Chapter 583 - Self-Purgatory.
Low as his voice had been, Ergo still heard him and made his knowledge of Hal's words clear with his next words,
"Intricate how?" he asked.
Hal rolled his eyes and stood to his feet,
"Intricate in a way I really have no patience to explain to you. Just know that brute force will not get you through it. The Array is meant to test the strength of will. To test the knowledge of self of the individual within."
Although Hal spoke in a calm tone, he was actually preoccupied with thoughts that he kept to himself and kept off his face.
The Array would be testing a part of himself he had not been sure about thus far.
He had never shied from discovering what was deep within him but the fact of the matter was that all his attempts at learning who he truly was deep inside had all been unsuccessful.
Grimoire could not help him.
Hell, the stupid book could and would not even tell him what the strongest Dao was.
That said, Hal shook off the very hint of worry that was beginning to surface in his mind.
He understood the Array.
A bare minimum of knowledge of self would get him and anyone else through.
Ergo did not seem to care for Hal's tone and his frown made that clear but he made no vocal mention of his annoyance.
He let his expression do all the talking.
Andrei eyed him all the while.
*Creak* *Creak* *Creak*
*DUMMM*
The sound heralded the fall of the last of the puppets.
It had fallen to coordination between Sassy and Karmen.
With its destruction, Hal looked all about the room and wondered if there would be any more traps springing up.
The fact that there was none did not really feel him with ease.
The two who were with Lucile went over to the piles of Blue gems and began siphoning them into their spatial rings.
Hal almost expected Ergo to step in and lay claim on the wealth but the shirtless man did not spare them a glance.
His focus was on the crystal door.
*Whoosh*
He dashed forward and swung his large ax against the crystal door...
*BANG!*
*BOOM!*
Whether deliberately or accidental, the moment Ergo's ax made contact with the crystal door, every bit of Blood energy his red gem had absorbed was repelled back at him with force strong to send him to the other side of the room...
*BANG!*
... Where he smacked against the wall demarcating one silver doorway from the other.
Ergo sprung to his feet almost immediately and was clearly annoyed.
Why would he not be?
He had attacked with full strength and not only got it all repelled back at him but had not even scratched the door.
Hal studies the door and smiled to himself.
The door had Arrays drawn on it as well.
Arrays he could not even hope to negate with his Runemastering rank being what it was.
Basically, the crystal door had been fortified to be all the more sturdy while also given the ability to reflect attacks at their originator.
The originator in this case being Ergo.
Taking this with the illusion Array that provided a way in, a way to bypass this sturdy door, Hal could not help but ask in his mind,
'Is this supposed to be a test? Is the owner of this tomb not actively turning people away and discouraging them from disturbing his place of rest or is he simply weeding out the weak just to pick the one worthy of all he left behind?
If not, then what was the point of the Array?'
This was not to say the door was impenetrable because it was not.
With the right amount of focus and manpower, manpower in the sense of experts at the late stage of the Semi-saint realm and above, it could be broken through.
There was only so long the gems powering the arrays could remain active and only so long before the Array itself was eventually worn down and rendered incapable of functioning.
It would take a long time but it was possible.
"I'm going in," he told Emily who nodded with a smile,
"Me too," she said and together they stepped into the area of the illusion Array and for ten seconds that seemed to last longer than they actually were, the two stood still on the drawn Array...
Once the seconds were up, Hal and Emily sunk into the ground through the Array.
Lucile followed soon after and so did Sassy who of course, would go wherever her master went.
Once those two sunk into the Array, Ergo approached it as well. He approached it along with Cirk and once they had sunk into the Array, Andrei went over as well.
Lillian went in after Andrei and once she was in, Rita attempted but the Array pushed her out.
It was done allowing entry.
***
Neither Hal nor Emily had any idea what happened around them the moment their feet touched the Array.
They didn't even have any idea what happened to each other.
Hal for one felt the familiar feeling of having his subconscious enter into an illusionary space.
Of course, unlike before where he had felt pulled in, this time, it was more of a gentle submersion, and soon he was back in the illusionary space and staring at the familiar face of the frowning forty-something looking man.
"Would you look at that, we meet again. And so soon too" Hal told the man with a jovial smile of familiarity.
A smile the man did not return.
Rather, his frown got even deeper.
"You did not listen. I told you to get out of here before it was too late... And you did not listen" he told Hal in an ominous tone.
Hal shrugged,
"I indeed am stubborn. But there just happens to be something behind those crystal doors that I am drawn to. Even I have no idea what it is... But it's there."
Towards the end of his words, Hal seemed almost lost in his thoughts but he was soon back to normal to pose a question to the man,
"So what now? What next? Are we just going to talk? Or are you going to fire up your illusion traps?"
Now, there was a smile playing on the man's lips,
"Ah but I actually have nothing to do with what happens to you within the Array. What you face is completely unique and tailor-made for you. It can be said to have been conjured by your subconscious.
Had the Array been drawn to be benign, it would have been a great help and had simply guided you on the path of self-discovery but as it is malignant, it will not guide you.
It will break you.
Only an unshakeable character and a true comprehension of self can aid you in passing through this Array."
There was such enjoyment on the man's face that Hal almost expected him to burst into some sort of jig out of excitement.
And then, the man pointed in front of him at an empty space,
"Behold, the purgatory your subconscious has drawn up for you"
The space the man was pointing at had been empty a few seconds ago but now, thick mist was congealing and forming into various shapes.
As the shapes formed and before they were complete, Sassy appeared beside Hal.
"The Hell?" the man was taken by surprise.
"Master" Sassy said subserviently while staring at the man with hostility.
As Hal's familiar, Sassy was to share in her master's abilities. She would never need to cultivate, never need to comprehend self for the moment she became his familiar, whatever Hal was was what she would be.
It was one of the benefits familiars enjoy from being linked to a powerful master and also what they suffer in the case of being linked to a weak master.
Their master-familiar link had pulled her away from whatever part of the Array she had been in and over to Hal's side.
Hal acknowledged her presence with a pat of her shoulder, a pat that filled the emerald-eyed beauty with warmth, while he frowned at the now solidified shapes.
The fog had formed a table and two chairs on opposite ends of the table.
There was someone sitting on one of the chairs...
He had sapphire blue eyes and bore a striking resemblance with Hal.
They were completely identical... Even their clothes were identical.
The only notable difference between the two was that the fog-formed-Hal had totally black scleras and his lips seemed stuck on the Malevolent smile that Hal usually saved for moments he particularly felt devilish....