heart swelled with discomfort as he gazed upon the vast afternoon plains, knowing that this was the place where Alicia forgot about him.
He had refrained from telling anyone about his emotions from being forgotten by Alicia, as he didn’t think that others would be able to empathize with how he felt. Even so, he felt melancholic standing on this land.
He patiently stood at the center of the plains while waiting for the spirit guide to set off.
Time ticked, and the little rascal, who had been randomly darting around the place, finally found its path and started shuddering. Without any hesitation, Roel quickly activated Silver Devourer to follow the spirit guide on its journey.
This time, what he saw after the dissipation of the white fog had him widening his eyes.
He was standing in the middle of a plain with a gigantic tower that rose into the sky. It was Sia’s divine temple in the ancient era, as well as a place that contained many of Roel’s memories.
The Moonsoul Tower.
…
Roel’s brain momentarily stalled to a halt the moment he saw the Moonsoul Tower. His shock was nearly palpable, though there were traces of nostalgia in his eyes as well.
More than once had he dreamed about the Moonsoul Tower after leaving the Witness State, especially when he was fighting to survive the deviants’ encirclement. He had never thought that he would witness this great building in person once more.
The Moonsoul Tower no longer existed—this was a fact recorded in the annals of many races, as well as an inevitability as eras changed. All that could be found were probably just its ruins buried deep in the earth.
For that reason, when he saw the unblemished Moonsoul Tower standing before him, he realized that this place wasn’t the real world. He had inadvertently reached another place he had been searching for all this while—the Mother Goddess’ land of hibernation.
That had been a mystery to the world for the longest time.
Many records theorized that the Mother Goddess’ land of hibernation existed not in the real world, but in another dimension reminiscent of a dungeon, a place that couldn’t be accessed with one’s feet. However, no one, be it Her worshipers or Her enemy, had ever reached there.
Yet, Roel had become the first guest to step onto this land after Alicia… though that might not be the most accurate way to put it.
As he stared at the colossal tower, Roel’s calm expression turned complicated for the first time. It would have been fine to call him a guest the first time he entered the Witness State, but it was hard for him to say that he was strangers with the Mother Goddess after the time he had spent with Her.
Regardless of whether they were enemies or kin, there was a bond between the two of them. That was also the reason he was hesitant to act.
The plain where the Moonsoul Tower was located was silent. Roel closed his eyes to sense his surroundings. He couldn’t sense any gaze, which told him that the Mother Goddess was asleep.
Recklessly entering the Moonsoul Tower and disturbing the Mother Goddess’ slumber was dangerous, and he wasn’t inclined to do so. However, his eyes slowly firmed up when he thought about Alicia’s call for help in the letter.
He carefully followed the spirit guide toward the imposing gates of the Moonsoul Tower.
Standing before the gates, he suddenly remembered how his elven guard in the Witness State, Adola, had introduced the Moonsoul Tower.
I remember the guards for the Moonsoul Tower are two powerful demonic beasts.
Roel prepared himself for combat as he pushed the gates open, but to his surprise, there were no demonic beasts to be seen.
“I see. This Moonsoul Tower is a relic from the Mother Goddess’ memories,” Roel murmured as his heart was put at ease.
The original Moonsoul Tower had many traps to deal with invaders, but those were constructed by the races who resided there. To the Mother Goddess, the Moonsoul Tower was just a place to stay in. Unfortunately, She was unable to revive the people who once resided here.
Following the spirit guide through the dark and empty building that contrasted the one from his memories, Roel’s heart slowly grew heavy.
As he climbed the tower, he encountered magic puppets who dealt with the tower’s cleanliness, but they ignored him as if he didn’t exist. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he wouldn’t want to fight here if possible.
A few hours later, under the spirit guide’s lead, Roel arrived at the higher floors of the tower. After spending a while looking around, the spirit guide finally located Alicia’s room.
Alicia’s room was located a level below the banquet hall, and it was smaller than the one in which Roel had resided in the Witness State. Even before entering the room, Roel could tell that it had been a while since Alicia was last here.
There were hardly any signs of activity inside the room, but it made sense since neither sleep nor rest was essential to Alicia. This was just a place for Alicia to idle and watch the moon from.
Roel was disappointed that Alicia wasn’t here, but more than that, he felt doubtful and worried.
Alicia should have been protecting this place since it was the Mother Goddess’ land of hibernation, but she clearly wasn’t in the Moonsoul Tower at the moment. Did this mean that something urgent had cropped up? Could it be related to the final plan? 𝚋𝚎ｄｎｏ𝚟𝚎ｌ.ｎ𝚎𝚝
Roel pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
Even if the final plan had been set into motion, he didn’t think that anyone could locate Alicia faster than him and bring her away from this place. That put his mind at ease, and he took a sip of the red serum to calm himself.
He then looked upward, and his expression turned solemn.
There was a good chance that the Mother Goddess was resting on the highest floor of the Moonsoul Tower. Knowing that She was so close filled him with hesitation, but he chose to prioritize Alicia.
He turned to the spirit guide. The latter, after circling around the room, seemed to have realized that its master was no longer here, so it began emanating a brilliant light. In response, he began activating Silver Devourer to follow it.
This time around, Roel discovered the traces of the person he was looking for before the white fog fully faded. At the same time, a brilliant stream of light blinded his sight.
…