Arcane Journey

Chapter 358

The sky outside the window was gray, and the clouds were pulled down by the entrained moisture, pressing on the top of the head like a ceiling that was about to collapse.

The air seemed to be suffocated, and there was not even a breath of wind.

The whole world is like being covered with a pot, all creatures will be suffocated inside, and any struggle will become meaningless.

The ghost prince Agrela standing in front of the window looked away, and sat back on the chair behind the desk in silence.

His former brothers and allies Ruivalan, Yada, and Oripa were all dead, and Ecacia, who was seriously injured and dying, was sent back to the temple of the Sambia Kingdom for treatment, and even Lamorak, who he hated, fled Sacross, the floating city, tried to go to the realm of the magic net to find his own way.

He is the only one left in the floating city at this moment.

Alone... Agrela sighed, looked at the empty study with a complicated expression, and muttered to herself.

As a believer of the Lost Lady, he didn't know whether he should be lucky or despair at this moment.

Maybe there are both, he pushed away the restless books in front of him, leaned back on the chair with a tired face, and guessed in his heart.

In a trance, Agrila, the ghost prince, couldn't remember when he closed his eyes.

He only felt that in the depths of his mind, those memories that had long been dusty were opened up like a bank burst.

This time, he didn't deliberately resist, so that he returned to Karthus Territory inexplicably, looking down on his father from the tower.

This time, High King Telamant Tanshul looked much younger, his hair still black, without any gray hair.

He lowered his head, like a whisper in the forest, "... I hope my children will respect and love each other from beginning to end."

Then, he prayed, "May my wife truly forgive me for..."

"Father." Agrila softly called out this strange address that he had long forgotten, and his voice turned into a whisper in the wind.

Telamant Tanshul raised his head and gazed at the tower for a long time.

He frowned, but said nothing, and then he continued to pray, but the rest of the prayer was drowned out by the sudden sound of banging on wood.

The figure of Telamante Tanshul dissipated like morning mist in the sun, and it was replaced by two children jumping happily in the woods of the surface world, chasing and fighting each other with broken branches.

Agrela hit Breners in the thigh with a wooden stick, knocking him into the pool, thumping and screaming.

"Keep your voice down, idiot." Agrila threw away the branch in her hand, "Didn't it just fall into the water, do you want mother to hear it and tell father?"

He knelt by the sink and pulled his brother out of the water, but both disappeared before Breners emerged.

The images flashed faster and faster, the proud Revalan, the stubborn Yada, the mischievous twin brothers Mattik and Vatik, and the soft-spoken and kind-hearted Desood...their faces, To dazzle Agrila until he no longer sees his father, nor Breenus nor the other brothers.

When the image freezes, he finally sees his mother.

She knelt in front of the statue of the lost lady Shar and prayed, as if she was begging bitterly, and then his elder brother Rui Varan appeared. He drew out a long knife aggressively, grabbed her mother's hair, and pulled it back violently. He slashed hard at her neck.

In this way, life was lost along with the pouring red tide.

"It looks like it's all over a long time ago." Agrila muttered to himself, and the image that was frozen in his mind seemed to let him taste the taste of blood himself.

The taste was undoubtedly bitter, but it made his confused eyes gradually become firm.

He sighed deeply, like a late old man, slowly got up from the chair, and staggered to the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

He stared at the gray sky, which was like an invisible net, restricting his thoughts. He once felt the urge to shout out loudly, but he was completely wrapped up in this oppressive atmosphere. , unable to break free, unable to speak, so depressed that he could not tell, and then a person was submerged in this empty and deep darkness.

But the dust-laden memory passed through the fog of the millennium, allowing the ghost prince Egrila to find his final destination.

The next morning, there was a hint of bleakness.

Agrila met the Lost Lady's spokeswoman in the material world: the priestess 'Black Veil' Elyrel in the tower of the floating city.

"Are you here to question me, ma'am?" Agrela asked calmly, looking at the priestess standing quietly at the desk.

His brothers died and walked away. Unknowingly, he has become the leader of the floating city Sacross, but Agrila is not happy at all.

"Ask the crime?" Elirael glanced at the Prince of Shadows with a frivolous look, and smiled, "What crime are you asking? Praise our goddess of keeping secrets, even if your plan has failed, what does it matter? After all It's all under my control."

It's your goddess, not mine, Agrila thought.

The tone of the priestess' speech and the sense of confidence exuded made him secretly terrified, and even made him doubt whether the other party had seen through his thoughts at the moment.

He forced himself to calm down, snorted softly, then breathed a sigh of relief on purpose, and said slowly, "If that's the case, then what is your purpose for coming here?"

"For what?" The priestess repeated in a low voice, with an extremely pious expression, "Of course it is for our great lost lady Shar."

"Although our two plans against the magic net have failed." She regained her composure and said in a relaxed tone, "but it was these two failures that gave us another chance."

"That's what you said when the ritual of the Dark Canyon was destroyed." Agrila replied lightly, "The same is true for the Shadow Valley. You still said that in the realm of the magic net. I have already..."

"Are you doubting me?" Before the Shadow Prince finished speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by the priestess, with a cold chill hidden in his words.

"What can I doubt?" Agrela shrugged her shoulders and chuckled, "I just want to sum up some experience from failure."

"Now is not the time to sum up the experience." The priestess turned to look in the direction of the Enook Desert, and said in a dignified tone: "Although the magic net has been repaired, in the world of the magic net, the relationship between Sirinxi and Laloque During the battle, she ignored the ruins of Myth Draenor that she was guarding, and I have sent someone to take away another complete set of Nether scrolls hidden in the ruins."

Hearing the scroll of Nether, Agrila raised her eyelids and glanced at Illyrel, then lost interest again.

"As long as we use the power hidden in this set of Nairir scrolls, we can cooperate with "Black Chronicle" and "A Night of Thousand Petals" to arrange a powerful shadow ceremony in the Ennook Desert, so that the remaining 9 shadow evils can take advantage of it. This opportunity, break free from the cage that Azuth and Gond set for them."

Agrela quietly recalled the words of the priestess, showing a look of no interest, and said casually, "What if it fails?"

"Failure?" Elirael smiled, "It won't fail."

"Why are you so sure?" Agrela asked.

"Because I chose the place to arrange the ceremony..." Illyrael deliberately paused for a moment, and then said slowly, "On the forbidden wall set up by the Sharon spirit for Felin Mokui, if the ceremony fails, the entire forbidden wall will be destroyed. Destroyed by this terrifying energy, and then awaken all the oldest phaerims sleeping in the memory tower of the 'Brood'."

Hearing this, Agrela fell silent.

After a long silence, he looked at the veiled priestess, "What is your purpose in telling me such a great plan? You are not afraid..."

"In my impression, you should be regarded as the most rational and intelligent among all the ghost princes." The priestess said, "So, I believe you will make a choice that meets my expectations."

She had seen that my faith in the Lady of the Lost was beginning to falter, and Agrela thought, why tell me these secrets now that she has doubts?

Obviously, she is testing my loyalty, or...using me to send some news to the outside world.

A deep sense of fatigue flooded Agrila's body like running water, making his eyes gradually firm.

He looked at the priestess standing in front of him carelessly, and said slowly:
"In terms of intelligence, I am not as good as De Soude, in terms of talent, I am far from Brenas, in terms of belief in the Lost Lady, I am not as good as Rui Valan and Yada, and even in terms of persistence in magic, I am not as good as Lamorak. So, Ms. Illyrel, I regret to tell you that this time, I may disappoint you."

"Because... mortals are mortal." After saying these words, the Yinhun Prince, who had closed his eyes, activated the detonation circle of Miser's energy core.

…………

Going out of the confinement tower, going down the stairs at the back door, and then disappearing into Sergante City, it was easy for the barbarian Brunhiti.

Instead of fleeing, however, Brunhetti turned into a guarded passageway through the back of the mansion, ready to complete one of the most important tasks of her life.

She brushes shoulders with the endless stream of maids, valets and butlers.

Although Terina's magic is very powerful, even if she is uncovered by someone, it can help her quickly recover and fight back, but Brunhetti still keeps her inconspicuous, does not meet people's eyes, and does not speak out.

A quarter of an hour later, Brunhiti walked out of the guarded passage and entered the dim hall in front of the private wing of Prince Ekasia.

The door between the vestibule and the wing was closed, and the ghost warriors still wore the armor they had fought in Mokou Town. For a moment, she despaired of her plan.

There was no other way to enter the wing, at least she hadn't seen it, and even if she remained invisible, she couldn't defeat the dozen or so ghost warriors under Ecacia.

But, as Brunhiti hoped, even lying half dead in bed, Ekasia, Prince of Shadows, has to deal with the shadow people's official business against the Kingdom of Sembia.

This made her secretly thank the Kingdom of Cormyr, they fought a beautiful victory, and let this group of damn moviegoers hide here like bereaved dogs.

It was precisely because of this that she found a chance for revenge.

Not long after, Brunhetti saw a hurrying courier approaching the gate with a message bottle full of shadows.

Brunhetti followed so closely that when an escort, ordering the courier to stop three steps from the door, she had to dodge behind him quickly to avoid hitting him.

The guard took the message bottle and sent the messenger away. After the latter disappeared in the corridor, the former turned around and knocked on the door lightly.

Brunhetti stood beside the guard for a long time, not even daring to take a breath, lest her breath be blown on his arm.

Finally, a moviegoer dressed as a butler opened the door, and the door was opened just enough for him to lean out to take the message bottle.

Perhaps it would be wise to wait for the maid or other domestic servant to enter, whose service required the door to be opened two shoulders width, but Brunhetti wasted no precious time in making a decision, and Brunhetti knew the Tower's limitations. Homicides don't go away forever.

She squatted down, carefully keeping her body away from the guards, and then walked sideways through the narrow door opening, trying not to step on the butler's feet, but the butler suddenly closed the door and stuck her feet.

The guard yelled at the butler's mistake, and then reached out to push the door.

Brunhetti turned her flat feet sideways and tucked her feet into the room before the heavy door was forced shut.

so close!

The door clicked shut, and Brunhetti took a seat in the back hall, and immediately opened her mouth and took a deep breath to calm her heart.

After a while, she got up from her seat, picked up her weapon, and walked towards the interior of the back hall of the Ecacia Wing, where six Shadowman mages were sitting there, handling official duties for the prince.

On her hands and knees, Brunhiti walked through the back hall and into the dark corridor leading to the Prince's inner sanctum, dodging the passing staff.

Inside the corridor, she had to crouch to slip under the crossed halberds of a group of guards.

Finally, Brunhiti finally entered the prince's spacious and gorgeous bedroom from the dressing room.

She was pleasantly surprised to see that Ekasia, the ghost prince, was really lying alone on his big bed, with a human-shaped shadow clinging to a cage of black ribs.

His beating black heart was clearly visible in the rib cavity, and the flames of the magic net that almost burned him to death still emitted a faint silver light that could not dissipate for a long time.

It is said that during the battle in Mokou Town, Ecacia was almost burned to death by the silver fire erupted by the mage lord, and finally had to flee to Sergante's castle to recuperate.

Brunhetti also saw a servant serving him on one side of the bed, and a black-robed priestess wearing a Shar purple mask tending to him with divine magic on the other.

Two of Ecacia's guards stood in front of the bed. Brunhiti's former weapon, the Dark Sword, was displayed on a shelf above the prince's bedside table, locked in a crystal glass cabinet.

"Blenchetti!"

The voice of Sister Jielina came from her mind: "I have temporarily controlled the guards of the castle. In Prince Shadow's room, there is a shadow stone. You must break this stone and let it Out of action."

Brunhiti nodded slightly. Apart from killing the ghost prince Ecacia, her purpose of coming here was to destroy the stone in Terina's mouth.

This stone caused most of the high-level members of the Sembia Kingdom and the members of the Council of Elders to be possessed by shadows. Only by destroying that stone can the core members of the Sembia Kingdom completely get rid of the shadow people's control.

But what does that have to do with her?
Brunchti walked to the bed indifferently, swiped the dagger left and right like lightning, and ruthlessly cut the throats of the two soldiers.

Two blood arrows gushed out, and as soon as they fell, the priestess who was healing Prince Shade instantly noticed the abnormality, and quickly raised her hands, ready to cast a magic spell.

Brunhiti, who had been prepared for a long time, swung the whip away with the other hand, interrupting her spellcasting.

The barbed rope of the long whip was tightly wrapped around the woman's throat, pulling her to the ground, and the latter's prayer suddenly became a whimper before suffocation.

The servant seized the opportunity and ran towards the door. He was already speechless from ear to ear, but he didn't scream and just gasped.

It turns out that you will be afraid too!

Recalling the scene of her people being massacred, the female barbarian smiled coldly.

She immediately turned sideways at the end of the bed, kicked her leg high, and kicked the servant's chin with her heel. The powerful force made his feet fly off the ground, and the back of his head hit the marble, making a terrifying crack. head voice.

Seeing this scene, the priestess gave up chanting and rushed forward desperately, pulling the whip wrapped around her neck with her left hand, and waving her dagger frantically with her right hand.

Brunhetti grabbed her right hand and shoved the dagger into the woman's jaw.

The eyes of the priestess rolled white, the dagger slipped from her hand, staggered a few steps and fell to the ground.

Brunhetti dropped the whip, turned and jumped on the bed.

A pair of faint copper-colored flames flickered in the dark eye sockets of the seriously wounded and dying Shade Prince Ekasia, and he struggled to regain consciousness.

The female barbarian walked towards the display case without hesitation, the flames in Ecacia's eyes lit up, and she knew that the prince was gradually recovering his strength.

She broke the cabinet with a dagger, took out her dark sword, ignored the shadow stone urged by Terina, and jumped back on the bed.

Just then, a dark arm stretched out from under the quilt.

Brunhetti swung her sword to block, but the long sword bounced upwards, smashing a crystal door, and something hit her in the chest like a hammer, and she was pushed out of bed, face down on the floor.

"guard!"

Ecacia's voice was as small as a grunt, but the grunt was enough to cause a commotion in the locker room, "There are assassins, come and save me!"

Brunhetti calmly raised her right hand, silently calling for the magic weapon her father gave her during the coming-of-age ceremony.

Immediately afterwards, she heard the sound of crystal shards being scraped, and the weapon that seemed to be connected with her blood flew towards the big bed. She caught the hilt of the sword with one hand, like an old friend reunited.

When the sharp blade grazed Ekasia's body, it also dragged a shadow.

The moment she saw Ecacia, the ghost prince, trying to escape from the other side of the big bed, the barbarian threw the sword without hesitation.

The blade was inserted between the Shade Prince's shoulder blades with perfect precision, slicing through his two ribs and his faintly beating heart from back to front.

Ecacia's ribcage was snapped in two and fell to the ground, and the split heart was turning into a cloud of shadows.

The female barbarian Brunhiti, who had avenged her genocide, did not enjoy the pleasure she had imagined, because the ghost prince who was about to die was smiling contemptuously at herself.

Brunchti raised her foot, stepped on Ecacia's rib-only body, and said coldly, "I never expected, Prince Ecacia, you will die in my hands after all, I represent the lion All the clansmen of the Eagle Tribe, send you the most cordial greetings."

"Mortals are mortal, early death and late death... is death." Although the tone of the Shadow Prince was weak, his momentum remained undiminished. "There is nothing terrible about death. I just feel sad for you, dear Miss Brunhetti."

Ecacia's words made the barbarian feel angry and disgusted.

Recalling the scene of the clansmen being ruthlessly massacred by the shadow people, she exerted force on her feet, crushing the ribs of Prince Yinhun to pieces like breaking a tree branch.

"What are you waiting for, quickly destroy the Shadow Stone!" Sister Jie Linna urged, "The guards are coming soon!"

"Shut up!" Brunhetti said impatiently, "From now on, devil, you are no longer qualified to order me!"

"Sure enough, I guessed it right, hahaha..." The ghost prince suddenly laughed when he was dying, and the laughter was full of sarcasm and mockery:
"In order to kill me, you did not hesitate to cooperate with the devil. You are still the sister of the succubus queen, I have already thought about your future ending. Dear Miss Brunhetti, you are ready to serve the abyss with your own body Are you ready for the demons? The demons in the Abyss are not only of various types, but also have many tricks, such as the berserker who looks like a toad, the flo with the head of a vulture, the lure, the giant bull, Barlow Balrog..."

Before the ghost prince Ekasia could finish his words, he died. His beating black heart completely turned into a shadow and dissipated in the air.

"Are you dying?" Sister Hui Yao's urgent voice sounded again, "The guards are coming soon, as long as you destroy the Shadow Stone, I will send you out of this place immediately."

"I told you," the barbarian Brunhiti said viciously, "The deal between us is over, go to your mother's Shadow Stone and leave it to your mother, you croaking bitch!"

Although the ghost prince Ecacia was killed by her, the other party's mocking laughter echoed in her mind for a long time.

Brunhetti ignored Sister Hui Yao's urging and threats, she stood quietly in front of the mirror in the bedroom, her face was proud and stiff, expressionless.

She straightened her messy long hair, smoothed her dress, wiped the blood from the sleeves, and took a string of ruby ​​necklaces from the neck of the murdered priestess, and put them on her chest.

She had personally killed the ghost prince who slaughtered her own people, and her revenge was avenged, so she no longer had any worries in her heart.

The heavy leather boots of the guards outside the door stomped on the ground, and Brunhetti stood motionless in front of the window without even turning around.

The blood-red sunset slowly sank under the roof.

Brunhetti ignored Sister Glory's maddened roar, she sat quietly on a chair in front of the table, blew on a candle, and then slit her throat with a dagger before the guards kicked the room open.

…………

(End of this chapter)