SWDnovel Chapter 132 Speculations on the Fire of Death
Chapter 132 Speculations on the Fire of Death
Chapter 133 Speculations on the Fire of Death
Deep in a remote, dense forest on the border of the Kingdom of Bill.
The branches and leaves of the towering ancient trees overlapped and intertwined to form an almost opaque dome, with only a few rays of sunlight able to penetrate and cast dappled light spots on the thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground.
The air was damp, filled with the rich scent of soil and fungi. Absolute stillness reigned supreme here, with only the occasional, indistinct chirping of birds and insects from the far distance, which only accentuated the deep, deathly silence of the place.
Lilith leaned lazily against the trunk of a huge, ancient tree with rough, cracked bark, her arms crossed, watching Hughes not far away, who was intently drawing an incredibly complex magic circle on the ground with a strange, silvery-gray powder that emitted a faint, eerie light.
His movements were extremely careful. Every stroke, every embedding of a rune, and every connection of an energy circuit was precise. Fine beads of sweat even appeared on his forehead due to his intense concentration. Clearly, this teleportation array, which was about to be completed, was of utmost importance and could not afford to fail.
The wait was long and tedious, and Lilith's thoughts drifted back to her frustrating experience in the Dark Canyon, especially the eerie black flames that seemed to devour everything and completely nullify her invincible mental charm.
She finally couldn't help but speak, breaking the silence with a hint of lingering curiosity and a subtle disdain: "Hey, Hughes, that black flame, the so-called 'death fire' that scared you so much you almost fell apart on the spot, is it really as sinister and terrifying as described in the records?"
Although I admit, I was completely helpless against it at the time. It could ignite energy in a strange way, even scorching my mental perception, and it felt like it could burn my soul away.
She paused, tilted her head slightly, and showed a thoughtful expression: "However, the guy who controls it, based on my most intuitive perception and multiple tests, is indeed a formal wizard who has just stepped into the first level!"
Even if that flame itself has some merit, is it enough to make you—or us, dignified level three wizards, so wary, even to the point of bowing down?
Upon hearing Lilith's doubtful and dismissive words, Hughes's fingers, which were drawing the key lines of the magic circle, trembled violently, almost causing the glowing powder to deviate from its trajectory.
He gasped, forcibly calming his mind and slightly trembling fingers, and with great perseverance completed this crucial energy node before slowly straightening his aching back.
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he held his breath and carefully examined the part he had just finished drawing. After confirming that every line was perfect and the energy flowed smoothly, he let out a long sigh and turned to look at Lilith.
At this moment, his face wore a complex expression that Lilith had never seen before, a mixture of extreme solemnity, lingering fear, and even a hint of—indescribable awe.
"So you're still too young, Lilith."
Hughes's voice was unusually low and hoarse, completely devoid of its usual slickness and flattery, leaving only a settled heaviness.
"You haven't been a Level 3 Wizard for very long, and you've been absorbed into the outer system of the Sanctuary for even less time. You haven't had the opportunity to come into contact with many truly ancient and terrifying secret histories and forbidden knowledge that have been deliberately sealed off by the higher-ups, let alone understand their true meaning."
He patted the few silver-gray powders on his hands, but his gaze seemed unfocused as he looked into the deeper shadows of the dense forest, as if recalling some extremely terrifying, unpleasant nightmare.
"The Flame of Death—its terror and horror lie not only in what it can burn in the moment, or in the current strength level of its manipulator."
He paused, seemingly struggling to organize his thoughts, trying to describe to Lilith the horror that defied conventional understanding.
What's truly despairing is its irreversibility and the obliteration at the level of rules!
He looked at Lilith, his eyes extremely serious: "Once it truly ignites, whether it's physical matter, pure energy, or the ethereal essence of the soul, unless the caster actively retracts the flame, or an entity several levels above the caster with overwhelming power forcibly intervenes and completely annihilates it, otherwise—"
It will burn like a persistent, insidious disease, never extinguished, until it completely reduces the target's existence to primordial nothingness at its most fundamental level.
Hughes's voice trembled slightly: "No ashes, no residue, no trace left, as if it had never existed in this world."
This complete erasure directly affects the fundamental rules of the world! Do you understand what this means?
Lilith frowned deeply. She had personally experienced how troublesome the flames were, and they were indeed extremely difficult to deal with. But Hughes' words made her realize that their terror might far exceed her experience.
"But that's not the most crucial point!"
Hughes's voice suddenly became even deeper, even carrying a hint of mystery and fear.
"The most crucial, and also the most unsettling, point is—"
He took a deep breath, as if about to reveal a shocking secret: "This flame, this power—based on the scattered records and deductions in the Sanctuary's top-secret documents, it is highly likely that it is not a product of our world at all!"
"What?!"
Lilith abruptly straightened up, her languid posture leaning against the tree trunk vanishing instantly. The color drained from her face in a flash, and her beautiful eyes widened in extreme shock, her pupils slightly contracting.
"A stranger?! You mean—that Hick who manipulates black flames, the source of his power—"
Is it the power of outsiders from beyond the world?!
This earth-shattering conjecture, more so than any previous description of the terrifying nature of the Deathfire itself, sent a chill and tremor through her very soul!
If this speculation is true, then the nature of the matter has undergone a radical and fundamental change!
Hughes nodded heavily, his face more serious and pale than ever before, even showing a hint of barely concealed fear: "Very likely! In fact—combining the few bits of secret I know and the behavior of the flames, it's almost certain!"
He subconsciously licked his dry lips, instinctively lowering his voice as if afraid of being overheard by some unseen force: "Think carefully about the characteristics exhibited by the 'Fire of Death'—that near-rule-level absolute annihilation, that burning method and energy texture so different from anything we know about elemental energy, negative energy, or spiritual power in the wizarding system, that domineering, eerie, and ominous aura that seems to originate from the underlying rules of another world—"
All of this perfectly matches the characteristics of the power possessed by those extremely powerful, truly superior outsiders—powers beyond our comprehension—described in the top-secret records within our sanctuary!
"But—but—"
Lilith's mind was in chaos, and she instinctively tried to find reasons to refute them in order to calm her greatly shocked mind.
"That Hick, he clearly exudes the aura of the natives of this world! His soul's fluctuations, the very foundation of his life, are all intimately connected to this world—"
"None of that matters!"
Hughes abruptly interrupted Lilith, his tone filled with an almost anxious urgency.
"At least for the flame itself, who controls it or what its foundation is is irrelevant! What matters is the level of power this flame represents and the underlying meaning!"
He took a deep breath and continued to throw out even more shocking information: "Think about it carefully. In the records of the Holy Temple, which of those outsiders who entered our world through various accidental gaps did not eventually weaken and fail because their own power system conflicted with the rules of our world, or because they ran out of energy and could not replenish it?"
But look at that death fire! It first appeared three hundred years ago! Has it ever gone out? Has it ever weakened? Has it been assimilated or rejected by the rules of our world?
At this point, Hughes' tone carried an indescribable sense of awe and even a hint of fear: "No! Not only no, it can even be controlled and used by a native wizard! Even the rules of the world itself seem helpless against this power, so what does this mean?"
This power, its source, most likely comes from—that world!
He stared intently into Lilith's eyes and said, word by word, "Therefore, anything associated with this flame, regardless of its appearance, must be treated with the utmost reverence and extreme caution! We must never lightly touch or antagonize it!"
Even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance that our guess is true, the attention and consequences it might attract would be something we, or even the entire Holy Church, couldn't bear! That would be absolute annihilation!
"That world—"
After hearing Hughes's shocking remarks, which combined secrets and deductions, Lilith fell completely silent, her face as pale as paper.
She had obviously also learned some bits and pieces about that terrifying world through her own channels. It was one of the ultimate fears that made the entire wizarding world's higher-ups turn pale at the mere mention of it and keep it a closely guarded secret!
"The magic circle is complete! Enough talk, let's hurry and teleport this container back. That should count as completing a phase of the mission!"
Hughes clearly didn't want to delve any deeper into this suffocating topic. He pointed to the magic circle on the ground that had been drawn and was beginning to emit faint spatial fluctuations, urging Lilith to join him in injecting activation energy into the core of the magic circle.
Lilith completely abandoned all her contempt and wishful thinking, her face showing unprecedented solemnity. She quickly stepped forward, placed her hand on an energy node of the magic circle, and together with Hughes, unleashed their full energy output.
With the combined efforts of the two level-three wizards, the complex magic circle patterns lit up one by one, the silver-gray light grew stronger and stronger, the spatial fluctuations became more intense, and the surrounding scenery began to distort slightly.
Before long, the light at the center of the magic circle reached its peak, and a blurry figure gradually condensed and became clear in the distorted light.
However, upon seeing the person's face clearly, Lilith's expression didn't show any relief after completing her mission; instead, it revealed deep confusion and a hint of displeasure: "It's you? Vidis!"
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