Chapter 292 – Seeing Through
Chapter 292 – Seeing Through
Upon hearing the words of this Death God Magus in front of him, the old caretaker didn’t cooperate at the first opportunity like an ordinary grave guard, but instead frowned in dissatisfaction, “I’m the caretaker of the cemetery, and I’ve never heard of the argument that actions in the cemetery still require the caretaker to recuse himself.”
“It’s a special situation, old sir,” the diminutive black-robed man took half a step forward and said in a serious and sincere tone, while he finally sighed after seeing the stubborn expression on the old caretaker’s face, “Well, actually, I wasn’t supposed to tell you about it- -this body, to be sent to the Cathedral of Silence.”
“The Cathedral of Tranquility?” The old caretaker subconsciously spoke, “What the hell is this ……”
“Serious unknown contamination, possibly related to something deep in the mine, we’re going to perform a special purification ritual, the fewer living people at the site the better,” the shorter man said with a serious look on his face, “It’s not just you who will have to recuse yourself, but one of my coworkers and I will have to recuse ourselves along with you as well. ”
As he spoke, the taller and stronger man among the men in black also stood out and silently came beside the shorter man.
The old guard looked at the two black-clothed magi in front of him, and then at the black-clothed woman who was standing beside the mortuary table – the latter had already taken out the herbs and holy oils used to perform the rituals from her carry-all at the moment, and had begun to set up a makeshift altar in the open space in front of the mortuary table.
“Well, since it involves mines and pollution, that’s not the part I’m responsible for,” the old man finally gave up his stubbornness, he shrugged his shoulders, put away his shotgun and turned around to walk towards the cemetery path, and turned back to greet the two black-robed men, one tall and one short, “Come on, I still have some hot tea in my hut , you can also roast the fire inside, the cemetery at night can be colder than outside.”
The two black-clothed men looked at each other and casually said as they stepped to follow the old man, “Then thank you for your hospitality, old sir.”
The old caretaker and the two black-clothed men left, and only the black-clothed woman with thin lips and the other slim man who was always silent remained beside the mortuary.
As well as a coffin that had quieted down at the moment.
Duncan lay quietly in the coffin, pondering the conversation he had just had with the caretaker while speculating on the origins of the few uninvited guests who had appeared later.
The trip to the landing at Frost …… was really different from the one at Prand, and although it didn’t seem to go very well, it was a different kind of fun.
The only thing that displeased him was the poor execution efficiency of this shell.
Duncan raised his hand in the coffin and watched as a small cluster of green fire jumped around his fingertips, illuminating the small space.
It was a good thing that the spirit fire was not affected by its effectiveness.
In the wavering green firelight, he saw the cheap, poorly made boards, the rough linen lining, and the dense runes on the lid of the coffin and the triangular emblem in the center of the runes – that would be the seal of Bartok, the god of death.
Those runes and emblems are obviously not “noble handmade products”, but should be printed directly by machine, anyway, the effect is similar.
Duncan pricked up his ears again and listened carefully for any movement outside the coffin.
The coffin is very thin, and the seal is not tight enough, he can clearly hear the sound of people talking outside, he just heard the sound of the caretaker and the two uninvited guests leaving, and now he can hear some rustling, it seems that the people who stayed behind are walking next to the coffin.
What were they up to?
The woman in black stopped her move to set up the altar in front of the mortuary table.
She stood up, glanced at the direction the watchman had left, and after confirming that the stubborn old watchman had already gone far away, she spat on the ground next to her, then took a step towards the coffin in front of her.
The “altar” she had just set up was stepped over without a care in the world, and the powdered herbs and the ceramic containers of grease were kicked away.
The silent man in black had already come to the side of the coffin, and with a shake of his cane, a metal elbow popped out of the end of the cane, transforming it into a crowbar.
“Wait a minute,” the woman in black stopped her partner with a raised hand, then came to the coffin and curled her fingers and tapped, “Is it still there?”
“Ah, yes,” Duncan replied immediately, “Something wrong?”
The woman in black frowned as if slightly confused, but then spoke without expression, “Do you know who you are?”
“…… Not sure,” Duncan blurted out, “As a matter of fact I’m still confused as to how I got here, and there’s a caretaker of the cemetery just out there who says that I’m actually a dead man, and that after three days will be burned …… What the hell happened? And what do you do?”
“Ah, we’re here to help you,” the woman in black said faintly, “I don’t suppose you want to be burned, do you?”
“That’s for sure – while frosty winters do get cold, it’s still too challenging to keep warm in an incinerator, are you guys going to let me out?” “Your cold jokes are as cold as this night, sir,” the woman in black laughed, “Of course we’ll let you out, and then all you have to do is come with us and you won’t have to worry about anyone continuing to come after you.”
“Then thank you very much.” The voice in the coffin said politely.
The woman in black collected the expression on her face and took a slight half step back, nodding to the silent man holding the crowbar, “Pry it open.”
The silent man immediately stepped forward, and in the creaking and crunching sound of prying, the already not-so-sturdy coffin was quickly opened, and then he pushed forward with his cane, pushing the dark and heavy coffin lid aside completely.
The plank slid off the platform and fell heavily to the gravel floor.
The woman in black raised a finger in a silencing gesture, but some kind of hoarse, low mumble came from her throat, that didn’t sound like a human voice after all.
Along with her “silent” gesture, the coffin lid fell to the ground really did not make a sound, and even in the blink of an eye, the heavy wooden board was transformed into black dust floating in the wind, disappearing silently into the night.
Afterwards, a man and a woman dressed in black raised their heads and looked at the wide-open coffin.
A man with a pale face, thick arms and legs, and wearing a dark brown jacket sat up from inside, curiously looking at them face to face.
After a long moment, a faint smile appeared on Duncan’s face and he sighed softly, “Ah, it seems interesting.”
“What did you say?” The woman in black frowned, followed immediately by a stern face, and commanded in a low voice that seemed to carry a strange power, “Come out of there first, and follow us out of here.”
“There’s no rush,” Duncan smiled as he sat in the coffin and shook his head, “That’s quite a chic chain you’re wearing – and your spectral demon is quite chic too, I thought that thing only had dogs in it. ”
The man and woman in black were simultaneously stunned at the words, and in the next second they looked shocked, the thin-lipped woman even subconsciously took half a step backward, staring dead in shock and wariness at Duncan sitting in the coffin, “You can tell our disguise?!”
“Disguise?”
Duncan raised an eyebrow and swept his gaze over the two before him-
A woman, wearing a long, dark-colored dress, her face looking thin and mean, while a pitch-black chain poked out from between her neck and collarbone, which was clearly integral to her body, as if it extended directly from her collarbone, and at the end of the chain was attached an ugly, monstrous bird covered in a twisted patchwork of pitch-black bone fragments.
The monstrous bird, black smoke rising from its body, was resting precariously on the woman’s shoulder, and the two blood-colored holes in its skull were staring deathly at Duncan, every bone fragment in its body shivering slightly.
The other was a slim man, wearing a thick gray-blue coat, a chain extended directly from his throat, the other end of the chain was connected to a huge jellyfish floating in mid-air, it was as if the jellyfish had no solidity, its whole body was made of floating smoke, and there was a blood-red core in its depths, which was constantly rising and shrinking and writhing, as if it was a heart.
The dark chains were symbiotic with the strange creature surrounded by black smoke.
Clearly, two Annihilationists.
And these two cultists all had shocked faces at the moment.
“Ah yes, camouflage,” Duncan nodded as an afterthought, then got up from the coffin a little, walked slowly out, and carefully climbed down from the platform again – he moved slowly, because this body just wasn’t very good at it, and “Dog seems to have a talent for interfering with perceptions and helping symbiotes disguise their identities, so is this a common skill of yours? But with all due respect, this disguise ability of yours isn’t really very reliable, I’ve never seen a situation where it didn’t go wrong ……”
“Stop!” The religious woman finally reacted, she jerked back several steps, and then immediately raised her hand to point at Duncan, the words coming from her throat seemed to be mixed with another low hoarse voice, as if another caster was chanting a magic spell through her throat, “I deprive you of your ability to move, and order you to stop here!”
Duncan finally stepped off the platform and took two more unhurried steps forward, looking curiously at the woman not too far away, “So, this is the so-called ‘magic spell’ that the Annihilationists borrowed from the mouths of demons?
“Well, for one thing, it does seem a bit more elegant than Shirley.
“But now it seems as if it’s not nearly as effective as Meteor Dog – that would have at least startled me.”
(End of chapter)