EnCoffin Me Chapter 39
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 39
Lucius accepted the outcome of the bet and began casting detection magic to get to work. Ever since their resurrection, neither he nor Alexio had had the chance to properly stretch their limbs. The world ten thousand years ago was nothing like the one they found themselves in now. As leaders forged in the fires of war, the power they wielded was far beyond imagination.
The chain tightened as the vampire circled around him. Lucius quickly picked up some traces. Tugging on the chain, Alexio drifted back toward him.
“Did you find something?”
“Mm, over here.”
Clearing away the silt on the seabed, a tightly sealed gate of white bones appeared before them. This precisely confirmed Alexio's earlier suspicions.
Now, only one problem remained before them…
“Your turn to use necromancy,” Lucius said, earning a confused look from Alexio.
“But I don't know necromancy.”
“…Aren't you a dark creature?”
“Not all dark creatures know how to use necromancy, okay? I already control blood, shadow, space, and the mind. That's more than enough talent!” Alexio retorted indignantly.
Lucius silently took mental notes. He had seen Alexio's shadow magic before, and he still had the button embedded in his scrapbook as proof. Blood magic was a vampire's innate gift, with many variations, and he wondered which branch Alexio specialized in. As for space and mind magic, those were likely skills Alexio had developed on his own, truly potent tools for both long and short range.
Then there was the so-called 【Domain】. From the way Alexio had described it earlier, his domain was anything but small. It warranted further observation.
Alexio remained unaware that Lucius was currently assessing his combat strength. In a flash, an idea struck him.
“Why don't you try using necromancy?”
Lucius stared at him. Alexio truly had a unique way of thinking. What made him think it was a good idea to suggest that a saint of the Holy Temple use necromancy?
“How could I possibly have an affinity for necromancy?”
“What kind of elemental affinity class did you even take?” Alexio scoffed at the excuse. “Everyone has an affinity for all magic attributes. Some are strong, some so weak they barely show but still there… Wait! You definitely know. You just don't want to use it!”
Lucius' gaze drifted slightly.
“Hurry up. I remember the incantation, you cast it,” Alexio said, with a threatening tone. “Once you get past the mental block, you might turn out to be a hidden all-elemental mage!”
Under Alexio's relentless urging, Lucius had no choice but to try. The vampire softly recited an incantation, probably one he'd learned from an old lich friend. Lucius memorized it, touched the white bone gate with his fingertip, and mentally prepared himself for repeated failure.
Although Alexio was right, elemental affinity determined the success rate of magic. Children chosen by the Holy Temple were always overflowing with light attributes, and their meager affinity for necromancy was hardly worth mentioning.
Maybe after a few failed attempts, Alexio would naturally give up… With that thought, Lucius began silently reciting the incantation.
The surrounding water stilled for a brief moment. Then, with a deep rumble, the white bone gate swung open. It actually worked on the first try! Lucius was stunned for a second, while Alexio happily strode right in. Lucius could vaguely hear his voice from inside.
“Aren't you quite…”
His voice suddenly cut off. Lucius followed him in at once, and the scene before his eyes made him understand Alexio's silence.
As expected, it was indeed the Sea of Undead. And if there were an additional description, it would be ‘ruins.’
Masses of soul butterflies fluttered gracefully through the water, their ghostly blue wings shaped like delicate bone structures. The water had no effect on them. They were, after all, spectral creatures that hovered between the real and the unreal. They flew in swarms, weaving through the remains of enormous bones. Their cold glow lit up the dark seabed so well that there was hardly any need for night vision spell.
Alexio said nothing. As he descended, the soul butterflies flew up to spiral around him. Lucius descended to the same level, and the butterflies immediately scattered, fleeing as if pinching their noses.
Lucius: …Discrimination.
Alexio laughed mercilessly at the spurned saint. Then, he extended his hand to the saint, asking for his cloak.
“Let me wear it for a bit. That way, the butterflies won't hate you.”
Wearing the saint's cloak, Alexio glided gracefully downward through the water. He scanned the surroundings and, sure enough, spotted several breaches along the outer edge.
“The crown probably escaped through here,” he said, casually sealing the breaches as he spoke. He continued, addressing Lucius, who had yet to recover any memories related to the Sea of Undead.
“This isn't the complete Sea of Undead. Only about a tenth of it remains.”
Lucius could easily imagine how vast and magnificent the Sea of Undead must have been in its prime.
“You don't plan on revealing this place to the outside world?”
“Of course not. I want to leave that choice to Lucy. She's the true heir to this place. The only thing I care about is how it can serve as a protective sanctuary for the conservation center.”
Especially once Lucy fully awakened, even this one-tenth ruins of the Sea of Undead could become the sturdiest stronghold for the conservation center.
Alexio lowered his gaze and searched through a pile of fragmented bones beneath a massive skeleton, looking for something specific. The bones here, nurtured by dense dark energy, were powerful and easy to control, but most of them were incomplete. Lucy currently lacked the ability to integrate disparate bone types. He dug through the heap for quite a while before finally finding a lizard skeleton missing one front claw. Its jaw was full of sharp teeth, indicating it had been ferocious when it had been alive.
This one would do. He remembered this type of lizard. It was barely the size of a palm, but capable of biting off half a person's head with a single snap.
He stuffed the skeleton into his pocket, planning to give it as a gift. By now, the cloak had absorbed enough of his dark energy. When Lucius put it back on, the soul butterflies no longer avoided him. Although the dual scent made them briefly confused, the simple creatures quickly settled and happily circled the saint.
Lucius reached out and poked one of the soul butterflies. The poked butterfly hovered pitifully for a moment, then still fluttered eagerly back toward him.
Alexio really did have… quite the charm.
While Lucius idly bullied the clueless butterflies, Alexio had already found a good spot and was waving him over. It was the raised tail of a massive crocodile, permanently frozen in that posture. Alexio sat at the tip, and as the lunatic sat down beside him, he said, whether with relief or regret, it was hard to tell, “I didn't find Helgodon… the Wolf King's remains. They must've been lost with the other nine-tenths.” He smiled faintly. “Honestly, I'm not sure I'd have dared face him. If only, back then…”
Lucius quietly watched his lowered lashes. He was just about to say something when a sudden flash of memory surged through his mind.
It was the snowfield, locked in eternal winter. He had left the Holy Temple's western outpost alone, chasing the slim chance of encountering his destined enemy. Ever since those two meetings, a fire had burned constantly within him. He was restless, desperate, and willing to try even the luck-based methods he once disdained.
Fortune favored him.
The wind and snow howled as the wounded vampire staggered into view. He had single-handedly fought off the three main legions of the Silver Crusaders. Even for a third-generation prince, he was now close to exhaustion. But instead of finding shelter, the vampire had crossed the battlefield and come here, risking exposure.
The vampire raised his head and saw the hunter standing still in the snow. The wolf cub in his arms whimpered from cold and hunger.
“You've come to kill me?” the vampire asked quietly, swaying unsteadily. “Not this time. Step aside.”
The hunter didn't move a muscle. He had seen the cub in the vampire's arms. It had to be the child of the Wolf King. The Holy Temple had paid a steep price to hunt down and kill both King Helgodon and Queen Kossinia. The queen had gone into labor after the battle and died from her injuries. No one had expected that, in the end, she would entrust the child to Alexio.
A grievously wounded vampire… the newborn heir of the werewolves… This might be the only chance he would ever get.
When he still didn't move, the vampire was finally pushed over the edge. Shielding the cub in his arms, he charged at the hunter.
“Move!!!”
The wind and snow followed with a fierce roar, seemingly echoing the vampire's desperate attack! Snow sprayed up, landing on Lucius' lashes. He blinked slowly, but what flashed in his eyes were the utterly massacred snowland villages, and the heads of wolf cubs displayed on poles for all to see.
He did not dodge.
The vampire, already gravely injured and refusing to replenish himself with Kossinia's blood, lacked the strength to kill him. The impact merely sent Lucius tumbling across the snow, rolling for more than ten meters. Pain clenched his insides like a vice. He inhaled slowly, exhaled even slower, uncertain how long it would take before he could stand. But as soon as he managed to lift his head, his eyes searched instinctively for the vampire.
The vampire had collapsed in the snow. The cub's high-pitched whimpers were the only sound besides the wind.
Coughing blood, Lucius staggered to his feet and approached. The vampire had lost consciousness. Lucius knelt beside him and drew his hunting knife, its cold blade almost swallowed by the wind and snow. He raised the blade, and froze.
This was what he wanted. This should have been what he wanted.
But instead, a violent fit of coughing overtook him. The hunting knife slipped from his grasp, its edge grazing the vampire's cheek and leaving a thin line of red. He couldn't stop coughing. Through his blurred, shaking vision, he saw again the image of the vampire that day — wings unfurled, soaring alone into the ranks of the Silver Crusaders.
At last, he lowered his head and leaned close to the vampire's ear. His voice was hoarse as he whispered, “Go east.”
Then he staggered to his feet. A faint rustle of wind followed, and the cloak that had been on his back now lay draped over the vampire. The snow continued to fall, settling on the pure white fabric and slowly covering the golden thorns embroidered there. The wolf cub no longer whimpered. Perhaps warmed at last, it let out a soft, contented whine and nestled deeper into the vampire's arms.
Within the warmth of the cloak, the vampire's eyelashes fluttered faintly. But the figure of the hunter, walking away into the storm, had already vanished completely into the white.
The memory ended in an instant. Lucius looked up again. As the soul butterflies danced silently around them, he said in a quiet voice, “You don't need to feel ashamed to face him. At the very least… you saved his child.”
Alexio suddenly turned to look at him.
“You remembered?”
“Mm.”
He remembered everything that had happened on that snowy plains. Including how, when he returned wounded, he hadn't been reprimanded. Instead, after lingering in the snowfield for another month or two, he returned to the Holy Temple to deliver his report.
The saint had donned a new cloak, its golden thorn embroidery glinting in the light, hunting knife at his waist. He lowered his eyes quietly before his mentor, his report nearing its conclusion.
【The werewolf pawn we fostered has been confirmed dead. Helgodon's heir has returned and taken the throne, but he is still too young. He cannot even assume human form.】
He lifted his eyes again. The sky-blue pupils remained calm, but deep within them, a flicker of fire had begun to burn.
【…Alexio serves as the regent.】