Bab 4: The Chained Man

It took me an entire week of trekking to finally reach my destination. In front of me laid the shattered sea, in all its glory. Huge waves rose in the air, hiding dangerous nightmarish creatures underneath its depth. Even an experienced arcanist would feel afraid of diving into its depths.

I was going to traverse the sea, but thankfully, not on my own.

Right now, my ride wasn't here. But it would be in three days, a day after the full moon.

I just had to wait until then. I quickly set up my tent in a safe and hidden location. I was currently using every speck of information held deep in Roye's mind.

The next three days were uneventful. Given how my tent was set up under a large rock hidden away from prying beasts, coupled with the beast repellent spray I had been using.

My ride came after three days. In the distance, I could see a large ship passing through the shoreline. On the ship were tens of rock statues, all moving in a coordinated way, rowing the ship forward.

"There it is." I sighed in relief. I had known about the existence of the ghost ship from the book, but it was Roye's memories that had told me when it was going to pass by the coast of the shattered sea.

"At least this guy was good at gathering information." Musing to myself, I packed my bag and began sprinting. The ghost wasn't going to dock on the shore for long, and I needed to get on it before it could leave.

Sneaking up the ghost ship, I climbed up a ladder behind it and climbed up. In front of me stood several rock statues dressed in armor, standing straight with weapons in their hands.

Taking a deep breath I started walking towards a corner in the back of the ship. The rock statues didn't move, standing in place. Before long, the ship started moving forward, deep into the sea.

This was only one of the ships that traversed the scattered sea. Even in the novel, they didn't know much about these ships; all they knew was that the statues didn't attack anyone unless they showed hostility.

There were many in the alliance who used these ships for transportation across the sea. That's why their routes have been very carefully studied and drawn on a map. One of which I was holding in my hands.

If this was correct, we should reach our destination in eight days. Letting out a sigh, I jammed the map inside the spatial storage and took out some bread. Now, all I had to do was wait and pray that our boat wouldn't sink on the way.

---

Passing these eight days all alone was an excruciating experience. All alone, sitting on the back of the ship, trying my best to protect myself from the storms, the rain and making sure I didn't fall down in the ocean.

The nightmare finally came to an end when I begun seeing the outline of a large mountain in the distance.

"Oh, thank God." I let out a deep breath and began collecting my stuff, putting everything in the spatial storage. I then took out another piece of bread and began eating it. Who knew when I would get the time to eat once I left this ship?

The ship soon docked, not very far from the large mountain. I quickly climbed down from the back of the ship. Once on land, I took out an entire can of beast repellent and sprayed it over my body.

Although I had done my research about the area near the shattered sea, this place, the Doomspire summit, was still a relatively unknown place for humanity. Even after all my knowledge from the novel and my research, I couldn't be sure I would run into something terrible.

Steeling myself and thanking the gods, I began my march towards the mountain.

I didn't knew the exact location of where the temple was located, but if the novel was correct about the wards then I wouldn't need to.

And I was correct. After half a day of trekking through the forest towards the mountain, I came face to face with a stone door hanging in the middle of a field.

The wards must have realized I had fulfilled the conditions to enter the temple. Taking a deep breath to ready myself, I climbed up and walked into the door.

At once, my surroundings distorted, and I found myself standing in the middle of a hall. The moment I arrived, torches around the place lit up to reveal a room filled with runes. In the back of the room was a man tied in chains, his hands raised up towards the ceiling.

"What is this?" I couldn't help but stumble. I should have teleported inside a hallway that would have led to a day-long exploration before I reached this place. Was there something wrong with the wards, not to mention the body?

I cautiously moved towards the chained up man in the back. Even this was different, the necromancer should have been lying cozily in a grave, not chained up like a dog. The chains binding the man all had strange engravings marred on them.

At least he was the same necromancer in the novel. With eyes shut as if he was in deep slumber, coupled with hollowed bones and ash white skin.

Whatever the reasons behind these changes were, they didn't change anything; the fact was that he was chained up and being served to me on a silver platter. I wasn't going to stand here and wait for him to wake up.

Taking out my rune glove, I equipped it with the mana bullet spell. I pressed my hand against the man's head, and, taking one last final breath, I fired.

BAM!!!

The mana bullet struck his head at incredible speed but failed to penetrate through his brain. The man's eyelid shook before returning back to his previous comatose state.

This was fine; I had expected this. I had brought tons of mana crystal for this very occasion. Loading up the glove, I fired once again and then again and again.

Piercing sound echoed through the room, as little by little, the man's spell began to drill through his head. Every time that would happen, the man's eyelids would move a bit before returning back to normal. Blood splattered everywhere as a hole appeared in the center of the man's head.

It was finally, after my thirtieth shot, the bullet flew forward and managed to penetrate through the man's head. The man's head flew backward with a jerk. His already slumbering body went limp.

As if confirming his death, the chains around him loosened, falling down on the ground, along with the man.