A journey of Shadowverse and Honkai Impact 3rd

The spirit penetrates from the top of the head and entwines the white bones like a spirit snake, making the deceased maintain a strange body shape. Calling them prisoners makes them more sacred, calling them saints makes them more painful.

Each of the tall skeletons was taller than ten meters. They stood in the sky, their empty eye sockets gazing dimly at every living being on the ground. The sense of being watched was unmistakable, and people suddenly had the terrifying thought that the skeletons were still alive.

"????"

The shaman came to the center of the hall, put his hands together and chanted obscure spells, while the gray snake translated the parts he knew to the raven in such a solemn atmosphere.

"He prayed to the spirits of his ancestors to cast their gaze here and guide the deceased. He also offered soul incense made by the Yin God."

"It sounds like primitive ancestor worship. Did their ancestors all hang giants in the air like this?"

Raven smiled brightly. She didn't know why, but in such a situation, she could still keep a calm mind, fearless and unconcerned, saying whatever she wanted to say.

"Hush, they're coming."

The gray snake did not answer the raven's words. After a hiss, he stopped talking and, at the command of the shaman who turned around, placed the raven on the ground in front of them.

Raven, still in a peaceful mood, finished looking into the eye sockets of a giant skeleton. At that moment, she didn't understand what was going on, and she saw a tall spirit flying down from the distant sky with a clear and spiritual aura all over its body, and a rough and passionate drum music came into her ears.

The roar of people, the roar of thunder, and the rumbling of drums shook the flesh and blood of the living and the dead, stirred up an unyielding courage, and ignited the sacred fireworks.

The fireworks burned the raven, and also burned the flesh, blood, machinery, and crystal corpses that were torn apart by the dagger and thrown into it, burning all the unclean things completely and offering them to the ancestral spirits far away in heaven.

At this point, the sacrificial ceremony was completed. When the shaman confirmed that all the evil things had been taken away, he nodded with satisfaction and took the divine key with restrained brilliance from the gray snake's hand.

"???"

"He said that this instrument was suitable for a great sacrifice, and perhaps the gods would be willing to open the gate to the heavens for it."

The refreshed raven heard the gray snake's deep voice, and felt horrified that he had no choice but to come here.

An invisible force controls people's minds and silently causes the cadres of the World Snake to fall without their knowledge.

The gray snake and the shaman's gazes fell silently upon him, and the raven, having recovered, shuddered.

243. Myth

Leaving the temple, walking out of the area filled with ethereal and solemn atmosphere, and heading towards a corner of the village under the watchful eyes of the shaman and his servants.

That was the temporary residence that Gray Snake had obtained here. It was not big, but it was enough to accommodate two people and give them a moment of peace.

After stepping over the open threshold and closing the metal door, only the natural crystal clusters were left for lighting, and the temporary residence was immediately shrouded in a desolate atmosphere.

The ordinary room, with its rigid furniture made of iron frames, was not comfortable at all for people, but at least, after being away from the strange temple and the weird natives, Raven felt that he had real freedom.

“There’s something wrong with this place!”

Raven expressed her own judgment. Even if she was in a good condition now, it would be difficult for her to repay the kindness of the indigenous people who rescued her. She never wanted to experience the terrifying feeling of having her soul silently dominated a second time.

"Please be patient--"

Gray Snake's tone remained calm, and at the same time, an inexplicable mysterious aura surrounded him, which made Raven recall the Gray Snake's quick and decisive action of handing over the Third God's Key in the temple.

Is this gray snake who entered before me still trustworthy? If the methods used by the natives can influence him, has he become a slave of the natives?

The horror brought by careful thinking is endless. As a joke goes, if you use a search engine to consult about your illness on the Internet, then no matter whether it is a serious illness or a minor one, you will most likely get the conclusion that you will die.

"Of course I know there's something wrong with this place, but how can we leave it on our own? I also feel for what happened to you, Raven."

"But Raven, you should also know one fact." Gray Snake's voice suddenly became heavy, like a hammer falling, firmly emphasizing a fact that gave people confidence. "The human mind is not that fragile."

"But their methods are not that simple." Raven retorted like a nitpicker, but at this time, she also calmed down and stopped thinking divergently and associating various horrific facts.

I hope the indigenous people's methods are limited to what I've experienced...

Raven herself was a little skeptical about her own comforting thoughts, because in the temple, when facing the skeleton of a giant over ten meters tall, she had briefly come into contact with a world standing high in the sky.

Pure, holy, and sublime, the so-called high sky does not refer to the sky in the physical sense, but is more like the concept of paradise, distant but real. The tip of the iceberg glimpsed at a glance is already full of power.

"To draw upon the power of the deity they are worshipping, they also need to pay a certain price, or at least they can't always use it."

Seeing that Raven had calmed down, Gray Snake, having achieved his goal, began to conduct a real analysis. Based on the intelligence at hand, he had reason to believe that the indigenous people here possessed some means to take them away, and this means required communication with the gods.

"According to the information I've gathered these days, the indigenous people have a unique understanding of the world and a history that is unique to them."

"Their civilization originated from a grassland where water flows and spirits surge. The spirits here could be some kind of substance or some kind of living being. In short, they discovered methods of communicating with spirits over a long period of life and summarized them."

"And starting from a certain generation, their ancestors would be elevated into a spirit after death. At the same time, in the evolving rituals, the indigenous people also acquired their myths."

Having said that, the gray snake asked the raven.

"Are you interested in listening? It's a very interesting myth for us all."

Sitting on a simple chair made of iron frame, Raven's rosy red eyes stared at the gray snake that asked her questions. Her eyes inexplicably had the coldness unique to a killer. After a while, she nodded silently.

"A calamity from outer space suddenly struck, destroying the pristine earth. Abominable filth began to spread, a manifestation of the calamity that left humans helpless."

This is an unremarkable beginning, but if it is associated with the collapse, it is surprisingly consistent with the beginning of the disaster in the previous era.

Although Raven did not understand the entire situation of the previous era, he knew that the beginning of the Great Collapse was the landing of meteorites, and then the Collapse energy and the Collapse beasts appeared one after another.

"The gods on earth recognized his identity as a foreign god from beyond the stars, and thus a war broke out between gods."

"The heroes took up the weapons bestowed by God, slashed the aliens along the way, and burned all the filth, but in the end they were no match for the betrayer and the alien god himself."

"Finally, the world fell, but before it fell, the gods left the seeds of their revenge on the devastated land."

This very interesting myth was told in just a few words, and the gray snake also added a detail that the raven did not know.

"This story was told to the indigenous people by the spirits of their deceased ancestors. The so-called seeds of revenge may refer to something else."

"..."

The raven digested the story told by the gray snake. To her, it was probably just an insignificant secret passed down from word of mouth. So, after listening, she asked the gray snake the key question.

"So, how do we get out of here?"

"I've translated it for you. Raven is what the natives call a great sacrifice."

"A large-scale sacrifice?"

"Indeed, and I'm afraid the Third God's Key is the main sacrifice. According to the shaman, the gods might be willing to open the gates of heaven for this."

"Tsk." Raven, who was sitting on the chair, made an unhappy sound. This feeling of being led by the nose made her particularly uncomfortable. There was no straightforwardness at all, but only endless mystery. You know, she was not a good-tempered scholar.

"So when does the grand ceremony begin?"

"Waiting for their notification, or rather, waiting for their notification."

The cold light of the crystal cluster illuminated the small room, and the gray snake's meaningful words echoed in it. Once the fact that the dead controlled the living was revealed, she felt that it was time to have a good rest.

He was in high spirits and not sleepy at all. Although his body had adapted to the extremely low Honkai energy, and his strength had been weakened, he was not exhausted to the point of being unbearable. It was just that Raven was so worried that he wanted to give up.

"By the way, maybe you should pay attention to what you have on you. Walking through the fire won't be a complete loss."

Upon hearing this, Raven carefully checked the weapons on his body, including the dagger, and everything seemed to have an indescribable charm at this moment.

She couldn't describe what the feeling was, but it was subtle, somewhat similar to the aura of the ancestral spirits, clear and transparent, like clear water or mountain mist.

244. Halftime

Gray Snake and Raven began to rest. The meaningless dream scene no longer had any interest. In the large workshop, the light and shadow temporarily stopped.

The popcorn bucket in the girl's arms felt much lighter, and the empty bucket showed her extraordinary stomach capacity. To be honest, after watching for a few hours, what Xilin gained the most was the idea that Sera seemed to be playing a big game.

"Sacrifice? Is there some kind of magic involved here?"

"And isn't that Gray Snake right next to us? Sera, why did you send another actor up there?"

Curious baby Xilin began to ask questions, while the gray snake involved in the incident remained silent. He knew that after such a performance, he probably had no way to return to the world snake.

I'm afraid that the replica will take my place and blend into the World Serpent, inheriting everything from me. I never thought that Miss Sera's skills are so advanced.

"Magic? That's not it." Sera patiently explained this primitive and barbaric ritual to Xilin. "This is essentially a way to communicate with spirits. If you break it down, it's a primitive 'constraint' and 'contract'..."

Xilin showed a well-behaved expression. It was not that she was listening very carefully, but that she had made a summary. This expression allowed Sera to finish a story quickly without any pause, so as not to torture her brain for too long.

As she was talking, Sera talked about the replica actor who replaced Gray Snake. From what she could see so far, he had a soul and was acting just right, and had gained Raven's trust.

Afterwards, according to the principle of the gray snakes' mental network, he will contact other gray snakes and build a local area network, allowing the play to enter the next stage and achieve an ending that satisfies both parties.

"Although we have some understanding of the World Serpent, we are still completely in the dark about its specific movements, so I want to take this opportunity to plant a nail in the ground."

"As one of our own creations, and under the corresponding contractual constraints, he can act as our eyes outside, gaining access to most of the intelligence through the Gray Snake Network."

Xilin showed a look of understanding, then stood up and temporarily left her seat, and went to the kitchen to find more snacks to get through the rest of the movie.

Looking around at the silent gray snake and the girl holding the imaginary storybook, Mistellin got down from her seat and approached Sera curiously, but found that the storybook was blank, like a book without words, and she really couldn't make out any mystery. Then she put aside her adult status and asked the child in her eyes.

"Sera, are you dreaming like this?"

"Yeah, why, do you think it has some similarities with your abilities?"

There was a smug look on her cute face, and Sera, sitting on a high seat to make up for the height difference, smiled and replied.

"Yes, it's a pity that I've never met you before. Otherwise, it wouldn't be bad to have a young and lovely sister."

After teasing Sera and narrowing the distance between them, Mistlin revealed her true colors and talked about the background setting presented in the storybook.

"By the way, is this story something that happened in history, or is it just something you compiled on the spur of the moment, Sera?"

The gray snake calmed himself down. Although he did not have ears in his body structure, he still "listened attentively" and pretended not to pay attention to collect information.

"Hmm~"

The elusive smile concealed a sense of mystery that seemed real and unreal. The smiling girl looked at Misterine and Gray Snake, who were obviously overthinking it, and the aura of the Riddler was clearly rising from her body.

"Who knows? If you insist on saying that this story has something to do with Homeland, then you could say that there is some connection."

It is better to listen to your words than to listen to your words.

Misterlin's pretty face was still beautiful, but there was an imperceptible black line on her forehead. Her curiosity was not satisfied, so she maintained a very gentle smile, but she could not break Sera's blockade of the truth. She had no choice but to surrender and admit the fact that Sera would not be soft-hearted or hard-hearted.

"Yktrasil."

When Mistlin turned around and returned to her seat, Sera said the name of a god, and the knowledgeable gray snake explained the meaning behind this name.

"The World Tree in Norse mythology, a magnificent creature whose gigantic branches form the entire world."

"That's true, but Tree Mother has nothing to do with Norse mythology."

Having said this, Sera's Riddler-like temperament was fully revealed. It seemed like she said something, but she said nothing at all. She smiled and blinked, and her playful performance made others laugh.

"Never mind. I'll know it when I'm supposed to. But, Sera, what will be my fate in this play of yours?"

Misterlin sat back in her seat gracefully, then naturally took the bucket of snacks from Xilin's hand, with a smiling look that hinted at kindness.

I think, even if she can't make it, she doesn't want to end up in a bad way.

"What do you think, Xilin?" Sera threw the ball to Xilin.

"Ah? I saw it with my eyes." Xilin pretended to be stupid and stunned for a moment, but it must be said that it was very realistic, and the confrontation ended here.

Talking and laughing, eating and drinking, the day outside turned into night in a blink of an eye, and correspondingly, the story of the second chapter in the storybook began to unfold.

After a period of rest, Gray Snake and Raven both recovered. However, upon waking up, Raven frowned at the food.

A mushy food, paired with a cup of slightly sweet water, steaming and faintly fragrant, reminds one of the clean cuisine of a certain country.

"Eat it. This is the best food I can find here."

Gray Snake said calmly that as a bionic man, he did not need to eat food and could survive for a long time by occasionally replenishing some clean water and energy. He was holding the raven's bowl quietly, and his cold eyes did not contain any other meaning.

"..."

Raven started eating with helplessness. With a raised eyebrow, she suddenly realized that the taste was quite good. It was not unrelated to the appearance, but it was far from it. It was like gold in a rotten wooden box.

Boom, boom, boom.

Woo, woo, woo.

Suddenly, two long sounds echoed in the atmosphere, penetrated the house, and attracted the attention of the two men.

As the iron gate opened, a tall humanoid machine emitting a faint blue light appeared in front of them.

"???"

The head covered by the helmet made a sound and cast a glance, and then it was Gray Snake's translator.

"He said that the grand ceremony was about to begin and asked us to participate."