EnCoffin Me Chapter 81
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 81
The former lich sought to find dragon tomb across endless time and space.
The significance of the dragon tomb lay not in the burial of bones, but in the burial of souls. A dragon's scales and flesh might scatter across the world, but its soul remained eternally free. No one could capture them. They were a unique race that would not linger by the banks of the Underworld River, not even in death.
“Perhaps they made a deal with the Underworld River,” the lich had once speculated. “The river is the foundation of all things, like a giant base cake upon which we all exist. Dragons should be no different, yet their souls can move. They're a bit like… spirits drifting near certain points of destiny.”
The vampire set down the silver fork in his hand.
“So, is there anything I can do for you?”
The lich smiled at him. She was no longer a ‘princess,’ so her smile seemed exceptionally radiant. Alexio had always thought that if he were to describe the lich, it would be as someone ‘without gloom’ — a woman without gloom, a lich without gloom.
It sounded a little ridiculous, but that was truly how he felt. Even with such a difficult and despairing past, the lich could still offer her friends a gentle and radiant smile. She often said—
【He never let even the slightest gloom touch me in my entire life.】
‘He’ referred to the dragon.
“You don't need to do anything for me, Alexi,” the lich said with a smile. “As long as you live well, that alone is my greatest happiness.”
Alexio looked at her for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright. I'll live. I won't let you see me off again.”
He had kept that promise to this day. No matter how brutal the battles, or how painful the farewells with friends, Alexio had always survived. And he was also glad to be alive. If he hadn't lived into this world ten thousand years later, he never would have had the chance to see the soul of an old friend again.
He glanced to the side. The lich girl was holding down the hem of her dress, flipping through the water with a completely lost expression. At one point she tried to regain her balance, but ended up upside down, her loose hair plastered all over her face.
Lucy: QVQ
Alexio turned her upright and steadied her in the water. But the moment he let go, the lich started spinning again. In the end, with no other choice, he had the shadow bat hold onto her as they continued diving.
“Sorry, Alexi,” Lucy apologized in a tiny voice. “The necromantic energy here is so strong. My body feels so light, it feels like I'm flying. And somehow, when I'm here…”
The soul flames in her dark eyes began to glow brighter.
“It feels like… I could command an entire army.”
This was undoubtedly a very good sign. There was no need for Lucy to apologize. Alexio told her to hold on to the shadow bat to keep steady. If they kept going just a bit farther, they would reach the waters of Ceto. Beyond that lay the ruins of the Sea of Undead.
Giant fish gathered from all directions, and the seawater shifted from deep blue to pitch black. Yet within the darkness, scattered points of light slowly began to glow. Sprites, trailing long luminous tails, descended with them playfully, their numbers gradually increasing. The sprites finally converged into long ribbons of light, weaving and winding together, illuminating the desolate deep sea.
Lucy had been sitting on the back of a fish, but suddenly she drifted downward. The dense necromantic energy buoyed her like a feather sinking into the depths. The massive skeletal gate was now within reach. She raised a hand, and the gate opened in response, expanding instantly. The giant fish plunged with them into this untouched paradise of the dead!
Alexio also left the fish's back and hovered in the water. Some of the sprites and soul butterflies twined around him, while others followed the lich as she continued ahead. A brilliant, ethereal blue light paved the path the lich took, as if flowers had bloomed across a field of bones.
Wherever the lich passed, white bones revived. Spiny serpents raised their heads with jagged horns, giant crocodiles lowered their tails that had hung motionless for millennia, and countless birds flapped their tattered, skeletal wings, rising and falling in the currents. The entire sea stirred, filled with the voices of the dead. The giant fish could no longer keep up and were left behind at the edge of this undead realm, while the soul butterflies and sprites continued their tireless pursuit.
The lich finally reached the center of the ruins. She pressed her hands together as if in prayer, and a massive number of bones began to tremble. Alexio touched the horn of Ceto, who had circled back to him after failing to keep up, and sent a message through their mental link.
【Ceto, notify your kin on the surface.】
【Can you create a bit of a distraction to cover the changes about to occur in this sea?】
The giant fish let out a deep call from its soul. In the glass-walled corridor of the conservation center, staff members, including Lucius, gradually stopped to observe. He looked at the distant, almost boiling sea—
Giant fish surged and rolled, and colorful coral horns trembled amidst the white foam. One after another, they flipped their tails and leapt, their enormous bodies crashing against the surface and sending up great waves. The swells reached the shore, where many workers began to retreat to higher ground, standing on raised platforms and watching the churning sea.
“The giant fish seem so happy today…”
“Yeah, they're usually not this active.”
“The sea serpents are breathing fire too! Quick, quick, get a picture!”
The conservation center's official account soon posted an update, but no one knew that all these anomalies originated beneath the surface of the sea, in the realm of the undead, a paradise of bones.
The lich pressed down with her left hand, causing a layer of bones to sink. Most of them were already shattered, spreading across the muddy seabed to form smooth, pale floor. Her right hand lifted, and two giant crocodiles raised their spiked tails together. The seawater rose with them, leaving behind a space filled only with necromantic energy. The soul butterflies were almost swept away at first, but they struggled downward, eventually escaping the water and flying freely within the space the lich had constructed.
The arched tails of crocodiles formed the ceiling, curving like the petals of a flower closing inward, their tips aimed at the center. Crushed bones paved the floor and walls, while intact skeletons hunched silently in the corners. At the heart of the chamber, the lich lowered her hands. A cascade of delicate, porcelain chimes rang out as a scepter took shape. First, the rigid spine of a fish formed its shaft, then serpent bones twisted around it. Finally, at its peak, countless soul butterflies swarmed together, condensing into a luminous blue gem. With a sudden flourish, two skeletal wings snapped open around it!
The lich leaned her forehead against the scepter, which stood much taller than she was, closing her eyes slightly as if listening to the voices of the dead. Then she slowly opened her dark eyes, where soul flames quietly flickered to life.
She seemed surprised by what she had created. She glanced around, as if searching for Alexio. He descended in front of her, shadow wings spread, surrounded by twining sprites and soul butterflies.
“Alexi.” Lucy held the scepter tightly, a little nervous. Alexio gave her a small nod.
“To be able to resonate with this place so quickly after just encountering it, that's already very impressive.” He smiled. “This is the ruins of the Sea of Undead. I discovered it earlier but told no one. Once you've fully mastered it, then we'll make it public.”
This would effectively prevent others from getting any ideas. After all, the place was filled with piles of remains of ancient creatures.
“Remember, don't give them to anyone who asks for them. These are the soldiers best suited to you. Once you've fully taken control here, you can even use the Sea of Undead as leverage to acquire more large skeletal remains. Bones are your strength. Of course, the more, the better.”
“Okay!” Lucy responded firmly, but when she saw Alexio turn to leave right after speaking, she panicked a little. “Alexi, are you really going to leave me here alone?”
Alexio looked puzzled. “Isn't this place practically your home now? Or are you scared?”
That wasn't it. Lucy simply wasn't used to Alexio not being by her side.
“I can't stay with you forever. Look at Helgodon. He used to follow me everywhere like a tail, but now he's learned to keep himself busy. I heard he's even trying to train other werewolves.
“Practice your control here. If you want to return, you can float up on your own or have Ceto take you. This will be the only time I bring you down.”
Knowing that Alexio had made up his mind, Lucy nodded and watched as he spread his shadow wings and landed on Ceto's back. Her grip on the scepter tightened slightly, but soon she felt herself relax.
She liked it here far more than the princess suite the center had carefully arranged for her. She wandered among the skeletons, listening to their voices, thinking about how to animate them more smoothly. She played this game, always keeping track of time so she could return to the center before dinner and avoid worrying the others.
Conversing with the dead along the way, she walked deeper into the Sea of Undead. The soul butterflies still circled her, while a few lingering sprites seemed to notice something ahead. They flew straight forward, hovering and circling over a patch of white bone-covered ground.
Lucy slowly walked over and cleared away that patch of ground, revealing only mud beneath. She was confused, but the sprites continued to circle the spot persistently. After a moment of hesitation, she raised her hand toward the area and recited the same incantation she had used earlier to open the gates to the Sea of Undead.
A faint tremor followed.
No hidden chamber opened, no staircase descended, just a subtle vibration. But in that stillness, the lich heard a song echoing from the void.
An ethereal, indescribable song in a language she couldn't understand…
As the haunting melody echoed, the surroundings seemed to melt back into seawater. Lucy floated within it. She opened her eyes wide and looked down. The sprites followed her gaze and flew toward a softly glowing, translucent tentacle, wrapping around it affectionately.
Her field of vision slowly lit up. Lucy's eyes widened in shock as she instinctively covered her mouth.
She saw the God of Sea.
*****
Meanwhile, Alexio was walking with staff of the conservation center. After sending Lucy off, he planned to check in on the water nymph, Zerita, who had awakened the day before. Her body had been preserved from total photopathy using his shadow roses. He was going to make some adjustments today, and possibly see if he could resolve the sickness entirely.
At a certain moment, Alexio suddenly stopped and turned toward the direction of the Emerald Inner Sea.
“Prince Alexio?” one of the staff asked, puzzled. “Is something wrong…?”
“Didn't you hear it?” Alexio asked. The sound was so faint that even he wasn't sure. “A song.”
The staff member listened carefully for a while but eventually shook their head, looking even more puzzled.
Alexio didn't press the issue. He figured it was the same kind of phenomenon as Behemoth's voice, a sound only he and certain guardians could hear. Realizing this made him even more uncertain. He still didn't understand his own role in the revival of the three pillars of darkness. He wasn't a guardian, yet he could hear the voice of the gods like one. It made him question whether his resurrection had truly been guided by fate.
He still vividly remembered the look on that lunatic's face when he delivered the apocalyptic prophecy and when he dragged him into the coffin. Had the lunatic known something? Something about… what made him different?
He couldn't help but dwell on it. If that were the case, then who exactly had the lunatic wanted to pull into the coffin: him, or whatever identity lay buried inside him?
Lost in thought, he was caught off guard when a hand suddenly landed on his head and tousled his hair. Startled, Alexio looked up, only to see the very person he'd just been thinking about. The lunatic smiled at him.
“What were you thinking about so deeply?”
Of course, Alexio wasn't going to tell him.
“How to deal with Zerita's photopathy.”
“That's an excuse. The faster you answer, the more obvious it is.”
“……”
Lucius had been in an exceptionally good mood lately. He was crafting a silver cross to give to Alexio, and his memories were gradually returning. The ones coming back now were all light and lovely, which kept his spirits high every day. As a result, both Alexio and U had seen a noticeable improvement in the quality of their meals.
He was remembering more and more about the little church. Alexio had always liked sitting on the pulpit, with the stained glass casting colorful shadows over him, filling his vampire eyes with a rainbow glow. Sometimes pigeons would fly in, sometimes it would rain, and sometimes other hunters from the Holy Temple would grow suspicious. But they never found any proof, and without that, they had no grounds to bring Lucius down.
They had even celebrated Carnival together.
The brightly lit streets had been filled with people dressed as demons or the dead. For once, the vampire could walk among the crowd without hiding his fangs or red eyes. They had paused to watch some amusing street theater or squeezed in with children at puppet stalls. Amid the lively noise, Lucius thought he heard the vampire softly ask,【Will you come again next year?】
After asking, the vampire had seemed to realize the awkwardness of the question. He no longer looked at the oddly shaped puppets on the stall but stood up, his gaze wandering to find the next place to go, no longer bringing up the previous question.
It had already been a rare time of truce, so why bother making plans for the future?
The parade had begun, and the streets surged with people. The vampire, unwilling to use his strength to push through the crowd for fear of harming passersby, was swept along by the current, about to be carried away from him.
There had been hesitation in his heart, but in that moment, he acted on instinct. He reached out and caught the vampire's wrist.
The vampire's frame was slender, somewhere between that of a youth and a young man. Judging by his build, he must have been quite young when he was turned. With that thought, he tightened his grip and pulled the vampire back.
【Be careful.】
His expression remained impassive, but in his cool, sky-blue eyes, the flickering lights from the parade floats cast shifting reflections.
【If you want, on this day next year…】
【It'll also count as a truce.】