Inside the underground palace of Dead Eagle Valley, as Dorothy and Neff were preparing to escape on a magnetic levitation flying carpet, Chabakunka understood their intentions. He immediately controlled the Sand Giant Lizard to manipulate the sand at the underground palace exit, forming a solid and incredibly thick sand wall that completely blocked Dorothy's path. For a moment, Dorothy and Naifnis had nowhere to escape. In this critical moment, Dorothy focused her gaze on the steps deep within the underground palace, on the sacrificial ceremony that had not yet been completed, and a thought gradually emerged in her mind.
'Senior Nefelnis, turn back immediately!'
'What? Ah!'
Dorothy transmitted the message to Neff using the consultation channel. Just as Naifnis was still startled, Dorothy controlled the iron sand magic carpet beneath her to make a sharp turn, instantly heading in the opposite direction of the exit and flying rapidly towards the depths of the underground palace. This was precisely the direction from which the enormous Sand Giant Lizard was pursuing, and facing the giant lizard's roaring mouth charging from the front, Neff was momentarily terrified.
'Stop! Miss Dorothy ahhh!!'
"Boom!!"
Just as Neff was exclaiming in the consultation channel, two booming sounds erupted from the Sand Giant Lizard's body, accompanied by two blooming sand-flame flowers. The two simultaneous explosions blew off parts of the Sand Giant Lizard's body and also hindered its attempt to attack Neff. Chabakunka inside the Sand Giant Lizard couldn't help but feel confused.
'Why are there still explosions? Didn't all those puppets die already?'
Carrying this confusion, Chabakunka couldn't help but cast his gaze towards Dorothy in the distance. Just as Chabakunka wondered how the explosives had hit him, he saw this scene.
A mysterious person riding a blanket-like Extraordinary item with flight capability was suspended in the air of the underground palace. At this moment, several cylindrical explosives were suspended beside him. These explosives had been recently brought by Shahabu to blow up the underground palace, originally stored in Kanak for mining.
'That Judge of Heaven Extraordinary... possesses the ability to control these explosives?'
Just as Chabakunka was confused in this way, he saw that several sticks of explosives suspended beside the Judge of Heaven Extraordinary suddenly began to move. These explosives split into two parts: one part flew towards the Sand Giant Lizard in front, and the other part pointed directly at the sand wall blocking the underground palace entrance behind.
"Boom boom boom!!!"
Immediately, continuous explosions kept ringing out in the underground palace. The Sand Giant Lizard and the sand wall were simultaneously bombarded by continuously flying explosives. The physical form condensed from sand and soil constantly disintegrated in the continuous explosions. For a moment, Chabakunka could only make the Sand Giant Lizard stay put, absorbing sand on the spot to restore damage. At the same time, he did his best to maintain the distant sand wall, continuously repairing it to prevent its collapse.
In order to focus on the two aspects of repair work, Chabakunka made the Sand Giant Lizard temporarily stop in place, motionless. Dorothy was attacking, he was defending. For a while, the two sides were in a stalemate like this. However, during this process, Chabakunka was not idle. He was intently observing the explosives flying towards him, attempting to analyze the method by which the mysterious Judge of Heaven Extraordinary in front of him controlled the explosives. One must know that at first, the other party had to use suicidal warriors or puppets to deliver the explosives; now he could control them directly, there must be some problem here.
Not long after, Chabakunka discovered that on the explosives flying towards him, a layer of dark substance was attached and entwined without exception. After communicating with the Wilderness Spirit Sand Tongue, he discovered that this black substance was actually a part of the current environment! It was extremely fine black sand!
After learning that the reason the Extraordinary in front of him could control these explosives was by relying on this black fine sand, Chabakunka couldn't help but feel a surge of energy. Although he didn't know what this black fine sand was, or why the Judge of Heaven Extraordinary was able to extract and manipulate them, it was enough for him to know that this black fine sand came from the sand in the current desert environment.
Using Sand Tongue's ability to control the environment as a regional Wilderness Spirit, Chabakunka manipulated the iron sand attached to the explosives, attempting to snatch control from Dorothy's hands. For a moment, the iron sand carrying the explosives stiffened in place, no longer continuing to deliver the explosives to the Sand Giant Lizard and the sand wall for detonation. Dorothy's continuous bombardment targeting the Sand Giant Lizard and the sand wall abruptly stopped, and the Sand Giant Lizard, which had been suppressed for a time, regained its vitality at this moment.
Roaring silently, the Sand Giant Lizard began to move again, using all four limbs to charge straight towards Dorothy in front. Under further erosion of the environment, the Sand Giant Lizard's body became even larger, making the vast underground palace space feel a bit crowded. Under the pressure of such a huge body, Dorothy would find it difficult to dodge even with the magnetic levitation flying carpet. Furthermore, the sand wall that Dorothy had been bombing just now had not been blown open. At this moment, Dorothy was like prey cornered in a desperate situation, with nowhere left to escape.
And just as the sand creature pounced and bit, from the sand and soil beneath it, several figures suddenly broke through the sand and rushed out, pouncing towards the Sand Giant Lizard. Looking closely, they were several soldiers of the Savior Sect. They were empty shells whose souls had been taken by Chabakunka before. After Dorothy quietly and completely killed them, she turned them into Corpse Puppets and controlled them, and they all tied explosives to themselves, as a trap to ambush the Sand Giant Lizard.
Another series of violent roars rang out. The Sand Giant Lizard was blown up from beneath by Dorothy's self-detonating Corpse Puppets. After having parts of its body blown off, it became temporarily unbalanced and fell to the ground, its attack hindered. Seeing the offensive thwarted again due to an accident, Chabakunka was working hard to restore the Sand Giant Lizard while also strengthening the defense of the sand wall, to prevent the enemy from taking the opportunity to break through.
However, what Chabakunka did not expect was that the mysterious Judge of Heaven Extraordinary did not take the opportunity to attack the sand wall to escape. Instead, he went full throttle, riding the flying carpet-like Extraordinary item, rushing rapidly towards the depths of the underground palace, in the opposite direction of the exit. He directly charged past the recovering Sand Giant Lizard, rushing to the rear of the giant lizard.
Facing the scene before him, Chabakunka showed a moment of surprise. After quickly completing the restoration of the Sand Giant Lizard's damage, he immediately controlled it to stand up and turn around, looking towards the direction the Judge of Heaven Extraordinary flew. Immediately, he saw a scene that astonished him.
Deep within the underground palace, before the long staircase, in front of the altar where he himself had once performed a ritual, a figure was standing there. Facing five burning copper lamps, with arms spread, chanting in North Wu language.
"Ah... the first King of Adus, the great founder, the guardian of peace, in the name of Baruk's bloodline, I humbly request an audience here!
"Open, gate of trial, reveal the path for the future king!"
Staring at the royal sacrificial book displayed and placed on the altar, Naifnis chanted the final ritual words. Just as her voice fell, the last, sixth bright lamp on the altar ignited out of thin air. After all six lamps were lit, the towering Stone gate at the end of the staircase was emitting a buzzing roar. Amidst this sound, the Stone gate slowly opened, revealing the deep darkness behind it.
'What's going on?! They actually have Baruk's sacrificial book!'
Seeing this scene, Chabakunka thought in astonishment. He had not expected at all that the ritual he had performed and stopped at the last moment was now being continued by others, and they had actually opened Rahman's ceremonial chamber!
Immediately, Chabakunka understood why that Judge of Heaven Extraordinary flew towards the depths of the underground palace in the opposite direction. His target was none other than the opening ceremonial chamber door!
"Don't even think about succeeding."
Using more Spirituality, Chabakunka rapidly restored the Sand Giant Lizard's body and controlled it to pursue the flying Judge of Heaven Extraordinary. At the same time, he controlled the accumulated sand on the ground to rise up into countless sand snakes. A part of them pounced towards the flying enemy, and the other part extended towards the opening Stone gate, attempting to construct another sand wall to block the enemy outside.
However, things didn't go as planned. The sand snakes controlled by Chabakunka were too slow, completely insufficient to catch up to the rapidly moving flying carpet. Furthermore, the stone gate that was opening was different from the underground palace exit; its front wasn't thick accumulated sand but solid, sturdy steps. The sand controlled by Chabakunka had no way to move to the stone gate immediately to seal it, and the process of forming the Sand Wall was incredibly slow.
Riding the magnetic flying carpet, Dorothy sped rapidly from one end of the underground palace to the other. As she passed the altar, she consumed a Life Devour and extended her hand towards Naifnis, who was there. Naifnis also extended her hand, and as the flying carpet passed, Dorothy pulled Naifnis entirely onto the flying carpet. Together with Dorothy, Naifnis sat on the flying carpet and flew towards the stone gate, directly breaking through the thin sand wall that was far from fully formed, and entered the dark space beyond the stone gate.
Then, Naifnis shouted loudly again.
"Crown Prince enters the forge!"
After Naifnis finished shouting this sentence, the huge stone gate that had been opening suddenly paused. After a slight hesitation of half a second, it began to close again. Since it hadn't opened much to begin with, the stone gate would soon close again amidst the rumbling sound. At this moment, Chabakunka, who was still in the distance, couldn't help but show urgency in his eyes and accelerated towards the stone gate. By the time the Sand Giant Lizard rushed before the stone gate, it had already closed completely with a resounding thud.
With a muffled sound, the enormous Sand Giant Lizard crashed headfirst into the closed stone gate. Under the immense force, the lizard's head was directly shattered into loose sand. However, even so, the stone gate, crafted from Corpse Coffin Stone, remained completely still and undamaged.
Just like that, the headless Sand Giant Lizard stood at the entrance of the ceremonial chamber, facing the heavy, solid, massive stone gate blankly, without any other movement. After standing like this for several minutes, the Sand Giant Lizard collapsed with a crash, turning into large areas of loose sand and returning to the ground. The sand wall at the underground palace exit in the distance also simultaneously collapsed, revealing the exit once more.
After the Sand Giant Lizard collapsed, Chabakunka, who existed in a possessed form, reappeared in the underground palace. Accompanied by two Wilderness Spirits, he slowly walked across the sand towards the altar. Here, six bronze lamps were burning, and the ritual site was as solemn as before.
With a grave expression, Chabakunka looked at the six ritual lamps before him, then looked at the tightly closed, heavy stone gate in the distance, and couldn't help but let out a cold snort, saying,
"Baruk's ancient king forging ritual has a time limit. When the time is up, those who have not passed the trial will be expelled from the ceremonial chamber. At that time, the ceremonial chamber door will automatically open."
"You... you have merely entered one prison from another. I want to see how long you can stay inside there."
Murmuring, Chabakunka sat cross-legged on the altar. Under the vigilance of the two Wilderness Spirits, he closed his eyes and silently began to meditate, slowly waiting here for the ceremonial chamber door to open again, waiting for his prey to reappear from the prison.
During Chabakunka's meditation, one of the six burning bronze lamps in front of the altar quietly extinguished.
.....
After rushing into the stone gate at the last moment, Dorothy immediately controlled the flying carpet beneath her to brake and slow down, turning back to look at the closing gate, nervously watching as the gate successfully closed at the last moment before the Sand Giant Lizard rushed over. The sand from the Sand Giant Lizard's head exploding poured in through the gap in the door, spraying onto Dorothy and Naifnis and covering them in sand, some even getting into Naifnis's face covering.
"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey! So much sand got in, ptooey! Ptooey!"
Spitting out the sand in her mouth, Naifnis complained, while at the same time, Dorothy was slowly lowering the height of her flying carpet. By the time Naifnis had almost finished spitting out the sand from her mouth, the flying carpet finally descended to the bottom and successfully landed on the ground. Upon touching the ground, both Dorothy and Naifnis felt a deep chill.
"Hmm... is this... the inside of Rahman's ceremonial chamber? It's so dark, I can't see anything. That Corpse Coffin fellow townsman... won't break in, will he?"
Standing up on the flying carpet, Naifnis scanned the pitch-black surroundings, murmuring with a worried tone, while Dorothy, who was also standing up and brushing off her clothes, responded,
"Probably not. That guy had to go through a lot of trouble to perform a ritual just to get into this ceremonial chamber, which proves he can't force his way in. We should be safe in here, at least temporarily."
Brushing the sand off her clothes, Dorothy said this, treating Rahman's ceremonial chamber as a temporary refuge. This was the method Dorothy thought of when facing a disadvantageous situation against Chabakunka.
The ritual to open Rahman's ceremonial chamber door was almost completed by Chabakunka earlier; only the final step remained to finish the ritual and open the door. So Dorothy decided to open the door herself and enter the ceremonial chamber for temporary shelter.
Since she had previously anticipated that only Naifnis would be moving around in the underground palace, the royal sacrificial book had been on her person. Therefore, Dorothy used herself as a cover to send Naifnis to the altar to complete the ritual, and then delayed the Sand Giant Lizard through a trap, allowing herself and Naifnis to successfully enter the ceremonial chamber and close the door. All of this was to give Dorothy precious time to prepare a countermeasure under the pressure of a powerful enemy. Although the Corpse Coffin Shaman was a formidable foe, Dorothy was confident that as long as she had enough time, she could eventually prepare a strategy to defeat him.
'Whew... Anyway, let's first see what the environment inside this ceremonial chamber is like. It would be a huge problem if there's some danger in here too...'
Taking a long breath, Dorothy began to grope in the darkness. Before long, she felt around for her magic box, and then from inside the magic box, she felt out a gas lamp. After twisting it open, the lamp light began to burn inside, and the surrounding environment began to be illuminated.
Under the illumination of the lamplight, Dorothy slowly began to see the surrounding environment clearly. She felt out more lamps from her magic box, and after lighting them, she controlled them with magnetism to float up, flying towards the surrounding space. Under the illumination of these several lamps, Dorothy saw the scene around her clearly.
This was not a very large space; it was square-shaped and entirely enclosed by pitch-black giant stones. The giant stones were extremely smooth, and there were no carvings on the walls or floor. All these giant stones emitted a slight chill.
In the center of the space, a large stone coffin, about two and a half meters long, was placed. The stone coffin was also made of the same black stone material as the tomb chamber, with no scratches on it. Around the stone coffin was a large magic array.
This magic array was dark red, intricately constructed with many symbols and ciphers related to "Silence," appearing to emit an evil aura. Around the magic array, five skeletal remains were scattered. Dorothy observed carefully and could see that this magic array was drawn with solidified blood.
On one wall of the ceremonial chamber, there were also such dried bloodstains, but this time, it wasn't a magic array but writing, North Wu script. Dorothy slowly walked up and carefully examined it, finding that many of the blood characters had flaked off. After calculating and filling in the missing characters, Dorothy managed to decipher some of the content.
"Book of Repentance... Sixth Generation King Forging Ritual, none of the eighty-seven heirs passed... Crisis of the royal lineage..."
"To be a king, one must possess the great power of a king. Power is the reason for kingship, its foundation. Adus cannot be without a king. For the prosperity of Adus, for the long-term rule of the Baruk royal lineage, for the peace of the land, one could only commit grave sin, using secret cult evil rituals to profane the First King..."
"Six Priests of the Royal Palace..."