Chapter 1844: Chapter 1841: Dead Spirit
"Wait..."
Just as Han Dong and Eugenes were preparing to follow, the Pope suddenly called the two of them.
"Don’t be in a hurry to follow, although I haven’t sensed what it is, the possibility of ’baiting’ is high.
The main point is that being able to absorb your attack beams aligns with the characteristics of a [Dead Spirit]."
"Dead Spirit?! Why would there be something like a Dead Spirit here?"
Eugenes was utterly confused, he had no idea about the true purpose of this journey, he was merely informed by Han Dong that it was an expedition.
Han Dong quickly explained:
"Ahem... Eugenes, you should have heard about it, right? Back in the Ancient Times, the "Book of Dead Spirit" was classified as forbidden knowledge that hinders world development, most of it was torn apart and thrown into the [Shattered Dimension].
The reason this area is so stable,
the conclusion that Pope and I speculated is that the remnant pages of the Book of Dead Spirit influenced it, thus forming a stable area in the shattered dimensions.
You were sleeping earlier, so I didn’t explain to you in detail."
"If you’ve deduced that this place is influenced by the remnant pages, why..." Eugenes stopped halfway through his words, suddenly realizing, "From the start, your expedition’s purpose was for the "Book of Dead Spirit", the so-called void space guidance was just an excuse.
This simple thing, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it at the beginning."
Perhaps searching for corpses had worn Eugenes out mentally, only now did he realize he was working for Han Dong.
"Mutual benefit, aren’t we also helping you in searching for ’ancient corpses’? Corpses affected by the Book of Dead Spirit might be more suitable, who knows...
Besides, regions like this influenced by the Book of Dead Spirit have higher stability, the preserved ancient relics are more complete, and the obtained relics will be primarily shared between you and the Pope."
Eugenes had acquired a corpse, and having been deceived to such a deep place, he naturally wouldn’t want to give up.
Pat pat pat~
The Pope gently patted Eugenes on the back, a whisper from the void transmitted directly to his brain:
『Eugenes, we sought you out largely due to the teacher’s [request]... In response to your earlier question, we actually had other options, Aslan could have completely replaced you in your current position.
The teacher has always been quite concerned with the development of the Shoggoth Clan and your situation.』
These words acted like a tonic, directly piercing Eugenes’ heart, immediately solidifying his wavering emotions.
"Let’s first sit in the compartment, and I’ll briefly explain [Dead Spirit].
After all, this belongs to the ’threat’ from a long time ago, with the "Book of Dead Spirit" being dismantled, suppressed, and exiled, this danger no longer exists. Your understanding should also be limited."
The group temporarily entered the bunker’s former living quarters.
The extremely narrow space was filled with stone beds on upper, middle, and lower levels.
The Pope set up a "void barrier" to completely seal the entrance.
"You should have heard that back then the concept of the "Book of Dead Spirit" could directly spread across the universe, causing a mass of demons to be impacted and instantaneously start a quest for the book.
Even if they didn’t touch the true book,
just getting increasingly closer to the location of the actual book during their search, the thoughts of the demons would be influenced and altered, and a forbidden secret method would gradually be engraved in their brains and eventually activated,
transforming demons into Dead Spirits.
Even some Old Kings would be influenced, secretly seeking the true book.
Though most of those affected were demons at myth levels and below, it also caused the Old Kings to expend great effort to deal with the matter. This incident set back world development by decades to nearly a century.
The difficult-to-handle root cause was that Dead Spirits transformed from demons, some could be defined as [perfect individuals].
The most direct manifestation was that their external appearance would gradually approximate that of humans.
During the influence of the "Book of Dead Spirit", their various flaws, ones impossible to fix through evolution and growth, were being slowly patched up.
Not only did they possess power surpassing others in their rank, but they could also become immune to various energy impacts.
Simply put, it’s a combination of[Strong Physique] and [Magic Immunity] traits.
Just like the Elder Race exhausted their energy to create the [Shoggoth Clan], it’s an integration of numerous demon advantages, eliminating certain flaws, hence they naturally appear exceptionally powerful.
Eugenes, you should be more aware of this feeling than us."
"Just being influenced by the book has this effect? When the Elder Race created our clan, it wasn’t just spent over thousands of years and massive resources, there were other great costs involved."
"Of course, it’s not that simple.
The changes brought by the "Book of Dead Spirit" inherently have problems.
All those influenced and ultimately transformed into Dead Spirits undergo an actual ’failed transformation.’
These demons themselves cannot withstand such ’perfection’... even if left alone, within days or no longer than half a year, they would naturally die.
Back then, completely annihilating the ’Dead Spirit transformations’ permeating the universe was quite challenging. Consequently, the teacher directly collaborated with the Upper Beings to control and split the "Book of Dead Spirit", cutting off the source of infection.
Shortly after, those Dead Spirits hiding within the universe died off."
Eugenes asked somewhat puzzled:
"By this account,
this [Frozen Land] has drifted in the shattered dimension for countless years, even if the ones here became Dead Spirits, they should have long perished, shouldn’t exist to this day, right?"
"Indeed, many individuals here have died, otherwise considering the bunker’s density, we would have encountered them upon entry.
I suspect that under the influence of the shattered dimension, a minority of [Dead Spirits] underwent a deeper, even unprecedented ’distortion,’ forming a new species of Dead Spirit.
Next, we might face unseen special life forms... try to use physical attacks as much as possible. If something feels wrong, I will lead you to retreat."
"Okay."
Eugenes nodded, his expression slightly heavy,
while Han Dong remained silent throughout the conversation, merely pondering.
He is both the denoted individual and partial holder of the "Book of Dead Spirit", more aware than anyone else of what Pope meant by "perfection."
The "Prologue" had already shown Han Dong the essence of this book, learning different volumes meant slowly mending one’s own flaws.
Setting off again,
This time Han Dong and Eugenes walked side by side in front,
The surface of the black meat robe worn by Eugenes was covered with eyes, tentacles growing from the back were always ready to arm.
They moved along the passage between bunkers, eventually circling to the central room.
This should be the activity center,
where the former Ice Demons would gather and engage when they didn’t need to leave the bunker for resource extraction or hunting.
Now.
Only one [person] resided here, displaying an odd posture.
A skull with white hair was freely connected to the ceiling through joint-like vertebrae.
A woman’s crystalline body sat cross-legged on the ground, seemingly engaging in some form of meditation sensing.
The Skull Head opened and closed,
producing a soft ancient demon language: "I’ve been waiting for you for a long time... It’s been ages since a ’Living Person’ came here, come over and sit."
Han Dong gestured for the two to wait at the door, going alone up front.