Chapter 939 - Riddle

"Hmm?!" Theo widened his eyes when he received this message from someone. After all, among those four people behind him, one of them seemed to know something about this place.

'Who knows about this place?' Theo tried to ask, gathering more information. The message was more of a riddle instead of a speech, so he didn't know who was the one saying it.

Unfortunately for him, no more message appeared before his eyes, making him curious about the meaning of the message.

'By giving that message, do you want me to go deeper?' Theo changed his question because his original plan was to look around this place to find some good items.

As expected, he received a reply.

[Yes.]

[Yes.]

[Yes.]

[Yes.]

But it turned out all of them answered his questions, confusing him even more. If one of them answered, he believed this place was connected to one of them. In that case, he could speculate the real name of this place.

But with them answering at the same time, Theo couldn't be sure anymore. There was a chance that this place was connected to all of them instead of just one.

There weren't many pieces of information regarding these people's lives when they were together since the myth was more focused on the time when the serpent had been thrown into the sea, the wolf had been tamed, and the Goddess had been exiled.

That was why Theo didn't know the name of this place.

'Ugh.' Theo scratched the back of his head and remained in his position.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Star Group members had entered the mist. Those who were close to him managed to find him, but because no one dared to approach him, they simply looped around him and started searching.

After five minutes, Theo still stood in his original position, not finding anything in his mind.

'Ugh. I don't know anything.' Theo let out a long sigh. 'It seems they want me to go to a deeper area which is extremely dangerous. And the only way to reach that area safely is… the riddle.'

With that in mind, Theo repeated it while trying to understand the hidden meaning.

'In the beginning, there was only coldness… What the heck? Are they talking about space? Before the planet was born, there was only a vacuum space without heat…' Theo facepalmed as he couldn't believe this was the real reason.

'Brave warriors will be trapped inside the unending coldness, but the weak will find the true path between the cold.' Theo fell silent, feeling the hidden meaning behind these words. 'Brave warriors… What is a brave warrior? Does this mean I shouldn't fight? Instead, I should become a weak person that can't fight? Or is it telling me to go in peace? Like saying, 'I come in peace, people!' while raising a white flag?'

Theo was confused and started looking at the next one.

'The living can see the path to go back, but the dead can find the path to go forward.' When he reached this sentence, he couldn't help but curse, 'What do you mean the dead? Are you telling me to die?'

It was impossible for them to ask him to die since they defeated his ancestor just to get the chance to bless him. So, dying was the last thing they wanted from Theo.

'Wait a minute. This place is filled with undead because only a corpse can withstand the coldness of this place. Should I find a corpse to lead me inside?' Theo narrowed his eyes and shook his head, proceeding with the next one first.

'Go up and you shall gain everything. Go down and you shall receive judgment. This is clearly implying that going up will give you the best reward, but the next line doesn't match up… In fact, it's telling me to go down.' Theo frowned.

'Just as cold arose out of the ground, and all terrible things, all beings searched for the warm and glowing land, only to melt and drip when the breath of heat met the rime. It's basically telling me that the coldness comes from the ground… And all terrible things? It must be related to the judgment.

'And if I go to the warm and glowing land, I will die. This place must be so hot that my body can't withstand it. And since it's the opposite of the ground, it must be related to the 'go up and you shall gain everything.'

'In other words, if I seek this warm and glowing land, I'll die because of my greed… my greed to attain everything. Instead, the path I should find is the way to go down. This judgment must be something like a challenge.

'And the clue for this challenge is the last two sentences. What can be seen never exists, but what can't be seen has existed since the beginning.

'I was told that the mist could create an illusion because the coldness is messing with our brain, but I don't think this mist is scientific at all. Instead, the mist is actually a magical fog that can create illusions.

'The things that I can see are just an illusion. It perfectly matches with the line 'what can be seen never exists.'

'In other words, I should be careful of what can't be seen. Instead of my eyes, I should use my Awareness to fight against these creatures. But Awareness is not that effective here…' Theo felt confused with the riddle. As much as he wanted to proceed forward, he felt a bit afraid because of these lines.

Ultimately, he recited the last line in his mind. 'Don't be misled, for all things are inverted. What does this mean?

'Wait a minute, the living can see the path to go back while the dead can go forward… Isn't it already in reverse? Then, go up and you will die because of your greed, while going down will give you punishment. Last but not least, what can be seen never exists, but what can't be seen has existed since the beginning… All of them are kinda in reverse.

'In other words, instead of acting like the living, I should act like the dead. Instead of going up, I should go down. And instead of fearing the appearance of enemies, I should focus on those who are invisible.'

Theo felt like he got some understanding about the riddle and his first thought was, 'In that case, I should find the undead first.'

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What is this place? (It existed in the myth.)