Chapter 551: Chapter 279: Serpent Eyes, Husk, "I"_2
He needed to bring the longsword back.
Whether it’s a hundred gold or a thousand, it doesn’t matter. As long as it can be repaired, he would be willing to clear out his bank account as a cost.
Xia Nan might sometimes be particularly sensitive to numbers when it comes to money, but compared to the contributions the Beheading Longsword had made for him, these gold coins were indeed just numbers.
And if there was really no possibility of repair, he wouldn’t leave the Beheading Longsword alone in the junk pile in the corner of the blacksmith shop, or on a grocery store shelf.
He hoped to give his old companion a dignified end.
It’s just a pity that the [Snake Scale Arm Shield] wasn’t by his side, otherwise, with its 300% corrosion damage resistance bonus, the current situation might not have come to this.
Xia Nan shook his head lightly, stopped thinking.
Settling his emotions, he ignored the other corpses scattered on the ground around him and turned to walk toward the altar.
His pitch-black eyes reflected the dark grey magic staff embedded with an orange-red gemstone at the top, emitting a luster like the afterglow of embers.
He just hoped that this time’s gain could make up for the cost he bore.
As he moved forward, Xia Nan concentrated, wary of the possible traps around, carefully approaching the altar.
But just like his previous experiences in the secret realm, there was no sign at all.
Just when his right foot touched the ground, and his left foot lifted slightly to get closer and trigger the attribute panel to check the staff’s information.
Very abruptly, as if stepping into a void, his body’s center of gravity bizarrely lost balance.
As the scenery around him changed rapidly as if time were passing swiftly, he fell backward, his view shifting from the magic staff at the base of the altar, up to the indistinct face of the goddess statue behind it.
Still maintaining her previous gesture of holding one hand up, pleading pitifully, but the details lost to time, wrangled back onto its surface like time reversal.
The fine cracks and mottled marks on the surface of the body disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the previously dull stone material seemed to be polished by an invisible power, gradually revealing its milky white marble color;
Carved in stone, the solidified veil was like mist, the pleats clear, the textures distinct, the edges thin as if they could let light through.
And most crucially, the features of the statue, once smoothed over by stone dust, finally revealed their original appearance:
Graceful and serene, the features were not exquisite, but pieced together they give off a sense of innate harmony; the gaze was downcast and merciful, as if sympathizing with the suffering encountered by the world’s creatures.
Xia Nan did not have time to observe closely or think more.
Because just as his vision rose with the change of time, from the goddess’s pointed foot touching the pedestal, to the rounded contours beneath the billowing skirt, to the slender waist, finally reaching the clear and delicate collarbone, and then meeting the face of the goddess.
And locked eyes with those mercifully downcast, bright yellow slitted serpent eyes.
His thoughts completely stagnated.
"Sir, are you... sure?"
A strange male voice resonating within his skull awakened Xia Nan’s consciousness from dimness.
"I"... am talking?
He was astonished, yet found himself eerily unable to control his body.
With a small reaction, he realized that he seemed to have entered a place similar to the previous secret realm experienced in the [Dream Weaving Corridor].
In a first-person perspective, he became some NPC in the story.
But unlike before, this time he had an independent consciousness separate from the role itself, although unable to move, he had the ability to think in real-time.
Struggling slightly, he sensed that it seemed impossible to escape in a short time.
He then continued observing the surroundings through the perspective of the character he was "possessed" by.
Extremely familiar yet indescribably so.
The towering dome seemed like a stone sky, converging upwards with unimaginable curvature, casting a beam of what felt like the purest and cleanest energy in the world down, falling onto the clean cheek of the goddess statue.
The serpent eyes still regarded all worldly things with sacred and merciful gaze;
And behind her was a massive, elaborate stained glass window occupying the entire high wall, appearing ablaze under the bright light.
Blue, purple, gold, red... countless colors burst forth after refraction, converging into a sacred white that cascaded upon the statue, merging with the beam above it, causing an intensely gentle, yet unbearably glorious light to emanate from its surface.
As if truly a deity stepped from endless light to descend upon the mortal world.
Rows of stones, elongated halls, reliefs, arches, and lamp niches...
The familiar scenes before his eyes exposed the magnificent yet majestic place as the vast, empty church where Xia Nan had just slain mummies;
Conjured by the glimpse of time reversing captured by the corner of his eye earlier, he pondered that perhaps he was currently in a parallel world, many years or another world ago, at the original site of an intact and unblemished church that had yet to be abandoned?
While thoughts flowed, Xia Nan’s gaze, along with the body he resided in, turned to the slim, humble figure kneeling and praying beneath the front of the goddess statue.
Hmm... that priest robe looked especially familiar.
"You finally arrived." The ancient and frail voice reverberated through the vast church.
"The fire is dying, the world is about to plunge into boundless cold and darkness."
"Take it!" The thin body trembled violently, and the tone abruptly became fierce.
The priest practically crawled, struggling to rise from the pristine floor tiles.
Held in his hand was the equally familiar, dark grey magic staff adorned with an orange-red Crystal Stone at the top.
"Inside... is the last ’seed’, take it away!"
The crystal shimmered with a luster like the last embers of ashen wood.
The priest’s voice rose abruptly, as if something within was about to rend and emerge.
"Leave this place, head for the royal city, there lies the last kindling."
"And... kill me, while this shell may still be called ’human’."
"I" remained silent, Xia Nan could feel the increasingly slow breath of the body and the gaze it fixed upon the elder’s face ahead.
A heavy and solid metallic arm armor, engraved with some unknown intricate patterns, rose from the front to extend behind.
Amidst the harsh abrasive sound of metal grinding, a sharp cold gleam flickered unpredictably in the air.
"I" drew the giant sword from my back.
In the opaque eyes of the priest before me, now vaguely converging towards a serpent’s eyes, a hint of liberating light flickered.
He closed his eyes, praying to the goddess behind him, welcoming the embrace of demise.
"I" acted swiftly and efficiently, not letting the priest feel an ounce of superfluous pain.
The left leg suddenly thrust forward, the giant sword howled past, tracing a huge arc of gleaming light in the air.
The elder head, boosted by the gushing blood, flew high into the air.
And at the same time, the mighty blade that freed the priest from pain swung its trajectory, shifting from a horizontal slash to a diagonal strike, severing the priest’s arm, the one holding the staff.
It seemed that "I" had an exceptional mastery of swordsmanship, as throughout the process, apart from the blade not a single inch of the priest’s flesh was touched, and none of the blood spurting from the wounds splattered a drop.
"Clang."
The iron gloves, gleaming with metallic coldness, followed suit, clenching onto the spinning and falling magic staff that had soared aloft with the severed arm.
In silence, the air was filled only with the noisy sound of blood pumping and flowing.
"I" coldly glanced at the ground before me, the priest’s body rendered headless, with only one arm left.
Turning after sheathing the sword, heading for the church’s grand entrance.
Behind, the priest’s frail, blood-drained body lay quietly in a pool of blood, with the head and left arm lying on either side of him on the ground.
In a soft, holy light spilling down from high above, descending onto his flesh and blood drenching the ground on which he lay.
The statue stood.
Its yellow serpent eyes, mercifully gazing at the priest’s remains below.