Chapter 719

Chapter 719: Both Sides of the Gate

Shirley’s mind snapped awake from the collapsing dream. She opened her eyes in the darkness and saw that she was still lying in that black thicket that looked like a tangle of thorns.

Whispers and strange howls sounded as if they were already at her ears, almost boring into her head. Cold currents crept from the gaps in the shadows like disgusting tendrils, as if they meant to lick her skin. There was something outside the thicket, a swarm of writhing things whose size kept changing, their real shapes hard to see. They had smelled living flesh and had crossed a long distance to find this hiding place. A gluttonous feast was about to begin.

Shirley twitched her arm a little. The stiffness and numbness in her whole body made every movement painfully hard, but she felt a faint heat spreading from somewhere inside her, once more feeding this shell that had just died.

She lowered her head with effort and saw that the heart in her chest had completely stopped beating. In just a few seconds it had shriveled into a lump of black residue. Yet on that residue, a thin strand of ghostly green flame burned quietly. It was eerie, but it felt warm.

Within this small warmth she got back a little strength and slowly struggled to sit up.

When her arm swung by accident, the broken black chain on her right wrist scraped across the ground. The sound was not loud, but in this silent darkness it was sharp as a shout.

The whispers and howls outside the thicket paused for a moment, then suddenly rose into a chilling roar.

Countless rising and falling shadows surged up from the shattered ground outside. In wild joy, countless Abyssal demons took shape and rushed toward the feast.

spirit flame spread and burned in the gaps between her bones. The black residue in her chest had fully turned into a small, steady flame. Shirley took a deep breath. She heard the noise from outside. Fear of death and a restless, nameless urge rose together in her mind. She panted softly, and from the corner of her eye she saw the two hearts that had fallen to the ground.

After a short hesitation, she reached out and picked up the two still beating “hearts”. Her eyes, glowing with a faint red light, flickered.

A cracking sound came from the edge of the thicket. A huge beast tore open the barrier of her hiding place. Heavy footsteps and hungry growls reached Shirley’s ears.

But she seemed not to hear the sound that was already above her head, nor to feel the breath that had blown upon her face. She only lowered her head and slowly pushed the two hearts into her own chest, murmuring as if talking to herself: “Dad… Mother… don’t be afraid…”

The feeling of a heartbeat returned to her chest. The sense of “being alive” made the last stiffness and slowness in her limbs finally fade away. Shirley pushed herself to her feet. A series of sharp cracking sounds exploded from within her body. Along the edge of her black ribs, layers of bone spurs grew in a rush, wrapping the two hearts and the small flame in a bony cage.

She raised her head in the darkness. Her body stretched taller. A monstrous skull covered in spikes appeared in her field of view.

The thicket that had been her hiding place was torn open in a huge gap. A giant floating skull leaned forward in malice, peering down at the prey in the bushes. Around the skull circled countless horrifying shapes: Death-Omen Birds, Smokewisp Jellyfish, Mad Terrorbeasts…

Dog had once told her that if she ever ran into these things alone, she must run.

But this was the Abyssal Deep Sea. There was nowhere to run here. They were everywhere.

“Shirley, don’t be afraid…”

A Death-Omen Bird attacked first. This confused and half-witted demon could no longer restrain the hunger and violence in its instincts. It let out a sharp screech. Its wings suddenly spread into a dark cloud and plunged down at the thicket, wrapped in a mass of corrosive mist.

Then there was a heavy, dull sound of piercing. A black, jointed bone spike stabbed up like a sword and rammed straight through the Death-Omen Bird.

Next came spike after spike. Black bones, like twisted and symmetrical limbs, stretched out from the thicket. They first stabbed into the sky, then bent down, bracing a tall body that stepped out from among the branches.

Her limbs were long. Black bone plates covered them layer upon layer like tight armor, crossing and overlapping. Sharp bone spurs and blade-like shapes grew from the joints of her arms and legs, shining with a dim red gleam. Her broken chest was covered in jagged shards of bone like thorns. Inside the bone cage, two dark red hearts beat slowly. From her back, countless limb-like bone structures stretched out, like a vast cloak of bone wings yet also like strange, ill-omened legs. These paired limbs bent down from the air and propped her body high above the ground, letting her look down on the Abyssal demons gathering from every direction.

She slowly turned her head. On the face that still kept a human shape, the hollow eyes filled with a rising red glow.

A hoarse, scratching screech sounded beside her. The Death-Omen Bird skewered on her bone spike thrashed a few times on Shirley’s “long leg”, then dissolved into a mass of quickly fading smoke and a small puddle of slow-flowing sludge. Bit by bit, it was drawn into Shirley’s bone spike.

Shirley frowned a little as she watched the spot where the Death-Omen Bird faded away. She lifted that jointed limb and shook it hard in the air: “…Gross. Tastes bad…”

Then she turned her head toward the demons gathered around her. They were frozen in confusion for a moment by the sudden change. She bent forward a little and asked: “Have any of you seen a strange Abyssal Hound? Its name is Dog. He is my friend.”

The Abyssal demon swarm drew back for a heartbeat. Some survival instinct made their dull minds think of retreat, but in only a moment, the urge to attack crushed that fragile “reason”.

The strange floating skull covered in spikes suddenly opened its jaws. A huge cloud of corrosive mist formed at once and hurled straight toward Shirley.

Next came Death-Omen Birds swooping from the air, Abyssal Hounds racing and howling on the ground, and countless twisted monsters whose names even Shirley did not know. These Abyssal demons, who acted only on instinct, rushed in all at once, roaring and howling as they charged in madness at the “intruders” in their territory.

“I knew it…”

Shirley grumbled in an annoyed tone. In the next second, her figure turned into a blurred shadow.

She swept across the shattered land like the wind. Those bone spikes, like giant skeletal wings and also like curved limbs, spread and stabbed through the air, striking at every demon that dared to come near. With no tactics and no knowledge of any spell, she relied only on the new instincts of her body and the most basic speed and strength as she plunged into the countless demon swarms.

It was a simple and brutal way to fight, just like the first time she had swung her chain and hurled Dog at her enemies.

…

Lucretia looked up at the black stone gate that was shocking even to her, a seasoned border scholar. It took her a long moment to look away.

“…They really did dig up something terrifying,” the sea witch sighed. “These cultists always make a mess they cannot control… as always.”

“This is the connection point between the Abyssal Deep Sea, and the Mortal Realm,” Duncan said beside her. “From what I can sense, several layers of dimension overlap here. Not only is Mortal Realm space and time stacked together, but part of the Abyssal Deep Sea, is also stacked directly on this spot. Shirley and Dog are probably so close in nature to the Abyssal Deep side that they simply ‘fell’ to the other side.”

Lucretia nodded, then spoke again with some worry: “…Are you sure this will work? I am not saying your power cannot open the gate, but… if that Saint cannot hold on and the gate closes too soon, how will you come back? On the other side of the gate is the Abyssal Deep Sea. We know very little about it. Even you might be in danger if you get lost over there…”

“It is fine. I have thought about that,” Duncan cut off Lucretia’s worries. “We all know that at the very center of the Abyssal Deep Sea, lies the Abyssal Lord. Under His throne is the passage to Subspace.”

Lucretia’s expression turned a bit strange at once: “…You mean…”

“I only need to punch a small hole. It should not disturb the balance of the whole Abyssal Deep Sea. After all, the breach the Vanished smashed into the Abyssal Deep Sea back then was much larger,” Duncan said casually. “If I cannot return the same way, I will come back from Subspace. That Lord should not mind too much. If that does not work, I can just call the Vanished and have them crash through again.”

Lucretia: “…”

Duncan only waved his hand: “Let us begin.”

Seeing that Father was ready, Lucretia said no more. She nodded lightly, then walked to the open ground in front of the gate. She pointed her short conductor’s baton at the floor and tapped twice.

With a soft bang, a cloud of smoke puffed up like a stage magic trick. When the smoke cleared, the strange, disgusting “brain” wrapped in a spider-like bone cage appeared once more before Duncan.

The Saint slowly woke.

Along the edge of the bone cage, the many eye stalks stirred as if rousing from sleep. Its many eyeballs twitched and trembled, and at last it noticed its surroundings and the expressionless Duncan and his group standing beside it.

In almost an instant, this monster that could no longer be called human was fully awake. It strained to rise, but the bindings Lucretia had cast on it earlier held it completely still. It could only make the air around it shake as it let out a harsh and jumbled roar: “What have you done?!”

“We have not done anything yet. We are just about to start,” Duncan said as he stepped toward the Saint. He fixed his calm gaze on that disgusting forest of eye stalks. “You may begin your prayer now – to your master.”