Free Web NovelChapter 391: Chapter 388: Thoth Temple
Instead of Ascending, Rorschach found himself stuffed into a winding pipe. A suction force from ahead constantly compelled him forward.
This made Rorschach a bit nervous. ’Is there a master waiting for me at the destination, eagerly summoning my soul?’
WHOOSH... PLOP!
The end of the "pipe" was water, but not from the Water Elemental Plane. Instead, it was a giant bronze cauldron. When Rorschach climbed out, he was shocked to find his Stand-In’s earthen body had completely disappeared. Now, holding out his hand, he saw it was somewhat transparent. He was in the form of a Spirit Body, what’s commonly called an "Ah Piao."
’The Living Aquatic Microorganisms can’t leak out...’ Rorschach scrutinized the water’s surface, but the water in the bronze cauldron was exceptionally clean; there was no sign of his dissolved, faded earthen body. After climbing out of the cauldron, the transparency of his spirit form gradually faded, and he solidified into a state indistinguishable from his original body.
"The sun is so blinding." Rorschach couldn’t help but squint. The space he was in resembled a desert. Looking up, he saw a celestial body occupying most of the sky, moving in silence. It was incandescent white, and he could faintly make out the flow of uneven matter on its surface. A river of stars flowed around it, but since it was nearly daytime, Rorschach could only see its faint, blurry, crystalline traces.
The celestial body looked like a star. Logically, at this distance between the Holy Land and the star, even as a Spirit Body, Rorschach should have been roasted to a sizzle. And yet, all he felt was a bit of scorching heat.
’Perhaps it’s also a "Vesicle," invisibly blocking most of the thermal radiation. Or maybe certain laws within this Holy Land are at play.’
Looking toward the horizon, a colossal, tree-shaped object stood so tall he couldn’t see its top. Energy flowed constantly across its surface. Between Rorschach and this giant tree stood a magnificent, square religious building with sharp, intact corners. Its ivory-white color blended perfectly with the desert-like environment.
’If that giant thing is the Tree of Law, doesn’t that mean Thoth’s Divine Hall is close to the Original Layer?’ Rorschach was startled. According to legend, however, Thoth himself was the inventor of Alchemy, and some even speculated and revered him as the Magic God.
’Legends always do contain a kernel of truth.’
Sensing that these "ruins" were extraordinary, Rorschach proceeded with greater caution. After climbing down from the giant bronze cauldron, he discovered it was being carried on the back of a huge bull statue. To the side was an extinguished, square fire altar, complete with four horns.
Rorschach finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw scattered bronze chariots in front of the grand hall. Their frames were broken and their wheel hubs were scattered about, proving that no god or other entity was maintaining this place anymore. freewebnoveℓ.com
Only then did Rorschach start walking toward the grand hall step by step. The towering doors sensed his approach and opened on their own, spilling out a warm, golden light. Inside, Rorschach saw that everything—from the floor to the walls, to the pillars adorned with pomegranate-patterned capitals—was sheathed in a metal of the same color. Judging by its hue, he guessed it was likely unoxidized bronze.
The main hall was vast and empty, save for two rows of large candelabras whose candles had long been extinguished. Sunlight filtered down through thin slices of seashell in the roof. The faint, lingering scent of frankincense and burnt herbs hung in the air. At the far end of the hall stood a dilapidated cabinet, its base composed of statues of two winged, human-faced beasts.
Behind the cabinet hung a heavy curtain.
’Should I go?’ Rorschach paused, listening intently for a moment. The place was absolutely silent. If he had been here in his real body, he would have been able to hear his own heartbeat.
He carefully drew back the curtain, revealing a second hall. This hall had no translucent seashell ceiling; instead, a Holy Fire burned continuously, providing flickering illumination. While the first hall had seemed suited for normal-sized humanoids, this second one was incomparably vast. In the firelight, it was difficult to discern the ceiling’s height, but he roughly estimated it to be dozens of meters high—a true abode for a Divine Spirit.
Various statues lined both sides of the hall. The ones closest to Rorschach were about the size of a normal person. They included figures of wolves, humans, and some with pointed ears that appeared to be Elves.
On his left, Rorschach saw a statue of a hooded old man, and beside him, a remarkably lifelike donkey that seemed imbued with a spirited air.
It was the Wise Man and Prophet, Balan, the God of Deceit.
He recalled his conversation with Balan’s remnant Soul: *He is Thoth, but Thoth is not him.* ’Does that mean this entire hall is filled with images of the Thoth God?’ Rorschach boldly walked along the central carpet, speculating as he examined the different statues. Yet he felt these figures couldn’t be seen as mere incarnations of the Thoth God; after all, Balan himself was recorded in mythology as having various forms and incarnations.
’To put Balan’s words simply, he was a "subset" of the "Thoth collective."’
The further he went toward the end of the second hall, the taller the statues became. The last one on the right was so immense it seemed to touch the heavens, with a strong, graceful male body and two faces: one of an ibis and one of a baboon. Both were unified under the glow of a full moon’s halo.
Rorschach himself had a "Moon-Feeding Stork" medal, and the main figure on it matched the statue’s ibis face, though the moon phase on the medal wasn’t full. ’So, this must be the appearance of "Thoth" widely recognized in the Kingdom of Sand and by later Mages.’
The statue on the left, opposite the giant one, was just an empty pedestal; the figure itself was gone. The next statue in the row was of a handsome man holding a venomous snake. He wore a feather headdress, held an elderwood staff in his other hand, and had a wine flask tucked at his waist.
In the center at the far end of the second hall stood a towering throne. The attendant statues flanking it were dozens of meters tall, nearly reaching the ceiling. The second curtain at the very end, however, was not large—still only big enough for a person to pass through. A massive pattern was painted on the wall above it.
The firelight was too dim. Rorschach didn’t dare to rashly light a lamp or use the [Light Technique], so he activated [Dark Vision] to get a better look. He saw a somewhat familiar pattern, but it was flickering...
Standing below the two-faced Thoth, he finally saw it clearly and remembered what it was. ’The mark of the Aurora Hermitage! The ancient Secret Contract that Kano showed me!’
The very moment he remembered, the pattern began to light up on its own. It started as a clear blue, then darkened to purple. The Transformation didn’t stop there; it gradually bled into a deep, Blood-red.
Rorschach’s scalp tingled, as any change in this place signaled potential danger. He tore his gaze away from the pattern only to find that a huge monster had appeared opposite him at some unknown moment!
It had the face of a human and the body of a beast, with wings several meters long folded at its sides. It held a blazing Fire Sword in its mouth, and its gaze toward Rorschach was filled with hostility. Rorschach had seen it before, on the base of the cabinet in the first hall. Compared to the statue, the real creature possessed a strange quality that was simultaneously holy and bizarre.
As if a string snapped in his mind, Rorschach realized in terror that the effects of his [Dark Vision] had vanished the moment he met the creature’s eyes!
’When did it appear? Can I not use Casting right now?’ Rorschach wasn’t prepared. The creature lunged at him without warning. He was forced to roll repeatedly, ending up on the left side of the hall and effectively swapping places with it. Despite the sword in its mouth, the monster let out a roar and prepared to charge again.
Rorschach glanced up past its lunge and saw that the pattern on the wall had changed! The monster quickly blocked his view by spreading its wings mid-air, but Rorschach had already seen it. From the left side of the hall, the wall now clearly displayed... the Holy Emblem of the Master of Light and Order!
’If only I had my main body’s Grand Disintegration, let’s see how arrogant you’d be then! And this is no time to be testing the strength of my Blue Light Barrier.’ Rorschach scrambled and rolled to the right, dodging the fierce flames the Giant Beast spat from the air and its heavy, descending body. He was now very close to the curtain. Without a second thought, he scrambled to his feet and dove behind it.
However, there was no third grand hall. There wasn’t even a floor behind the curtain. In his panicked escape, Rorschach plunged headfirst into the Void.
"Who the hell left this project unfinished—?!"
