Chapter 677: The Labyrinth
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Summoning Lamp that had sealed the Lord of Nightmares was a congratulatory gift from Englos on behalf of the Brilliance Shrine when Lin Li was appointed as the President of the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic. Of course, he had not accepted the gift for nothing. He still had to treat the Pope of Brilliance Shrine and give him an antidote for the Viper’s poison.
Regarding the Summoning Lamp, Lin Li had once thought it was just a powerful magical weapon because the powerful Lord of Nightmares was sealed within it. However, according to Connoris, the Summoning Lamp was not just a magical weapon, and was in fact a super weapon that Osric had created for the Eternal Furnace.
Due to this, Lin Li had also done an extremely detailed research on the Summoning Lamp. In fact, he could be considered to be well aware of the various characteristics of the Summoning Lamp. Although the Summoning Lamp had a completely different appearance from the special oil lamp in the corridor, Lin Li could draw many subtle similarities between the two.
After hearing Cheyenne’s reminder, everyone discovered that the oil lamp was indeed different, but they still faced a difficult problem. Although the oil lamp was on the edge of the space trap, it was still surrounded by the dense cracks in space, and no one knew what to do to make the oil lamp work. Even if an arrow struck it, the arrow would be shattered by a space crack before it even hit the target.
However, Lin Li thought of the similarity between the two lamps, and could not help but suddenly get an idea. The Summoning Lamp had to be infused with mental strength in order to stimulate and summon the sealed Lord of Nightmares. In that case, what would happen if he were to infuse some of his mental strength into that oil lamp?
At the thought of this, Lin Li did not hesitate any longer. After all, he wasn’t the only one who noticed that oil lamp. If he were to miss something, it would be too late to regret it. Deciding to give it a try, Lin Li gathered a portion of mental strength, carefully pushed it through the gap between the cracks in space, and finally injected it into the oil lamp in the corridor.
With the infusion of mental strength, the oil lamp suddenly exploded with a loud bang, and a smoky shadow rose from it before gradually solidifying, revealing a huge figure. The silhouette was almost blocked by the corridor, but it was just a shadow from waist down. It then gradually condensed and hid itself in the flame of the oil lamp.
Upon sight of the huge silhouette, almost everyone suddenly felt like they were being crushed by a huge mountain. The surrounding atmosphere seemed to have frozen all of a sudden, making it hard for everyone to breathe. The tension and huge pressure made them gradually bend their legs subconsciously as if there was a voice in their heads that was telling them to kneel down to seek relief.
Fortunately, they were all Legendary powerhouses, and the huge figure did not seem to deliberately exert its pressure, making everyone press on with their strong perseverance. They did not do anything embarrassing at this moment.
Everyone, including Lin Li, was taken aback by the sudden change, and tried their best to prepare for the battle. However, the huge figure that suddenly emerged did not immediately attack them. Instead, it hovered in the air and looked down at them. At this moment, everyone got a clear view of the huge figure in front of them, and they could not help but be shocked when they saw its face.
They were not the only ones who got shocked because they were unprepared. Even Lin Li, who’d caused the sudden change himself, immediately became dumbfounded when he saw the huge figure.
They looked so similar! everyone thought to themselves. The huge figure that suddenly appeared in front of them turned out to have the same appearance as Lin Li. It was as if it were made from a mold of Lin Li.
Everyone had been interacting with Lin Li for some time. Even if they didn’t compare the two, they would still be able to confirm the similarity between the two. In fact, when they got a clear view of the figure’s face, they would have thought that it was a magnified shadow of Lin Li if it weren’t because of the figure’s terrifying aura.
After being stunned for a while, Lin Li snapped out of his trance, and immediately thought of the statue that he had seen at the altar of the Lich in the Scar of Death, which was said to be a statue of the Immortal King. Of course, Lin Li wasn’t that narcissistic as to think that the huge figure that appeared suddenly was himself. Thinking of the Immortal King’s statue, he could not help but wonder if the huge figure was the Immortal King.
When he first saw the Immortal King’s statue in the Scar of Death, Lin Li felt rather peculiar because the statue was way too similar to him. At that time, he, too, thought that it might be a coincidence. After all, a statue was a statue, and the High Elves might have added some artistic details to it.
However, Lin Li now felt that it might not be a coincidence, though the similarity between the Immortal King and himself still remained a difficult riddle to solve.
Everyone watched in horror as the huge figure slowly chanted a spell that no one could understand in a low and deep voice. No one knew what spell it was, not even the elves who had learned and inherited the language of the High Elves. Even though they had already gotten ready for a battle, no one dared to move and inch at this moment. The mighty power left them with no desire to resist at all.
Everyone could not hide the fear on their faces at all. No one thought that the spell chanted by the figure was just a lame and insignificant magic spell. Perhaps the end of the chant would also spell the end of them all. However, when faced with that coercion, even running away had become a luxury, let alone retaliation.
As the last syllable of the spell ended, Lin Li suddenly discovered that his surroundings had changed dramatically, though there was no strange feeling. Elder Randy and Cheyenne, who were initially standing beside him, had already disappeared at this moment, and they were no longer in front of the dangerous corridor that was full of dangers.
Lin Li looked up and around, only to feel a freezing coldness in his chest. The sky was gray, and not dark like skies that were covered by gloomy clouds. However, it was dull and suffocating. The only unique color in the air was the blood-like sun that was eye-catching but unable to bring a touch of warmth. There were huge cracks in the ground that intertwined and seemed to contain enough force that would split the earth apart. It was not only the sky and the earth and sea, but the entire world that seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. Everything seemed to be full of decline and about to be destroyed anytime soon.
A thunderous roar continued to reverberate between heaven and earth, making the entire world quake continuously. Lin Li looked into the distance to see that there were huge figures like towering peaks, waving giant flashing spears in their hands. However, their enemies were massive dragon-like creatures flying in the sky.
Lin Li could clearly feel the aftershock of the collision even from such a long distance. Lin Li suddenly thought of the two most powerful races, the Titans and the Ancient Wyrms, which had fought and battled in Anril for countless years during the prehistoric times.
During the collision of brutal forces, Titans would be plucked up into the sky from time to time and get besieged by Ancient Wyrms from all around. There would also be sudden explosions of thunderbolts from time to time, shooting down the Ancient Wyrms flying in the air. It was battle of pure power, destined not to have any winners. Every Titan would fall together with an Ancient Wyrm, and the two were definitely going all out in the battle.
Lin Li slowly descended from the sky and landed on the ground, after which he was greeted with the sight of a boundless yellow desert that formed blurry and unclear borders when juxtaposed against the gray sky. He chose and took a step in a direction because he noticed that there seemed to be some unusual shadows there when he landed.
Despite having great mental strength, Lin Li could not tell if this place was just an illusion or he had been sent to the far-flung prehistoric times by a strong spell. He only knew that everything around him seemed so real. The hot air that he was inhaling and the feeling of sinking into yellow sand under his feet did not seem fake at all.
Lin Li didn’t know how long he had been in the desert for, but the once-blurry shadow gradually became clearer. He finally realized that the shadow he was aiming at was not a mountain, but a massive shrine.
Looking at the long staircase in front, Lin Li suddenly felt amused because every step was taller than himself. Standing under the steps, he felt as if he were facing a cliff, and could only see the top of the cliff by looking up. Lin Li could not help but secretly rejoice that he was a Mage. If he were a Warrior, he would have probably died of exhaustion if he were to try climbing the stairs.
Lin Li had already lost count of how many steps he had taken, and simply knew that he actually felt a trace of fatigue when he finally stood in front of the door of the shrine that was left wide open. However, he believed that even if the door was closed, he would be able to enter through the crack, and might not even have his forehead touch it.
To be honest, he rarely felt as tiny as an ant. After entering the shrine, Lin Li felt extremely small, and the gaps between the paved stones were like wide gullies to him. In the shrine, the stone pillars on both sides seemed to be supporting the sky, and what he reckoned to be the top of the shrine seemed like a deep night sky to him.
In fact, Lin Li could already vaguely guess that this might be the pantheon of the Titan race. However, Lin Li did not feel any strong aura in this pantheon. There were no Titan guardians nor the legendary Titan Spirits in sight.
However, as Lin Li stepped into the gate of the Pantheon, the empty shrine seemed to have suddenly transformed into an endless labyrinth. Taking the huge stone pillar in front of him as a target, Lin Li displayed his flying techniques and flew straight towards the target, but the stone pillar that should have remained in place too seemed to have started moving in order to maintain a distance between itself and Lin Li.
“This is the most commonly used trick in the labyrinth.” Lin Li shook his head and suddenly rushed forward, but the target sped up to collide with him.
Lin Li made a sharp turn and flew towards the side. However, the stone pillar also changed its direction and rushed at him even more rapidly. When Lin Li stopped, the stone pillar would stop. When Lin Li turned, it would turn too. When Lin Li flew away, it would do the same…
There would always be a certain pattern in the maze, but Lin Li was getting increasingly confused at the moment. Everything around him would freeze at times, and no matter which direction he went in, he would feel like he wasn’t moving at all. Sometimes, it would fly backwards, and even if he stood still, he would feel like he was flying forward. Sometimes, it would fly around in all directions, making it hard for him to pinpoint a direction.
It was an active labyrinth where everything was changing irregularly and continuously. One after another, fatal traps appeared beside Lin Li without any warning, and sometimes they would even appear directly in front of him. More terribly, the traps did not adhere to any Laws at all. They were not Alchemy Arrays or magic gears. Instead, they were traps composed of intangible rules of space and time. They might not be as difficult to deal with as the space trap in that corridor, but each one was deadly, and they never failed to make Lin Li panic.
The horror of this labyrinth had far exceeded Lin Li’s imagination, and he did not have any method to tackle it at all. The Warlock’s Eyes, which he usually used to solve labyrinths, could not be used here, because what was detected by Warlock’s Eyes would change every moment. The so-called labyrinth had no walls at all, and was simply an open space with no borders.
No matter how Lin Li spurred his flying techniques, the front seemed to be a straight never ending road, and he was like a rat running continuously on a running wheel. Regardless of which direction he turned in, the road in front of him seemed to have been trapped in a ball. No matter which direction he flew in, he would never find the end.
Outside the shrine, the blood-like sun in the sky fell and rose again for seven times, meaning that seven days had passed in the world. In these seven days, Lin Li had been trapped in the labyrinth, but still hadn’t found the clue to solve the labyrinth. Finally, on the seventh day, he stopped and scratched his head in frustration. The seemingly unsolvable maze somehow felt familiar to him.