Thar was over the introductions and talking that he considered fitting. It was about what he wanted, even though he viewed both of the souls before him with some interest. Be it Lisa, whom he knew from the past, or Murai who he regarded as an interesting subject because of his own context. But a separate and unexpected purpose was etched into his soul, and it wasn't what his mind wanted.
It was giving him no choice but to be a lap dog, and act in a way that went his way, so he could continue serving the world.
It was no longer his Will to turn away from these forced responsibilities, as he was no longer someone who could afford it.
“Let this temple be your playground, little friends,” Thar said at last, turning his face away from them to face his mount and the temple.
Back on his mount, he caught the reins and swayed them to the side of the horse, gesturing it to go back where both of them belonged. That was to go all the way back to the army of undead that was lurking around Thar's proximity. They waited, desiring something, yet they remained unmoving throughout this exchange that was outside of them like desiring the suns above their heads.
It was their boss's place to shine, and some of them realized their choice was already gone, and none gained any sense of a blessing. 4 Waves failed just like that, and Murai got through one of the toughest Welcoming Parties a 1st timer can meet.
Thar moved into his purpose, arriving all the way back where he faced the mountains where hills made of sandstone and many rocky hills hid something mindboggling. It wasn't looking like anything more than a natural structure that one would see in the tougher kind of mountainous deserts. He ended up halting his horse 10 meters before this large mountain, that was like a spike in the middle of nowhere. He pulled his right hand up so his bony palm faced the mountain, seeking nothing but confirmation and a successful Welcoming Party.
After some brief hiatus, Temple will get a brief time of adventurous Challenger in their Gates and it won't be a normal time for sure.
It won't be like the few last ones, but it sure won't be anything normal since Anatidae will once more travel through the Gates. Many extraordinary visitors it had will turn into enemies, treasures, and opportunities.
This will be fun, Thar reckoned. And also an incredible mess, but that wasn't his problem.
Thar's palm had a dark symbol of a revolving circle, with an eye in the middle. Etched to his bones, the symbol, and the circle seemed part of his bones, rather than drawn by runic quills, colored with a brush, or stomped there by a forceful seal. Though this was forced upon him, he knew what this was down to his bones.
The eye glowed the moment he put it in the air, eyeing the mountain with clarity of light. Then, Thar recited some incantations, voicing something in an unnatural language that was of demonic origin. Mana flared around his hand, while the eye let out a much brighter light that flashed at the whole mountain. That went on for 10 seconds until the mountain and the earth itself shook, as if an army of giants advanced forth.
Dust and sand winced on the ground, rocks fell from the hills, and an unknown amount of mass of sandstones began to move. The hundreds of meters tall mountain became alive, moving but not collapsing on itself. Stones, as big as 30 meters long and many meters wide and tall moved on their own as if a god's hand moved them aside, or like a wavering piece of a tree's branch in the wind.
It revealed an entrance to a rough-looking temple that seemed ancient beyond measure. It was right there in the very middle of the mountain, resting in a crevice, but noticeable after this brief seal removal.
It was a deep entrance right before Thar, along with a vision of a true temple.
Sandstone and whiteish-marbled stone were the main components of its structure. They were looking old, cracked, and dusted in ages of unknown past. By itself, the temple didn't resemble one, since the mountain hugged it close, revealing the entrance alone. About a dozen pillars 15 meters in height supported the rectangular blocks of large marbled stones, creating architecture of old age and supporting the ceiling or mountain beyond.
The entrance itself held various feelings, but one thing was clear even from afar. It was dark like an entrance to the abyss, or crack to earth so deep, the light wouldn't see the very bottom. The openings between the pillars were deep, heading inside the mountain to unknown distances.
It almost seemed carved into it, but it was obvious that the outside mountain wasn't part of this temple. Someone moved or created this mountain here, hiding the temple, or it was like this by some other factors.
Murai and Lisa saw how it all happened from their previous location, not walking forth as Thar did. They waited, albeit Murai was the only one curious about what will happen next. He expected something curious, and he got exactly that.
A rather intriguing entrance indeed, he figured. It was hidden well behind the formations and seals that stemmed from this Death Valley and magic alike. The ridiculous flare of mana kept these mountains in check, while the temple itself hid underneath for various purposes and reasons. It wasn't usually fitting for this place to be hidden, so the maker or current possessor of this temple must have some reasons for this.
There was a certain aura of earth, and death throughout everything when the mountain moved and Thar acted.
Thar himself was able to open a seal of a lawful passage hidden by extreme measures.
It was peculiar, like the entrances to the many dungeons, and exactly like Lisa remembered. It was cautious, and hidden like a secret vault. No Extreme will ever be able to push their Will to this location for this entrance alone. Only Gods would do something about it, but in most cases, unless a Divine War was night, it will never happen.
It was at this point, that Murai eyed this void with excitement, feeling that the sense of adventure was returning to his rightful choice. Any damaged muscles or bones or empty core can go out of his mind. Though, it stopped in a brief moment when he felt something he hadn't since the time Ceila held him like a toy.
A weird-sounding and rough grinding voice came from the Will of the Battleworld and washed over his soul. It didn't happen for quite some time, and strangely enough, Lisa winced her head to look at Murai, expecting something interesting to happen. It was what she wanted to hear a lot more than she was willing to admit.
It has been a long arduous journey to this place, yet the 1st Part of the Encounter was still going on. This upcoming Will will prove to be Lisa's main reason for coming here, so she pulled much more of her attention to this than Murai did.
[Admission of a Breach, Tasks, Encounter, possibilities...]
[A certain aftereffect of the rulers relinquished]
[Variables of the undetermined values found]
[Partial Breach reached]
[The Encounter of high grade is long upon you, dear Citizen, making the rules prone to work with carefulness, harshness, and reasons set up by the Rules of the Ruler and the Encounter's high-grade clause]
[You have experienced battles of your living, yet the rewards and everything are due towards the successful part of the Encounter. It has been part of it, yet the Rules stating the Halting Effects of the Boosts, and Blessings are there to provide a high stake challenge. It is what an Encounter is, was, and always will be]
[By the degree of Rule 13 ~ Effect X92 ~ the situation of the 2 Major Influences created a Partial Breach. Reasons and undetermined factors created a variable in terms of possible Rules and reasons around Will of the Battleworld and Temple's Mindarch]
[Changes had to be re-calculated and Rules changed]
[What lies before you is a challenging factor of godly touches, overwhelming and fundamentally acting outside of the Encounter, allowing certain Rules to be briefly forfeited, and halted]
[You have entered the Domain of the Levandis. A Rank 1 Demonic God of one particular Hell Haven. She is a Demoness of the Devil family of Lurr. She reached the Godhood under devilish Pathway, and Divide of Chaos, becoming entangled with the Madness of the Chaos, which is deeper than the underworld that never even exists]
[She forced the Sungod's Illuvitar to submission, becoming something of a god herself, yet with a different reason, care, and Will]
[She stated her wishes, willing to forge the Tablets and Sungod's Domain toward her opportunity, instead of worshipping and respecting a fallen god]
[By the definition of the variables, the Levandis's Domain is vast and affects even Battleworld rules by the degree of Hell Heavens and Temple's Mindarch]
[Named Levandis Temple, it is a Grade SSS Influential Trial that is under partial rules of the Battleworld, but not to the fundamental degree. It is part of the Hell Haven, directly under Levandis herself]
[Level of potential difficulty and threats- Above Extreme]
[Variable threshold of your living will be prone to balancing overlook from the Mindarch itself. Proceed inside to discover the various benefits, variables, opportunities, and changes in the upcoming reaches into the Temple]
[Your difficulty - Unknown]
[Potency of the rewards - Unknown]
[You have proved yourself worthy to try your sake in this Temple by overcoming the Welcoming Party]
[There are 10 Gates onto the abyss of the Levandis Temple. Each is more intricate and difficult than the last, forming unique tasks, missions, rules, and options for completion. Each Gate has opportunities to gain, and rewards to seek. Paths may be difficult, proving different rewards with interesting pathways that the may challenger may choose. Each successful Gate will grand a unique chance to Vault the past, forming goods to be taken straight out of Levandis's hands]
[Think carefully, as the choices of this temple aren't finite. One could enter the Temple every 3 years. That is the limit set by its inner rules, while every chance will come up with a distinct upwards trend of higher difficulty, changes in rules, and threshold of rewards]
[Because of the specific circumstances of the Levandis Temple, certain Rules of the Encounter went behind Rule 1. A certain undergoing variable was briefly overlooking other rules, and the case of the Encoutner]
[Rules halted by 90%]
[Encounter still prevails, but certain effects aren't. Levandis Temple is a unique place, overcoming the Encounter by giving your potential reward from the Will of this World. They are there to make a difference for your little living, as the difficulty is higher than the Encounter by a large margin]
[Variabe found]
[Partial Breach understood]
[The prose and understanding behind the Encounter are still ongoing, making the force of the Encounter still apparent. Their prose still prevails, and a time limit is still ticking by. Foes from the other side are not stopping because of the halt of your side, as the rules are flexible for the other side as well. Be careful of your choices, and the dangers of the Demonic Paths, Undead Paths, others, and Encounter]
[Rewards are subjective to your choices, luck, fights, and your own challenges in the Levandis Temple which is home to many opportunities and riches]
[Good luck]
The Will of the Battleworld then stopped, allowing Murai to catch a brief breath to think of what he just heard. He had his worries, but a lot of words within this message gifted him some clarity, flashing over his memories, and even got him some new knowledge.
For once, he didn't find this thing annoying, since it told quite a few interesting things about what was before him, and it even included some interesting topics and secrets that even Lisa didn't expect.
Wincing his head to glance at Lisa, he spoke in his verbal quacks. “That was an interesting message that is as you expected and said. This thing is the right variable to act outside of the straining rules of the Encounter, and it affects the Rules by 90%. What is that last 10? It was right that I wouldn't gain anything until I would escape the Seventh Death Forest?” he asked her, giving her a tough look, and an even more annoying rise of questions.
“I told you this thing is fine to seek, but you are right,” she said hesitantly. “...and I was underestimating this still. 10% is quite small to be fair and almost negligible. It must be some rules about your stakes, or some limits about some equipment, blessings, and high-grade stuff. 10% moves rules a little, but 90% is a ton of loosened ends. The World will take its effects with you much better while Mindarch will gift the rest. You will be able to get even Levels out of this, I believe, let alone attributes and new spells or abilities. It all depends on you!”
“Me? I worked my ass off, and for what? I haven't got anything because of restraining rules behind the Encounter.”
“... which no longer works by the way,” Lisa said. “The Encounter is usually too harsh in most cases, giving someone a potential halting progression for so-called... balancing issues. It is like being shackled, haven't I told you that?”
“Have you?” Murai asked, uncertain if he even heard or remember it.
“I bet, but maybe a bit differently than the obvious message that Will of the Battleworls stated, but it still counts!” she argued, giving him a victorious smirk. “It said it right, however. This Temple will halt it because it's going against the rules of the Encounter.”
“I heard that, along with other things that make sense. But I get it, and see it.”
Lisa smiled. “But not everything is as nice as this little Breach. This Temple is a wild place, and unlike what you think of it. There are unique things that are unlike the little sub-dungeon you've encountered before. The world below us is not so nice place, but I was right about it being powerful enough to overshoot the Rules that Battleworld forced on you. So, are you annoyed? Upset or fearful of this chance?”
Murai grunted, escaping with his eyes to the Temple. “I am looking forward to it. That is all to it.” He said, unwilling to go into another long discussion with Lisa and her reasons.
Since she was willing to argue with even a being that was at the pinnacle of Extremes, he may give her a bit of slack. If he wouldn't, he would regret discussing things with her because it would be a waste of time. It was more than apparent that her reasoning wasn't that terrible, yet the way how she worked with that wasn't as clear. Lisa wasn't one with a weak Will, but Murai still wasn't sure what sort of power, memories, and soul she had.
In all this time, he never once felt a thing from her through his Soul Read, nor he could guess what went behind her Soul Render Class. It was kind of strange since he thought he could read people without much trouble, figure out their secrets, and so on. It was his talent, or so he believed in his previous life, but here, as a duck, he had other kinds of worries altogether.
At this point, the opening of the Levandis Temple was over, creating quite a sight. The temple was large and had crazy undulation of mana or secrets as if it was ancient beyond measure. Yet the essence of its place was hiding deep underground without a speck of it going out. Only the tiniest effects went out, forming the aura of Death Valley, or creating this place as a whole.
Thar retracted his hand down, turning, and gestured his army to make a way to the new guests.
The bones cracked, thuds echoed and a road appeared right towards the temple's entrance. Murai was watching them, feeling the pressure of the undead army to turn to his location. Some eyed him with some Will, hoping to clutch his little neck, but they couldn't. Welcoming Party was over and that was it.
There was no point in doing anything else, and Murai almost forgot something. Noticing the bones not far away, he pounced at them with his beak, messing up meat juices and bones that were left behind by Jaguar. They were quite hard, yet Murai was barely able to crack them with his beak, and he couldn't shatter them further with his teeth. Satisfied with the bone marrow and a few cracked skull fragments, Murai's hunger subsided.
It was a passable meal since the Jaguar was quite large in terms of the thickness of the bones and their quality. But they were incredibly hard like eating pebbles. He noted no Eater Status, but he didn't mind that.
With that being over, he moved forward while Lisa floated behind him, observing and thinking further about Murai's message. They went through a path that was barren of the undead, but that didn't make this journey any better. The path was barely a meter wide at the further section, giving Murai plenty of room since he was small, but that meant the undead were quite close.
Murai glanced around him from time to time, feeling the threat from them like a sky, but none were as domineering as Thar. Some must be as strong as an Extreme, he figured and felt. Probably.
He had trouble adjusting his senses because he figured Thar must be at the peak of some unique Path. Also, he never met an Extreme before, so these creatures around his proximity must have various powers because of their standing in this world. They were also densely packed together, so he had trouble recognizing their might.
That was something Murai was yet to get used to since he didn't know what kind of peak this world possessed.
There were mostly skeletons of humans, with knights, paladins, priests, and even giants, orcs, and a few elves. From beasts, there were intricate few beings. Demons as large as Thar, walking on 4 libs or 2. There were devil skeletons, with horns and demonic blood in their hands. It was quite a wild feeling to glance at them without much danger involved. Their aura was, however, not much restrained, and quite a few weren't looking like undead at all, with clear flesh, blood, and bodies no different from the living.
Murai appreciated that he didn't have to fight them all, for once. He realized something upon walking through this path. What he underwent were the basic fights, with hundreds of stronger undead beyond that Jaguar.
He was weak.
There were much stronger beasts and beings around him that would smack him like a fool.
He only get what was considered a Welcoming Party for the 1st timers. Those would be usually somewhere around level 30. Sometimes, some challengers would paper with lower or higher levels as the first timer, and it was up to the Thar to decide the stakes. In most irregular fashions, there were also other rules besides his own, but those were rare cases that rarely happened.
Overall, the Welcoming Party was akin to a basic understanding that one could challenge the Levandi's authority over the Temple's Mindarch.
Murai adjusted his head many times, feeling the surroundings with his Soul Read, which gouged the undead with unnatural usefulness. He felt plenty of dead and helpless spirits in those figures, but almost all of them were wild in their might. They were crazy in their sockets~the Soul Flames that every undead had.
This was definitely a true Chaos Lair from his memory, and this sort of army wouldn't lose to anything, or so he deducted. He counted more than 440 spirits, while the strongest kinds were at the back, outside of his vision. Pressure increased there, but Murai was unwavering, not stopping as he walked through this path. He was about to try his chances inside this temple, so these undead didn't matter.
Walking towards Thar, who kept glancing at them as they moved past him, right towards the section of the temple before the entrance. There were openings beside the pillars in the shape of utter darkness, but behind the pillars were some dark rooms, acting as an opening before the official entrance. There was no gate or door. Just openings that were a dozen meters tall and with an eery deepness behind, stretching to the unknown darkness.
“Careful of the fate, and demons.” Thar's voice gave Murai a last piece of advice before he moved back toward his undead army. His time ceased away, so his horse and even he, himself, slowly drifted to the sand, as if engulfed by a jaw of a monster.
His army followed him next, leaving the desert barren in less than 10 seconds of terrifying pressure descending to the ground. Sandstorms returned to this place, giving it the same old chaotic feeling, yet none traveled to the entrance, leaving Murai alone and well.
“Fate? Was he meaningful, or poetic?” Murai asked Lisa, ignoring the entrance for the time being. Many rune symbols, murals, and engravings of many languages littered the temple's walls, pillars, and stones. It was an old piece of culture that survived many years.
“Or literal?” Lisa guessed, glancing around the entrance, unlike Murai.
“Fate isn't real though.”
“That's what you think.” she waved her hand dismissively. “This place hasn't changed. It is still the same thing, so what will it be? Shall we go in? I am excited to see your tries.”
“I won't argue about that...” Murai sighed, turning to the darkness. “Let's go then unless I will change my opinion, which I won't. I am not afraid of this place.”
Murai stepped into the darkness, while the floating and glowing Lisa did so as well. Her body was slowly engulfed with the darkness, disappearing inside as well after she looked behind her back for the last time. Her look was hesitant, flickering in intent, memory, or hesitation.
They disappeared inside, yet something still changed about this place. The temple remained standing, not disappearing behind the stone and sand. It remained open, while 1 singular glowing dot appeared on one pillar, acting as the active Challenger.
As this happened, the outside world around Death Valley wasn't calm. The issue that Mruai didn't want, but picked regardless of his Will, created another mess. It wasn't for him. Others would find it worse, however.
There was a surge of news amidst the unofficial helpers that were in Seventh Death Forest under Razmund's plans. It happened because of Ultrek alone, but also because of his deal with Tikka.
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Hundreds of kilometers from the Death Dessert.
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Ceila was standing amidst the chaotic aftermath of fighting in the middle of the Seventh Death Forest. The term, chaotic wasn't for her, but for the surroundings. She was still calm and collected, and there were many dead messiahs laying around like poor rats meeting a hungry wolf. Some had shattered heads, while others were limbless, or had smashed chests. She wasn't one bit gentle about them, for a priest.
Crouching down beside a man dressed in a half robe, half uniform, she pulled a sword out of his stomach. “Tell me... dying lunatic. What Razmund had in mind when kidnaping my student?” she asked with a deadly stare, touching the man's throat with the sword's tip.
“Pheheheheh... What a pity. Pity it is.” he chuckled, but before having more chances to continue, she slashed his throat, ending his life in a pool of blood.
He tried to appease her Will afterward, trying to clutch his own throat in visible shock and fear, but he couldn't stop the blood from seeping from his neck. Nothing would help. Although Ceila could save him, she rather watched as this level 59 Magic Knight died before her eyes. It was a fitting end to a lunatic that were the messiahs.
“I swear... I have been looking for Razmund all this time, but I don't know where to look. Should I even look? The Rules are vastly underestimating me, but what if I move against him? Will the Rules stop me because of Murai, or because of Razmund alone? This is already 3rd group, but none are inclined to inform me about anything nor are Rules stopping me. Is... Is this also a part of the Encounter, but Murai forgot to mention it? Iris and Timmy should be in Razmund's hands, but for what, or why exactly?” Ceila asked herself out loud, placing her hand towards her mouth.
She was unhappy with everything so far, yet she couldn't change much about it. She should have done this differently, giving Iris and Timmy better care, or she could've got them inside the mansion as well. The whole appeal of not taking them to the Sun's Mansion was a stupid mistake on her part. She regretted it.
However, she had trusted her knights with honest hearts, yet they didn't do shit against the special plot that the Centralis Kingdom prepared before the Encoutner even started. It gave her a heavy blow, but not to her alone--to a whole lot of potential problems, it did.
The messiahs were redundant parts of those plans. The one who dealt with her knights and gave her a heavy blow was something else. And it happened without her even knowing about it, which meant that... her Lady didn't either? She doubted that... That was a strange and ridiculous issue about that situation. It went behind the Rules that she underestimated, and perhaps even her Lady did too.
This happened a lot. With the Battleworld being so large, no God was ever sure to flow their interest in every nook and cranny of their domains or subjects. Problems and mistakes were meant to happen.
Back then, Ceila tried to appear as calm as possible, discovering the truth only at that moment when Murai mentioned Iris. Someone unique kidnapped the kids, who had nothing to do with the Encounter or had to do a whole lot with it, which was an important factor. It was something quite peculiar and something worse. Kids had nothing to do with the Encounter, so they got kidnapped without breaking any rules.
In fact, it wasn't something that moved behind anything, as she figured in the past hours. She underestimated the situation and the plot that the Centralis Kingdom had in their mind and her Lady informed her of terrible news.
Now, it appeared it was a plot that Razmund used to his advantage, or someone different moved beside him. As for what sort of plot was hiding, she had no idea, but she had all intentions of finding it out.
Did he want to anger her with this? Her? 2nd Sun of Vermillion Church? She doubted that since she wasn't a big deal in the church. She was no public Extreme, nor one in reality. Probably, this meant a hit against Murai and her Lady. That would explain it. Ceila was just a vision of the Vermillion Church, so kidnapping her student shouldn't make much sense.
Something much more sinister was going on behind the scenes and it didn't make her comfortable.
Either way, there was no news about her travels, so she spend traveling through the Seventh Death Forest, in hopes to catch some answers.
She didn't find anything to do with Murai, even though she was able to put her Will 2 kilometers around herself. She would be sure to feel Anatidae's aura and bloodline far away through such a distance. Albeit it ended up being too small compared to the whole Seventh Death Forest.
There was one issue. Ceila was yet to become Murai's Helper. She was an unofficial one for the time being, which worked against her, since any sort of force that the Centralis Kingdom had, can come against her. It was the same way Razmund used his own status in the Centralis Kingdom and they deployed forces for his cause. It was all thanks to his overall standing in the Centralis Kingdom, so he did what he had to, which wasn't surprising.
He held no regard for an official helper since his own Encoutner's information was different than the one Murai had.
His was... easier? Manageable? All sorts of words would be fitting for his position since he was level 64, and Murai was anything but something strong or with a strong backer.
Although, it also had something to do with the Pachi's Gift, which was in his possession. All of this was within the approximate knowledge of what Ceila was capable of knowing. It wasn't a lot, and everything seemed stranger, considering Iris and Timmy.
“Were then kidnapped because they were involved with Murai? That could be it... But... it may be something else.” She thought, and all of a sudden, she heard a message hit her mind.
It was a mental telepathic wave, and the voice was Lia's, who no longer was within her rights to be involved in what Ceila was doing.
It led to one of few bad news. Lia got a warning from Will of the Battleworld, stating she can't be involved with anything in the Seventh Death Forest, and should leave in a day. The same thing didn't happen to Ceila, for some reason. Probably because she wasn't part of the beginning part of the Encounter and had enough leverage to move against unofficial helpers that Razmud used. But what if an official Helper moved against her? Rules would clash, and perhaps she would be forced to leave too.
Lia had to leave in a day unless a threat of God's Wrath was something she wanted to undergo. Those were the brief mentions she got when she and Ceila butchered 1st group of messiahs together.
So, Ceila remained alone, but it didn't pose an issue for her.
“Yo! Ceila! I found something great!” Lia's voice said, sounding in a good mood.
At the moment, she wasn't that far from her location, since she had all her time in the world to leave. If she wanted, she can get out of this forest in an hour, so she wasn't in a hurry. This allowed her to look for something new, and she was successful.
In her Dragonian Claw was still breathing Centralis Officer and no messiah. By sheer luck, Lia got to know the tight-kept secrets that only leaders of the special groups were capable of knowing.
Centralis Kingdom found Murai's location and it wasn't pretty.