Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2076 2048. The Purple Garden
"what is this?"

As he landed safely under Margarita's spell, Messermo looked ahead and asked a question.

The bottom of the large hole is not the end; below this vertically open hole, there is the entrance to another cave.

However, the entrance is now sealed off by a golden light curtain, with an emblem in the very center of the curtain.

The Witcher looked at the light screen and said, "That is the emblem of the Sacred Tree, and also the symbol of Michaela's power."

The cave was dark at the bottom, and as soon as Lann and Messermo came down, they each lit a ball of fire in their hands.

The pattern on the light screen largely follows the style of the golden tree motif.

However, the top of the emblem still features a lush, open tree canopy, while the bottom has been transformed into a tree trunk that is twisted and intertwined like a braid.

This is the unique coat of arms of the sacred tree, Abrafiel.

"Then we..." Margarita looked at the golden light screen in front of her with some suspicion, "How do we enter a seal set up by a demigod? The only one who could leave such a mark in the Shadowlands should be Michaela, right?"

During her previous conversation with Lann, the sorceress had a complete understanding of the demigods in the borderlands, and therefore was extremely cautious about their power.

However, just as Lan En was about to say, 'We also have a demigod here, who is older than him,'

Messermo simply raised his hand, which was burning with Messermo's Flame, and was about to walk towards the sealing light barrier.

"Kalala~"

A sudden sound, soft yet seemingly all-encompassing, of crystal shattering echoed from the void, reaching everyone's ears.

Messermo and Margarita were still unaware of what was happening.

However, Lan En, Rongbuqiu, Qilin, and Melina, who had heard this commotion once before at the border, all widened their eyes at the same time!

This is exactly how I felt when the Elden Ring shattered not long ago!

However, this time the commotion is much smaller in comparison!

Spots of golden light drifted down from somewhere in the sky, clearly visible even to those at the bottom of the cave.

Not only these points of light, but after a flash of golden light, the sealed golden light in front of everyone also disappeared.

“Mikaela…” Melina’s low murmur echoed as everyone looked at the spot where the light screen had been, “He abandoned his Great Rune.”

"If he abandons even this, it means... he has completely severed his ties with the Golden Dynasty and the Golden Clan."

The great runes bestowed upon the demigods are fragments of the Elden Ring.

That is something that can serve as evidence of the legal principles by which demigods inherit their power.

If even this can be abandoned, then as Melina said, Michaela has essentially declared that she has no further connection with the Golden Dynasty and the Golden Clan.

This is an even more thorough severance of ties than changing bloodlines.

Since Michaela has already abandoned her Great Rune, what's so unimaginable about discarding her physical body, which is even less important in comparison?
Messermo came here to find evidence that Michaela had abandoned his body, in order to confirm whether he was trying to take a shortcut by entering the Spiral Tower in a soul state, and thus replicate Queen Marika's path.

Unexpectedly, once they arrived here, the so-called evidence was scattered throughout the entire Shadowlands.

Logically speaking, Messermo should have already achieved his goal in coming here.

But the serpentine, gloomy son of the queen looked at Melina, then at Lann, and spoke.

Do you think it's necessary to explore further?

“It’s necessary,” Lann replied without hesitation. “Michaela abandoned his Great Rune, which means he’s in a hurry. And this location… I can sense it’s very special. And we’re already at the door.”

"Then let's go."

Without hesitation, Mosesmo made his decision and led the way inside.

As Lann said, this place was specially sealed by Michaela, and now that they have reached the entrance, it would be a waste not to go in and take a look.

The group walked into the cave whose seal had been broken.

Before long, the view opened up, and they entered a large underground cavern.

Everything before my eyes seemed like a dream.

Inside the enormous cavity, a hazy purple mist filled the bottom, making everything appear indistinct.

The enormous stone coffins protrude from the surrounding rock walls into the hollow interior, blending seamlessly into the mountainside.

The time it has spent here is probably equivalent to a geological event.

These enormous stone coffins, resembling ocean-going ships, interlock and collide with each other, seemingly maintaining the structural stability of the underground cavity to some extent.

As we walked toward the distant stone coffins, we occasionally spotted blood monsters and things like melting mud along the way.

But Messermo walked ahead, holding his Messermo Flame in one hand. This flame, with its black smoke swirling like a snake, had once ravaged most of Shadowlands.

As soon as those things saw him, they screamed and ran away.

The enormous underground cavity appears to be continuing to extend underground, so much so that its depth is impossible to discern.

However, on the edge of a large platform, Lann and his companions discovered another piece of advice left behind by pilgrims.

This is different from the anticipation and longing shown at the cave entrance on the surface outside, towards that 'purple velvet garden'.

The suggestions left here suddenly became...despair and disappointment.

“Lord Michaela, it seems you have abandoned something you should never have abandoned—if you can’t even save your own half, how can you talk about redeeming the world and saving all living beings?” Now, Messermo, who hadn’t had a clear understanding of the status of the Great Rune because he wasn’t in the border region, was stunned for a few seconds after seeing these words.

"They actually...could even abandon half of their own body?"

For someone like Michaela who was born with a half-body, it is 'half a self'.

Compared to the Great Rune he had just abandoned, this represented his status in the Golden Dynasty and his lineage within the Golden Clan.

For him, the half-body was perhaps something even more essential than the Great Rune.

In other words, before abandoning the Great Rune, Michaela had already abandoned something more important.

After reading the pilgrims' advice, Lan En stood at the edge of the platform and continued to gaze down into the seemingly bottomless abyss.

"Can the Featherfall spell be used again, Rita? Let's just jump down."

The sorceress frowned, estimated her current Chaos Mana reserves, and then said, "If you need it. And afterwards, I'll really need to replenish my mana."

Margarita tried to lighten the serious atmosphere surrounding what Michaela had done to her with an ambiguous tone.

However, Lan En, who is usually very good at easing tensions, still just frowned and nodded to Margarita.

The sorceress nodded solemnly, and as she chanted the incantation, her face turned somewhat pale, but the same lightness as before enveloped everyone's bodies once again.

They did not look again at the crisscrossing stone coffins and rock platforms that formed the downward path.

Having already learned from their previous experience, the group jumped straight up from their spot and landed in the center of the cave.

They passed through the hazy purple smoke and encountered more massive sarcophagi deeper into the ground as they descended.

A tranquil atmosphere filled the entire cave.

Finally, they passed through a crevice in the ground during their descent before landing on the ground.

There was a 'splat' sound when they landed, which was the sound of everyone's feet stepping on the wet ground.

They initially thought this was all wet mud from underground. But then they realized it wasn't soil at all, but rather what was called 'melted mud'!
After being repeatedly destroyed, the living body was unable to die and eventually turned into something resembling flowing mud.

Dark purple water lilies bloomed in this 'mud pool', constantly spreading purple mist in the surrounding area.

At a glance, it is clear that this is the 'Purple Velvet Garden' mentioned in the previous suggestion.

"hiss!"

"Meow?"

"Whoosh!"

The winged snake on Messermo's body was originally coiled obediently around his legs, but just as it moved its body downwards, its entire body suddenly tensed up.

At the same time, the velvet ball and the unicorn also cried out in surprise.

All eyes were focused on the distance.

The molten mud on the ground began to flow and eventually rose up in a place where flowers were abundant, and gathered to form a strange knight.

The knight was made entirely of silvery molten mud, as was the warhorse he rode.

The knight was quite large, with the physique of a tree guardian, but his body proportions appeared round and plump.

Holding a large, crescent-shaped guillotine, a pair of light spots moved erratically on its round, fluid head, appearing to be its eyes.

It seemed to be the guardian of this garden, and immediately appeared to prepare for battle after sensing that someone had stepped onto the garden's grounds.

The silvery molten mud on its body churned and surged, looking as if it were about to erupt.

But just as Lann had placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and Messermo slowly raised his spear, the Witcher's eyes suddenly narrowed.

He saw the two points of light on the head of the Mud Knight and suddenly looked into the void beside him.

Previously, although the light spots on its head were moving with the flow of the molten mud, they were still keeping the intruder in sight. This sudden change was quite unexpected.

This reminded Lan En of the similar actions he had taken in the eyes of others yesterday.

This caused Lan En to loosen his grip on the hilt of the knife, and he also raised his hand to stop Messermo, who had already raised the tip of his spear.

He walked straight ahead, and sure enough, the Molten Knight, whose eyes had turned back to him, only looked down at the Witcher who had walked up to him, and the others behind him.

Then, amidst the surging of the melting mud, it gently retreated until it reached the cluster of flowers that had just gathered there.

It gently parted the flowers, revealing a hole behind them.

Although everyone was still looking at it with hesitation, Lan En had already taken the lead and walked in first.

Once inside, they discovered that the cave was not very large, only about thirty meters deep.

However, along the way, squirrels, goats, and even dragonflies and eagles were all sleeping peacefully.

A dark purple, viscous liquid flowed on the ground, and the fragrance of flowers in the air was so sweet it was almost cloying.

Torina was at the end of the cave.

This was the first time Lan En had seen her in the real material world.

(End of this chapter)