Chapter 244: The Lullaby
His rationality kicked in. This couldn’t be. The gauntlet was forged by Hephaestus himself. Eitr-forged iron could not be destroyed so pathetically. There was no way some ugly oracle with a rope in the middle of nowhere could control it—
"They say the creators of the Heavenly Tower specially built this gate. And due to that, no one has ever completed this gate. Not even those of the Golden Generation. The will of the Heavenly Tower wishes for only the chosen. Whatever treasure is inside may be useful to our mutually agreed contract."
He raised up one hand and fueled it with his Qi. It did nothing. His gauntlets continued to melt, revealing more and more of Borda’s devilish grin. He didn’t understand. His other hand, tightly holding the rope, loosened up. In one swift move, his world rushed at him and he was standing upright again. The blindfolded woman was right in front of him, licking her lips. His chest ached.
’What just happened?’ The rope was near him, limp on the ground. ’That rope...it did something to me. An illusion...?’
"Ninàn, ninàn, la Borda..."
The voice was a beautiful hum that caused Dasha to relax. There was no qualm, no reason, it was instinct. By then, it was too late. The rope was already moving and wrapped around his wrist at lightning-quick speed. The thin mist disappeared. The soil grew with plants and the faraway trees came closer.
’Where...?’
The soil began to rise like water. In moments, Dasha found himself standing knee-deep in murky swamp water, surrounded by twisted trees and overgrown vegetation. The oppressive atmosphere of the swamp pressed in on him from all sides, suffocating him with its fetid stench.
A ground-shaking roar snapped and Dasha turned to face the source of the sound. What he saw an enormous ogre charging towards him. The mist was gone. The ogre creature was green and nearly triple his size. It cocked back an enormous axe the size of a big predator cat.