Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1172 - 284 Between the Rituals

Chapter 1172: Chapter 284 Between the Rituals

"Bang," the door to Between the Rituals finally shut tightly, separating it completely from the World of the Living. Pannis, stepping into Between the Rituals, squinted as he surveyed the familiar surroundings, a slight smile unconsciously forming on his face as he softly spoke, "Indeed, just like a hundred years ago, nothing here has changed, everything remains the same—the only difference is the person standing here, perhaps."

From the outside, Between the Rituals looked like an expansive hall of six to seven hundred square meters, with a lonely altar built in the center where several figures prayed. Though spacious, it still fell within the bounds of a room. However, once inside and the doors shut, the surrounding walls and doors disappeared completely. The indoor space, bound by walls, transformed into a boundless dark void. The floor, paved with white jade stone, stretched endlessly into the distance, and even the ceiling vanished, replaced by a dark void above. If one were to walk in any direction, even ten times the original dimensions of the hall, one still could not reach the boundaries; the same was true for flying. Flying creatures could circle hundreds of meters in the air without touching the ceiling. It seemed that at the moment the door closed, Between the Rituals entered into another dimension. No wonder the two moribund were so confident, believing that once the door was closed, no one could enter Between the Rituals. To break through this space created by divine power was indeed not something humans could easily achieve.

Although there were no longer any boundaries, Pannis’s distance from the altar had not changed. Standing several tens of meters away, Pannis could easily observe the situation around the altar. Contrary to his expectations, there were not just two moribund standing around the altar, but also four people dressed as dead souls mages. These four might be Danacus’s only four Legendary Rank followers, the most powerful among the dead souls mages, assigning them here clearly affirmed both their strength and their loyalty. The four dead souls mages knelt at the four corners of the altar, completely ignoring Pannis’s entrance, their eyes closed, muttering indecipherable prayers, focused as if the altar was all that existed in the world.

The two moribund stood on either side of the altar, and being close enough, Pannis had already made out their appearances. Different from their meeting a hundred years ago, on this occasion the two moribund, like the dead Herr, had returned to their appearances from when they were alive. A man and a woman, they both looked approximately in their thirties. For the Triclops with eternal life, once they reached maturity, their appearance solidified and remained unchanged until their accidental death or when they chose to end their lives out of weariness. Thus, looking about thirty years old was the most common age appearance for the Triclops, and these two moribund were no exceptions.

At this moment, the two of them had an unhealthy pallor to their skin and their gazes were filled with hatred, as if they wanted to bite Pannis to death. However, amidst the hatred, there was also a sense of gratification, as though they were confident that they would soon see despair on his face.

"So, this is the final venue for the ritual?" Pannis, ignoring their hatred, squinted and smiled, "This altar looks unfamiliar, huh? You say, if I were to smash it, would your ritual immediately fail?"

"You might as well try," the male moribund said with a sinister smile, his teeth bared whitely, "If you have the power to shatter this altar, conjured from our lord’s divine power, perhaps you could indeed disrupt our ritual."

"So it’s an altar made by Danacus himself—is he planning to make a sacrifice to himself?" Pannis said mockingly, "I’ve no interest in swinging my sword at something bolstered by divine power. It’s just a waste of effort. However, I think these four mages, still engaged in the ritual, don’t seem to be protected by divine power like the altar. If I were to kill them right in front of you, your ritual would become quite interesting, and I’m almost tempted to see that."

"It would indeed be interesting," the female moribund responded sharply, "provided you had entered two hours earlier. At that time, killing them would have brought about the destruction you imagine, even directly disrupting the ritual’s progress. Sadly, the ritual’s steps are already finished now; all it needs is the sacrifice to be in place, and it will proceed automatically to the final step. If you don’t believe it, you can kill them all—perhaps really, killing one might disrupt the ritual."

"Since you both say the ritual has already begun running autonomously, then killing them, aside from wasting time and giving you an opportunity, what else would I gain?" Pannis shrugged, saying, "Am I that foolish? So talking about testing or anything..."

Before the words had even left his mouth, a shadow flashed. Pannis had vanished from his spot and instantly appeared behind an Undead Mage, his one-handed sword silently slashing at the neck of the Undead Mage, who was crawling on the ground. Almost simultaneously, two moribund figures also moved. They closely followed Pannis, without anyone stopping his attack but deliberately paused for half a second before they attacked from behind Pannis, using the Undead Mage as bait and giving Pannis enough time to strike before using the moment after his attack to gain a combat advantage. However, Pannis’s one-handed sword suddenly turned mid-slash, its tip pointing downwards, and its spine struck the dagger in the female moribund’s hand, blocking the dagger while leveraging the collision’s force to lift the hilt, meeting the male moribund’s axes that had come chopping down. In the crisp sound of the collision, Pannis seamlessly withdrew into the realm and in the blink of an eye, he was back in his original position, as if he had never moved. The two moribund also halted their advance, standing between Pannis and the Undead Mage targeted, their weapons vanishing into their voluminous black robes, still coldly watching Pannis.

"Why not continue?" the male moribund asked with a grim smile, whispering, "Since you want a test, it wouldn’t be possible without paying a price. You wouldn’t be unwilling to pay that price, would you?"

"I just told you, since you sincerely gave me the answer, I, being sincere, naturally choose to believe you." Pannis, toying with his sword, said with a grin, "I told you I’m not that foolish, knowing the answer yet still testing it. You don’t think that I don’t believe you, do you?"

"Stop with these nonsensical words," the female moribund said with a hoarse voice. "The shame and hatred from over a hundred years ago, let’s settle it today."

"Actually, I don’t quite understand your thinking," Pannis said, not in any rush to fight, but instead asked leisurely, "Why must you open Death’s Gate? If you just want to revive Danacus, then it’s merely a personal grudge between you and me, no, if we go back a hundred years, it’s not even personal, at that time if he just wanted to revive, maybe no one would even think to stop him. But why do you insist on opening Death’s Gate twice, putting yourselves against the entire World of the Living?"

"Hmph, we belong to this world, of course we must return to it. Part of the world was originally ours, you short-lived and tainted creatures have only stolen and polluted what is ours. If we don’t open Death’s Gate, would you obediently return everything to us?" the male moribund sneered, "Moreover, our lord’s wish is also to let his glory shine upon this world again. To achieve this goal, only by eliminating you lowly creatures, turning the world into a paradise for our lord’s followers, that’s why our lord, upon awakening, passed his will to his followers and cooperated to open Death’s Gate. Unexpectedly, the plan that was about to succeed was ruined by a few foolish living beings."

"In the end, it’s still the contradiction between the living and the Undead, and Danacus’s ambition for faith. No wonder, it’s an unresolvable conflict," Pannis nodded pensively, "However, by doing this, did you imagine other deities would just happily watch on the side?"

"They..." the male moribund had just begun to speak when Pannis suddenly burst forward, appearing lightning-fast before him, and thrust his one-handed sword straight towards his heart. The male moribund’s expression changed, and he sharply shifted sideways, exposing the position of the Undead Mage behind him. Pannis’s strike missed, but as if he had prepared, he did not stop even for a step, continuing to surge forward, darting through the gap exposed by the male moribund, still targeting the same Undead Mage.

Yet, his attack failed again. This time the two moribund had no chance to intervene, but they weren’t worried at all, instead watching with a strange gaze as Pannis’s attack drew closer to its target. However, just as the blade was a few centimeters from reaching its target, Pannis suddenly felt a soft yet firm force coming through his sword, effortlessly deflecting his offensive move. Although he hadn’t used his full strength on this attack, the force was undoubtedly very powerful.

"Tch, so they were actually within the protective range of the altar," Pannis immediately realized the reason, scoffing, "Should have said so earlier, wasting my time."