Chapter 625: A Weird Monster

"...An unimaginable ghost..."

Compared to the previous notes, the two lines were written very heavily and hastily. The fear and panic between the lines could be easily felt.

"What monster could've possibly terrified a legendary sorcerer to such an extent? Also, why didn't he leave when he still had time? They should've already grasped the pattern of coordinate changes in this place..." Lucien showed no expression on his face, but he analyzed the anomalies in his heart.

Since the guy's notebook hadn't decayed at all after so many years without being looked after by anyone, and since the guy established a unique chamber inside the grey hall as his laboratory, Lucien was pretty sure that the writer was a legendary sorcerer. Those people wouldn't have been terrified even if they had run into a demigod. They might be devastated and defeated, but they shouldn't have been as scared as a little kid.

What kind of ghost was that?

Somehow, Lucien felt that the creepy feeling caused by the note was familiar, but he didn't find a corresponding experience in his memories.

With the arm of the puppet in his hands, Rhine observed, as if he were appraising jewelry. "This puppet was made in a unique way. As far as I know, McLeod was the only person capable of that. This should be his last belonging."

He stressed 'last belonging'.

"McLeod, the King of Alchemy in the ancient Magic Empire, a level-three legendary sorcerer?" Lucien confirmed with him.

According to Viken and Adol's files, McLeod was one of the ten or so legendary sorcerers who explored the World of Souls with Maskelyne. It seemed that they indeed 'went missing' in this place.

Lucien did not know the specific number of the teammates because Viken did not record any of them and Adol only knew the famous ones among them. He could only infer the rest of them. Obviously, the legendary sorcerers who 'went missing' in the ancient Magic Empire did not all disappear in the World of Souls.

"Based on the files I know, it's probably him." Rhine rubbed the bright green arm of the puppet that was painted with weird patterns.

Lucien smiled, "You are the Observer. Your conclusion is definitely more accurate than mine."

Rhine smiled and tapped the puppet as if he were playing the piano. "This puppet is a rarely-seen one-time legendary item, and it seems that it was not destroyed but dismantled by McLeod purposefully into multiple parts. If we find the parts, we may be able to reassemble it."

"Dismantled purposefully? Perhaps, we can get the important information that McLeod left behind after it is restored." Said Lucien, deep in thought. It was a way in the school of astrology to avoid prophecies.

"There's no telling how many gates and grey halls there are in this place. Since we do not know the specific coordinates of the locations where McLeod stored the parts of his puppet, we may not be able to collect all of them in thousands of years." Rhine passed the puppet over. "This is not of much use to me. You can keep it to yourself."

Lucien had been very interested in the way to craft the puppet in the first place. Also, it was now an incomplete and unusable item. Therefore, he took it over straightforwardly.

He placed his right hand on the puppet and exerted his strength, but it did not move at all. Rhine was obviously clutching the puppet.

Lucien raised his head and looked at Rhine. Didn't he say that he would give it to him?

Looking at Rhine's confusion, Rhine smiled and said humorously, "Are you going to take it without a thank you?"

In the meantime, Lucien saw that his silver, bright eyes became blurry, like the cold dreamy moon in a deep night that could captivate everybody's soul.

Lucien suddenly felt such a strong fatigue that he only wanted to go to sleep.

Not good!

The vampire's talented enchantment!

Why did Mr. Rhine suddenly attack him?

The sound of the Mental Barrier being broken echoed inside Lucien's soul and slightly refreshed him, but Rhine's eyes were like a night sky where a silver moon was shining. He couldn't shift his attention at all.

The vague light of 'Short-Distance Teleportation' illuminated, and 'Spell Trigger' was automatically activated since his soul was under attack.

Right then, Rhine moved his right hand, spreading bright black waves toward Lucien's hand through the puppet, which offset the magic waves and stopped Lucien from blinking away.

'Magic Order' and 'Spell Sequencer' were activated one after the other, but they were both negated by Rhine in weird ways. He extended his sharp teeth and bit Lucien as graceful as a gentleman: "It's very impolite to not say thank you."

Suddenly, Lucien's eyes became clear. As the moonlight bloomed, Rhine's teeth bit the illusionary ripples, which slightly stunned him. In the meantime, he felt that the puppet was now lighter, as Lucien had dropped his right hand.

Lucien felt vague coolness from the Congus Ring on his left hand, which significantly diminished the illusion. Also, the effects such as Spell Trigger bought Lucien enough time!

"You are not Mr. Rhine!" Holding the Shield of Truth in his left hand, Lucien drew the silver longsword with his right hand.

Until this moment, even though Lucien had suspected that Rhine would attack him for a certain reason, he never suspected that Rhine was fake. The guy's scent, reaction to the Origin of Blood, and magic check all indicated that he was the Silver-eyed Count, the Observer. However, Lucien sensed something was wrong when Rhine nullified the spells such as Spell Trigger and Magic Order through weird approaches.

'Rhine' suddenly stopped and leapt away, dodging the attack of Lucien's Sword of Truth. He chuckled, "We have the same memories, the same appearance, the same blood and the same body. Why can't I be Rhine? Isn't that everything that matters for an intelligent creature?"

"You are the unimaginable ghost and devil." Lucien raised his Shield of Truth and blocked the attack of 'Rhine' who blinked before him and scratched the shield with the fingernails that were even colder than metal longswords.

Creak. In the blood-freezing sound of scratching, Lucien cut the enemy's waist. The overwhelming aura from the sword left a gash on the wall of the chamber.

'Rhine' did not react at all, but when the sword hit him, a shadow broke apart. Then, he blinked from the ceiling and swooped like an eagle, with his bat wings unfolding and blocking the dome.

"He is almost as fast as the projection of the Lord of Hell. Vampires are indeed a species best known for their agility and speed. However, his attack is not good enough. It seems to be only level two of legendary at best. That's far from enough to break the Shield of Truth." Lucien analyzed the situation calmly. After 'Rhine' accelerated, his shadows were everywhere, which made it impossible for Lucien to tell which of them was his real self. He could only resist the enemy with the Shield of Truth but was unable to counterattack with the Sword of Truth.

Clang, clang, clang. The silver auras of the sword cut the grey wall, making pleasant sounds and creating deep cracks one after another.

Looking at those cracks, Lucien was suddenly inspired. "This room is not spacious, but it is very solid..."

"Hellish Ball!" Lucien cast the spell. Then, a ball of light as bright as the sun flew out of the Robe of Grand Arcanists towards 'Rhine'. As he expected, the ball missed the target and hit the wall!

BOOM!

The soundwaves swept across the entire chamber like an instrument. The greenish acid even corrupted the air. The silver lightning turned the chamber into a forest. Scorching flames burnt everything, making the place look like a real inferno.

No corner in the entire chamber could avoid the massive damage, not even Lucien himself. However, since he was behind the Shield of Truth, he seemed to be in a different world.

Inside the inferno, the illusionary shadows were broken, and the real self of 'Rhine' surfaced in the black air.

"Now is the time!" After locking onto his real self, Lucien slashed his long-prepared Sword of Truth.

The silver aura of the sword, in the shape of a crescent moon, broke apart the fire, the lightning and hit 'Rhine' who did not have the time to dodge. The black air around him, as well as his body, was immediately cut open.

The gap in the void destroyed every piece of the body, but 'Rhine' put on a weird smile. Then, he pressed his chest with his right hand and slightly bowed, as graceful as a musician who was answering the curtain call.

Without a sound, the body of 'Rhine' collapsed and disappeared, and the arm of the puppet fell to the ground.

After the terrifying view caused by 'Hellish Ball' died down, everything became peaceful and quiet, and 'Rhine' never showed up again.

Without being careless at all, Lucien picked up the arm of the puppet cautiously with the Shield of Truth in his hand, but he did not find any information left by McLeod on it. In the meantime, he was greatly puzzled. "This ghost can turn into somebody else that can trick those who are most familiar with them. It is very easy for him to commit assassinations. However, he is only level two of legendary and slightly stronger than me. Why on earth could he have terrified McLeod? How did he make the legendary sorcerers such as Maskelyne go missing?"

"However, there is something wrong with him, too. He was not completely killed after he was hit by the Sword of Truth..."

Shaking his head, Lucien felt that the whole thing was full of enigmas that were too much for him to explore right now.

"The time here flows more slowly than outside. The hunters must've already entered this place, and the effect of 'God's Grace' should be over now. I can try to return." Lucien did not want to take more risks. Calculating the current coordinates and the coordinates of the entrance according to the pattern, he looked for a way to go back.

At this moment, another black gate creaked and was opened.

Lucien looked over warily, holding the Shield of Truth in his hand. He was confident that it could resist the first attack of all the experts who were not a demigod.

The gate was wide open, and a familiar person entered Lucien's vision. The silver soft long hair, the red coat, the black shirt, the dim red stains of blood on the chest, and the lips that were paler than usual - it was Rhine again!

"Hi, Lucien, we meet again." He smiled. Then his face changed greatly: "Hey, don't greet me with the Sword of Truth!"