Chapter 315 - Soul Beings?
Theo came to a halt right away.
’Like Owen?’ he thought, frowning.
His gaze instinctively shifted beside him, locking onto his best friend.
Owen was still casually walking with his sledgehammer resting on his shoulder, completely unaware of the conversation.
’’They are similar, yes,’’ Feng replied. ’’But not in the same way.’’
Theo raised an eyebrow as he continued walking.
’What does that mean?’ he asked internally.
’’I’m not certain yet,’’ it admitted. ’’From this distance, all I can tell is that there’s something extremely strange about them.’’
Theo’s frown deepened slightly.
If even Feng couldn’t immediately recognize what they were...
’How far away are they?’
’’Not far,’’ Feng replied. ’’You should reach the chamber within several minutes.’’
Theo nodded faintly.
’Then we’ll just have to find out once we’re closer.’
Without another thought, they steadily continued walking.
The deeper they went, the more the passage around them began to change.
At first, it was barely wide enough for several people to walk beside each other.
But gradually, the walls began spreading apart and the ceiling rose higher, allowing all of them to walk side by side.
That wasn’t all though.
The paintings surrounding them had also started changing.
What had once been small half-humanoid figures living a peaceful life had started shifting towards something much darker.
’What... the hell is all of this?’
With every step they took, Theo’s expression became stranger and more serious.
The paintings showed villages on fire, collapsed houses, and flooded streets filled with what seemed like corpses.
And it only grew worse from there.
Countless half-humanoids were shown desperately fleeing from relentless water waves.
Then Theo noticed something strange.
There were purplish masses inside the water.
His eyes narrowed as he focused on the next painting.
Several enormous purple humanoids had emerged from the water.
’What are they?’ he thought strangely.
Each possessed four arms and seemed to be the size of six-story apartment buildings.
Not to mention, they actually held blades in each of their hands while a thin purple light surrounded their bodies.
From there, the paintings only became more violent.
It was quite literally a vicious war between the half-humanoids and the enormous purple creatures.
Theo’s steps gradually began slowing down.
’This looks horrible,’ he thought, a shiver running down his spine. ’These half-humanoids were absolutely getting slaughtered...’
It was easy for him to imagine the scene.
He’d witnessed something rather similar when Santa Barbara had been flooded.
The only difference was that it had been a frost serpent rather than whatever those purple creatures were.
’’What’s up?’’ Owen suddenly asked beside him. ’’Something crazy on the walls?’’
Theo glanced at him before looking back at the paintings.
’’Trust me,’’ he muttered. ’’It’s better you can’t see them.’’
Owen remained silent, just staring at Theo for a few seconds.
’’Well, that’s reassuring,’’ he muttered, finally looking away.
Shaking his head, Theo simply continued walking.
It wasn’t long before something new finally appeared in the distance.
’’Theo,’’ Feng called out internally.
Theo nodded right away, capable of sensing them himself too.
The passage was coming to an end, with bright light shining through from the large open chamber behind.
But before he could even look down, those behind him froze in place.
’’What the fuck are those?!’’ Jim said, taking a step back.
Glancing down, Theo locked onto several strange figures.
They stood motionlessly on either side of the entrance.
At first glance, they almost looked like ordinary guards.
Each of the figures wore ancient, faded armor and held a long spear beside their body.
But that was where anything ordinary about them ended.
Their bodies were completely translucent.
A faint purple glow flowed throughout their forms, making it seem as though they were made entirely from some kind of mana.
And just like the people in the paintings, none were entirely human.
Some had horns growing from their foreheads, while others possessed wings or strange cat-like ears.
For several seconds, nobody dared to move closer.
’Feng,’ Theo asked internally. ’Anything new?’
Feng’s voice came through almost instantly.
’’Yes,’’ it replied. ’’I think I understand what felt strange about them now.’’
It paused for a moment, seemingly searching for the right words.
’’But this... this is utterly disgusting.’’
Theo’s brows immediately furrowed.
He’d rarely heard such disgust in Feng’s voice before.
’What do you mean?’
Another brief moment of silence followed.
’’Their souls,’’ it finally said. ’’They’ve been completely infested with Curse mana.’’
Theo’s gaze darted towards Owen right away.
’Like his?’ he asked.
’’No,’’ Feng replied firmly. ’’That’s what makes this so vile...’’
’’Your friend was corrupted by the undead element. It altered his bloodline and became part of what he is. But it didn’t take away who he is.’’
Theo remained completely silent.
His gaze flickered towards the translucent figures once more.
’’But these beings,’’ Feng continued in a low tone. ’’They’ve been altered on a fundamental level!’’
’’Curse mana was forced into them, stripping them of their memories, emotions, desires, instincts, identity... everything that makes them who they are.’’
Theo felt a chill run down his spine.
For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
His gaze couldn’t help but shift back to the paintings he’d seen just before.
’So these are the original inhabitants of Petra...’
’’Almost certainly,’’ Feng replied coldly.
Theo’s expression darkened.
That made everything he’d seen on the walls even more disturbing.
Whatever had happened here hadn’t simply killed them.
It had turned them into this.
’This is fucked up,’ he thought, his hair standing on end. ’Is there any chance we can get turned into that if we stay?’
’’I highly doubt it,’’ Feng replied instantly. ’’To perform this, one needs strength far above what is currently on your planet.’’
Theo let out a quiet breath and nodded once.
’Good,’ he thought. ’Otherwise we would’ve turned around right away.’
There was no way he would’ve risked their lives, deaths, souls... whatever, for some simple cash reward.
His gaze slowly shifted back to the translucent beings in front of them.
’That being said,’ he thought. ’There’s still a pretty obvious problem...’
’How the hell do we get past them?’