Finally, the passage in of Ace opened, and he stopped in front of it. Standing before him was a massive entrance, or what remained of one, because the door, if it could still be called that, was shattered.
Fragnts of ancient material lay scattered across the ground, as if sothing had broken through it long ago with overwhelming force, yet no one had bothered to repair it, or, if they had, they couldn’t.
Ace frowned slightly with a hint of confusion, ’Why is it left like this?’
After all, it didn’t make sense for a place this important to remain in ruins unless the ruin itself held aning.
Nonetheless, Ace stepped forward carefully and crossed the threshold, and what lay beyond was a vast hall enshrouded in silence and desolation; on top of that, it was ruined.
Cracked walls stretched across the chamber, etched with scars of what was clearly an ancient battle. Massive stone statues lay broken across the ground, so reduced to fragnts, others split cleanly in half.
The air was heavy with age, and not just old but preserved, and untouched as if no one dared to alter what had happened here.
’Is this place part of so battlefield?’ Ace thought quietly.
But that wasn’t what caught his attention; his gaze slowly lifted and then froze, because on both sides of the hall, standing in perfect silence, were ten towering figures.
They didn’t move or breathe, yet the mont Ace saw them, he knew exactly what they were.
’Corpse Vessels!’
Each one was different, with different races, forms, so humanoid, others monstrous, so with wings, so with multiple limbs, but they all shared the sa thing.
The Corpse Veins are the dark, pulsing veins spread across their bodies, connecting them to the ground beneath and continuously channeling dense Corpse Qi into their forms. They stood there like soldiers, or perhaps like trophies.
Ace’s expression turned grave because seeing those corpse vessels giving off a terrifying aura just like that giant skeletal he had encountered on the exit of the terminal no.47.
Although he wasn’t certain about the giant skeleton, there was no doubt in his mind anymore about those corpse vessels which had been refined to perfection, and with the current location, everything points towards one existence.
’They might belong to him...’
The Corpse Governor surfaced instantly as this place, this ruined hall, these vessels, everything pointed to a single conclusion that Ace had reached the domain of the Corpse Governor.
A cold weight settled in his chest because if he was correct, the core formation or even the Transcendent Void Obsidian was under that existence’s control.
’What a damn luck, if Corpse Governor resides here, then stealing the core formation will be nearly impossible.’
For the first ti since entering this place, even Ace felt the true scale of the risk before him, but he didn’t retreat; instead, his eyes slowly sharpened because turning back was no longer an option.
’...I’ve co this far. I’ll overco the Corpse Governor if he’s really with the core of the formation. But if not, all I need to do is to avoid him!’ Ace thought with resolution.
The next mont, silently, under the cover of Lawless Darkness, Ace stepped deeper into the ruined hall toward the heart of danger as well as where his target lay.
With the protection of the Lawless Darkness, Ace moved without hesitation within the ruined hall, which seed to stretch endlessly ahead, silent and suffocating, as if even ti itself had been buried here along with whatever history this place carried.
The ten towering corpse vessels remained unmoving on both sides, yet the deeper Ace stepped inside, the heavier their presence beca.
It wasn’t pressure in the usual sense. It felt more like being watched. Not by consciousness, but by sothing ingrained, sothing residual.
However, with the Lawless Darkness Ace ignored it, and his focus remained locked on the Live Fate Map, which was guiding him deeper into the hall. But, soon, he slowed as his eyes swept across the surroundings again, sharper this ti.
’No path?’ Ace thought inwardly as the hall ended ahead, or rather, it should have.
The far end was nothing but a solid wall, ancient and cracked like everything else here, yet completely sealed, with no doors, tunnels, or visible formations; a dead end.
But the Live Fate Map and Moira were clear that the path continued forward, making Ace’s gaze cold as he wasn’t new to such situations.
’The path ahead is hidden...’
Ace didn’t move imdiately; instead, he observed everything carefully, from the broken statues to the faint flow of Corpse Qi across the ground to the positioning of the corpse vessels as he followed the map’s indications.
Then his eyes stopped on one of the corpse vessels as it stood slightly apart from the others, taller and more intact, and the Corpse Qi flowing through it was different, much denser, and concentrated.
Ace’s expression changed ever so slightly as he approached it silently, his presence erased under the Lawless Darkness.
The mont he stood before it, Moira’s voice confird his suspicion, "Sir... the passage is behind this one."
Ace’s eyes narrowed slightly as he wryly thought, ’Of course it is.’
It was, as Moira just said, as he could clearly see the ’path’ ahead was right behind this corpse vessel.
However, this is exactly where the problem lies, especially after he speculates that these corpse vessels belonged to the Corpse Governor, and that eerie feeling of being watched through them.
Although he was untraceable with the Lawless Darkness, he knew those Corpse Vessels were most likely serving as a kind of alarm or guards; the mont he stopped using it, those corpse vessels would beco active and alert their owner.
After observing the corpse veins and the corpse vessel in front of him for a while, sothing ca to his mind, ’Now that I think about it, the passage and the corpse vessel are both connected with these corpse veins, and this led to think about a thod of the Corpse Clan in Dargoth’s moires.
’Instead of using the Lawless Darkness and passing through this corpse vessel, which would probably serve the connection between the corpse vessel and its owner or cause a massive disruption because of the forr’s nature, this thod is much safer and carries little risk.
’Even if I ended up failing, the corpse vessel’s owner might not detect , and if they ended up finding , I’ll just need to make sure to keep the Lawless Darkness active, and use their monts of distraction to my advantage...’
After Ace made his decision, he raised his hand slowly before strands of Primordial Spirit Qi imbued with Lawless Darkness gathered at his fingertips, thin and precise.
Instead of attacking or forcing it, he carefully sent those strands towards the Corpse Vessel and then traced along the corpse veins embedded within the vessel.
At this mont, Ace activated a ’Forbidden Spell’ of Corpse Clan that Dargoth acquired from the Central Repository...
’Tainted Qi Disarray!’
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