บท 184: CH. 178: Afterlife Judgement
After some exploration, Hiro reached the end of the first floor of Nazzarick. He eventually found a stronghold and was required to use the key he obtained from winning the fight against The Witch of The Graveyard.
Finally, he was able to access the second floor of Nazzarick, one much more uncanny and sinister than those graveyards...
Second Floor of Nazzarick, Afterlife Judgement.
The second floor of Nazzarick represented the judgement that awaited all the creatures buried in the Graveyard of Nazzarick. And most of the time, those who had the misfortune of being buried there had a terrible judgemt awaiting them, meaning that this level was designed to purge those wicked and blasphemous souls; by an entity called, Judgement.
"Haha–HA~! It seems like you've reached the second floor of the Great Tomb of Nazzarick! Rejoice mortal! After all, very few were able to make it this fat, and even less made it further..." Shalltear's voice echoed throught the entire floor, her objective was to distabilise Hiro and make hik an easy prey. But he already understood the dirty tricks Shalltear was up to, so he remained silent and absorbed any useful information she'd be dumb enough to reveal by accident.
Hiro stepped cautiously into the dimly lit corridors of the second floor of Nazzarick. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and a dense fog clung to the cold stone walls, obscuring his vision. When Shalltear shuts up, the silence becomes oppressive, broken only by the occasional distant groan of something undead.
Hiro didn't flinch. With a single fluid motion, he drew his gleaming Katana, the blade humming with barely contained power. The zombies, sluggish and decayed, were the first to fall. Hiro's sword cut through them like a hot knife through butter, their bodies collapsing into piles of rotten flesh and bone. The stench of their demise was overwhelming, but Hiro's focus remained unshaken.
As he ventured deeper into the labyrinthine catacombs, the ground beneath his feet began to crunch, not with gravel, but with the brittle bones of the long-dead. Soon, Hiro's path was blocked by a group of liches, their eyes glowing with a dull, malevolent light. In front of them, armored undead warriors, clattered forward, their rusted weapons held in withered hands, jaws hanging open in eternal, silent screams.
Despite the eerie atmosphere and the oppressive aura of death that permeated the scene, Hiro found these encounters almost trivial. The zombies and skeletons, while intimidating to most, were little more than nuisances to someone of his immense power. Each enemy fell with a single strike, their attempts to harm him thwarted before they could even begin.
The undead were now wearing silver and sometimes even golden enchanted armor. Their level was getting higher it seemed.
As Hiro pressed on, deeper into the heart of the second floor, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The ease with which he had dispatched these minions hinted at a far greater challenge lurking in the shadows, something much more dangerous than these lowly undead. And though these enemies posed no threat, the true horrors of Nazarick were yet to reveal themselves.
The corpses of ancient adventurers he found along the way we're not helping.
Atleast, he reached the epitome of what lies ahead; A door that left his fate on a thread.
Naturally, Shalltear had to comment on this, "W–WAIT YOU ACTUALLY REACHED THE END?! Ah!– *Ahem, I mean... You will now face a challenge even I can't solve had my authority not already given me the answer! See you on the Third Floor... If you even get there..." She ended.
That's it. That's the door that leads to the mini-boss of the second floor. Hiro went forward and tried opening it.
However, it didn't flinch.
Irritated and not feeling like finding the key or anything, Hiro points the World-Cutting Katana towards the door. "Hypercharge unleashed!" He shouts.
This causes a thick and deadly electric purple beam to emanate from his katana and strike the door with power strong enough to destroy the entire moon in a single slash.
The explosion obliterated everything on sight, however the door was left unscathed, protected by a force greater than anything imagined.
"Hm... This might be a little more complicated than I thought..." The terrain around Hiro started regenerating. And at the corner of his right eye, a withered table with a parchment was reformed like it used to be before the strike.
Hiro goes there and starts reading the weird scripture on the parchment.
(( Only those who prove their worth may enter. Face the trial, or be consumed by darkness. ))
Hiro's grip on his sword tightened, his senses sharpening. He had faced countless foes, vanquished legions, but this was different. This wasn't a battle of strength or skill, this was a test of wit, and failure could mean something far more humiliting than death.
The room was vast, its high ceilings lost in shadow, and along the walls, the freshly regenerated torches flickered weakly, casting eerie shadows that danced across the ancient stone.
Four coffins appeared in each corner of the room, each with a different color; A green, a red, a blue, and finally a purple one.
And In the center of the room, a stone pedestal just appeared and it stood alone, a heavy tome resting upon it, bound in what looked like aged humarin, its iron clasps rusted but secure. He approached the scripture and read it attentively.
(( In the land where shadows creep,
Four lost souls in silence sleep.
One who fought but never bled,
One who spoke but nothing said.
One who aimed but missed the mark,
One who ruled yet left no spark.
Guide them back to where they lie,
Or join their fate beneath the sky. ))
Four artifacts appeared before Hiro, a crown, an arrow, a gem, and a sword.
Hiro furrowed his brow, the words swirling in his mind like a thick fog. This was no simple puzzle; the riddle seemed to dance around the truth, offering only fragments of clarity. Each line hinted at a story long forgotten, a life half-lived, a fate half-met.
He turned his gaze to the tombs, each one now shrouded in shadow, the gems no longer glowing, as if the room itself had swallowed the light. The symbols on the floor pulsed irregularly, like a dying heartbeat...
Time was ticking.
"One who fought but never bled..."Hiro mumbles.
This line seemed to suggest a warrior who perhaps met his end not in battle, but by a betrayal, poison, or even fear.
But how to connect this with the tombs before him? The red tomb beckoned, its gem dull but still tinged with the remnants of past glories. Was this the warrior who fought but never bled?
"Never bled is red." Hiro had to trust his instincts. He put the sword on the red coffin.
Next was One who spoke but nothing said.
A riddle within a riddle. This could be a mage, one who wielded great power but perhaps was silenced by either him or someone else. The blue tomb, cold and distant, seemed to whisper of secrets never spoken, knowledge lost to time.
But could this truly be the right choice? Hiro's decision was unsure as he placed the gem.
"One who aimed but missed the mark."
This line evoked an image of an archer or a marksman, someone who failed at the crucial moment, their fate sealed by a single misstep. But the green tomb felt alive with energy, almost mocking in its silence. He put the arrow artifact on the green coffin.
One who ruled yet left no spark.
A king, perhaps, or a leader whose reign was marked not by greatness but by missed opportunities, a legacy of ashes. The purple tomb, regal and forlorn, seemed to carry the weight of a forgotten dynasty. But could Hiro trust this feeling, or was it merely a trick of the room's dark magic?
He placed the crown on the purple coffin.
As the final soul was placed, the room fell into a deep, unnatural silence. Hiro's heart pounded in his chest as he waited, the tension almost unbearable. Then, slowly, the tombs began to glow once more, their light growing brighter until the entire room was bathed in a ghostly radiance. The great door before him creaked open, revealing the darkness beyond.
The voice returned, softer now, almost respectful.
(( You have seen through the shadows and found the truth. Enter, and face what lies ahead. ))
...
Suddenly, Hiro's eyes widened as the portal opened on its own. What lied ahead was... pure darkness.
Obscurity with no apparent light. His instincts were shooting at him to not enter. The symbols on the room glowed like never seen before.
Hiro couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The riddle had been cryptic, its clues elusive, but as he considered each line, his gaze kept drifting back to the symbols on the floor, pulsing with a life of their own. They were more than mere decorations -they were the key.
He circled the room slowly, his sharp eyes scanning the intricate patterns etched into the cold stone. Each symbol seemed to tell a story, a hidden truth buried beneath the surface. And then, just as he passed the red tomb again, something clicked.
The symbols around the red tomb were different. Subtle, almost imperceptible at first, but there was a definite discrepancy. Where the red tomb was located.
The signs depicted not a warrior's prowess, but a ruler's crown, ornate and proud.
The markings whispered of command, not of battle.
A king's missed opportunities that made his blood drip on the blade of the guillotine.
And around the purple tomb, where he had almost placed the king's spirit, were symbols of conflict, swords clashing, and shields splintering.
Hiro's heart skipped a beat as the realization struck him. The tombs had been deliberately misaligned. The true warrior's spirit belonged in the purple tomb, where the symbols of combat resided, and the ruler, the king who had left no spark, belonged in the red tomb, where the crown was etched into the stone.
It was a secret instruction, hidden within the very fabric of the room, visible only to those with the insight to see it. Perhaps it was a final test of perception, or maybe a trap meant to test his critical thinking.
After all, fighting a supreme being of Nazzarick, meant showing an outmost minimum of combat potency.
Without hesitation, Hiro moved to the center of the room, feeling the weight of the air shift as he touched the symbols on the floor. He focused first on the red symbol, directing the soul of the ruler-whose legacy had faded like dying embers-into the red tomb. The symbol pulsed, its light uncertain at first, then steady, as if acknowledging the rightful place of the soul.
(( You have completed, The Afterlife Judgement. ))
And then, only then... The darkness beyond the portal, transformed to a scenery that went well with the surroundings, showing that what lies ahead, was a continuation to the floor, and nor eternal void.
Hiro walks past the portal, ready to face the last challenge.
X―x―X—x—X―x―X
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