Ark Undead

He opened his eyes.

"Um..."

The voice appeared directly in her mind, and the shrine maiden frowned instantly upon realizing this.

An extraordinary person has arrived.

"I want to know why my people are weeping."

The voice echoed in the priestess's mind, but it wasn't speaking to her.

Instead, he was communicating with two pardoners.

The two pardoners immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling all over.

This is the purest and most concentrated abyssal aura; they can sense the king's incomprehension and anger within it.

If they cannot provide a satisfactory answer to the king, they will surely be plunged into the abyss of the world in such anger.

"Your Majesty! @!%...JPY% is Agor. We met you at the World Barrier...we should have been your allies..."

"Oh?"

The voice sounded somewhat surprised.

In the crack in mid-air, the deep black rift seemed to have taken on a physical form, and gazes were born within it.

The shrine maiden felt her body being scanned, and then a gaze that seemed to be real focused on her.

"Ah."

The priestess then heard a low murmur of interest.

Then, from that dark opening, a profound and tangible abyss flowed down from nowhere.

The dark aura fell to the ground, gathering on countless broken corpses and solidifying into a human-shaped phantom.

"Such a dense abyssal aura... You should have been our companion, why do you stand in front of the flames, preventing the abyss from spreading?"

The phantom was not clearly visible; one could only vaguely make out its full head of white hair and its body shrouded in a black robe.

And the lush red light in his eyes.

The priestess lowered her raised right hand and placed it calmly in front of her chest.

Ignore it.

The phantom seemed to be enraged by the witch's contemptuous behavior.

He hummed softly, "Doctor," and from the abyss in the sky, thick black fog spread out, surging towards the witch like a ferocious beast.

The priestess remained unmoved, unharmed even as the black mist tore at her.

Even as the black mist gradually dissipated, it didn't vanish into the air, but was gradually absorbed into her body.

The phantom then became serious.

“I am a servant of the abyss, a king blessed by the gods of the deep sea. My name in this cage, you may call me Theresis.”

"Traitor of the Abyss, why won't you tell me your name?"

Upon hearing the name, perhaps because she vaguely remembered it, the shrine maiden finally showed some interest.

She observed the illusory figure with great curiosity.

Only then did he speak.

"It's just an empty shell, devoid of substance. It's not even half as good as my foolish apprentice. How could it possibly be favored by those who rule the abyss?"

"The descendants of the great serpent are truly blind."

Her voice seemed to possess a magical quality; her calm demeanor held a captivating allure.

This is the origin of her suffering, which she cannot escape, and it is also the essence that has shaped her to this day.

"My name is Karula."

"Like that old man, he's nothing more than a prisoner of the flames."

462. The Man Who Explores the Flame - Komikus

Karula.

This name may not be famous during the Age of Fire, but anyone who has heard of it knows its meaning.

Child of the Abyss, Fragment of the Abyss, Successor of Manus.

Any one of those pronouns is enough to make people cover their faces and stay away.

After Manus, the Lord of the Abyss, created the Abyss and was defeated by the Nameless Undead, the Dark Soul, one of the four Lord Souls that Manus found, shattered into countless fragments with his death.

These fragments flowed into the bodies of his kind, and from that moment on, this power from the Dark Soul has resided forever within the dwarf race.

Whether it was out of fear of the power of the Dark Soul, or to prevent the Abyss from erupting throughout the world.

Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, built the Ringed City at the edge of the world and bestowed it upon the dwarven kings as a gift, intending to imprison the Dark Soul there.

But how can a simple city seal away the darkness in people's hearts?

The fate of Manus was sealed the moment he died.

Not all dark souls gather on dwarves.

Among them, several fragments of the Dark Soul, still retaining some remnants of consciousness, transformed autonomously into human form without being tainted by any physical body.

This means that these humans, born from the Dark Soul itself, are the original Children of the Abyss.

The children of the abyss will follow the strong because of their innate thirst for power.

Karula was one of the original Children of the Abyss.

However, as the original child of the abyss, Karula does not seem to have succumbed to her instincts like the other children of the abyss, circling around the strong to absorb their power or bring destruction.

After years of travel, she came to understand her fate and felt extreme hatred and disgust for it.

This witch exiled herself, refusing to associate with others, regarding herself as a heretic and deformed being, and leaving her body to languish in filth.

But fate sometimes plays such cruel jokes.

An ashes, whom she considered of little value, found her and sought her help.

She still chose to follow the man who was willing to lend her a helping hand in the darkness.

This taciturn, emotionless, yet constantly striving to explore the depths and learn dark arts and even abyssal magic, is what she calls an undead.

A clumsy apprentice.

Therefore, even though the Abyss has long since changed hands, new gods or kings have been born in the Deep Sea Era.

Karula remains the predecessor of all the Abyss creations of this era.

How could this man named Therese be qualified to sit on equal footing with her, or even to ask her name directly?

Therese immersed herself in her thoughts, trying to find an impression of Carla in her memory, but there was no trace of her.

This only made Theresis more interested.

“A child of the abyss who has never appeared in my memory.”

Therese frowned and asked.

"And why did you betray the Abyss? Were you bewitched by the flames?"

Therese didn't seem to have any intention of having a proper conversation with Carula. He simply asked a couple of questions and then answered himself.

"Never mind, it's not important."

The flames behind Karula said it all.

Regardless of which side Karula is on, her standing in front of the First Flame is the clearest answer to Theresis's question.

"It's getting late."

Therese looked away from Carula.

He didn't have much time before his consciousness descended to this place.

He was merely assessing the situation and conveying his own will.

"Isamara, stop watching from up there. Our deal was made under the witness of the gods."

As soon as Theresis finished speaking, the two pardoners and Karula heard a muffled sound that they couldn't understand at all.

Karula turned around abruptly and noticed that something like a shadow was beginning to boil on the surface of the wedge-shaped stone.

Then, from the surface of those countless eyes, a distorted face emerged.

The face spoke somewhat awkwardly.

But this time, it wasn't those languages ​​whose meaning was incomprehensible.

"A deal cannot be abandoned. But I must wait."

It's hard to imagine that Hai Si, born in darkness, has now learned human language.

Even though its speech is still a bit awkward, there is no doubt that it can already communicate with people.

Therese looked up at that face.

“Your dream is shattered, and I’ve given you the time I promised. If you continue to stand idly by, I can’t guarantee what the consequences will be.”

"Let me remind you, the Black Serpent is dead, and the murderer who killed him is on his way here. If you want to end up like the Black Serpent, then keep delaying. But my pardoners won't be here to die with you."

Isamara became restless. Its body, which was attached to the world barrier wedge, twisted for a moment, and then slowly coalesced into the shape of a creature, rising from its muddy body that had no solid form.

"The flames are approaching. But I must wait."

This time, Isamara finally gave her reason.

In the shadow of the wedge-shaped rock, a group of sea creatures slowly crawled out.

Surrounded by Hai Si was a figure with a full head of silver hair.

Her eyes had lost their luster and liveliness. Standing among the sea creatures, her body was tightly bound by tentacles that resembled ropes.

Behind those tentacles, a slender, long tissue was suspended high, connecting to the body of the swarm leader clinging to the surface of the wedge-shaped stone.