630 Mirror of Fate

The mushroom, mixed with fire, rose to the sky. The dark air dispersed the smoke, revealing the blue-and-black giant whose head was gone and whose body was more than ragged.

Right then, the intelligent lives of different species that made up the body of the giant were suddenly enlivened. They surged toward the head like a tide in haste, and after only a few seconds, a new head had been created.

"It's truly tough. As expected of a masterpiece of the school of necromancy." Lucien pointed the brilliant Space Staff in his hands at the corpses of humans, elves and dragons, which were immediately slowed down like puppets. The speed of the giant's recovery was lowered.

Then, cold moonlight appeared in Lucien's dark pupils. He turned into a legendary knight and drew the silver longsword. Flying into the sky, he descended and slashed the giant like a shooting star.

It was not because Lucien did not want to finish it with magic, but because the monster might catch up with them any moment and he could not waste his time. Naturally, the best solution was to directly crush the enemy with the Sword of Truth!

After a flash of the silver sword, an illusionary gap appeared on the giant without a sound, cutting the defense, the dark air and the physical body all at once, before it was divided into countless branches and spread to all the body parts of the giant.

Crack, crack, crack. The dead bodies of the intelligent creatures turned into tiny, broken, rotten meat and fell like an abrupt storm.

In the storm of blood, flesh and mucus, Lucien was surrounded by silver moonlight that vaporized the 'rainwater' that fell upon him, while he picked up the broken heart of the giant.

The black heart gradually stopped beating. Then, the flesh on the surface took off one layer after another, revealing the pool of bright green fluids the size of a thumb inside. Intense air of life could be sensed.

Lucien took out a silver teapot that was full of magic patterns and poured the Fountain of Youth into it, before he resealed the container.

"Let's move on. We are not far away from the spot marked by Maskelyne." Rhine, more or less recovered, walked over on his own and urged Lucien. For him, the 'Fountain of Youth' was of no use at all and even highly poisonous.

Lucien put the magic teapot back and was about to cancel his transformation, when he suddenly heard sobbing that lowered the temperature by dozens of degrees.

Wu, wu, wu. In the blood-freezing cries, tombstones fell, and coffins were opened. The black, grey and white clothes trembled and stood up as if they were alive, before they wobbled to the center.

Their movements seemed abnormal, but they were extremely fast. It didn't take long before they were integrated into a gigantic doll that was wearing a colorful coat and an uncanny smile, which made Lucien, whose instincts became much keener after he became a legendary knight, sensed a hint of danger.

"What is this?" Asked Lucien subconsciously.

Rhine shook his head. "I don't know, either. Of all the mysterious customs, I only know one third at most."

Emitting the air close to level three of legendary, the doll took shape while it chuckled and cried.

"Let's go!"

Lucien had no intention to fight. Although there would be a chance for him to defeat the creepy doll if he were to carry out all his strength and his items together with Rhine's abundant collections, it would significantly delay them, and it would be a disaster if the real monster caught them. Also, after they killed the doll, other spectres might appear, and the battle might be prolonged indefinitely.

Having no time to cancel the transformation, Lucien grabbed Rhine by his arm and flew forward into the moonlight, illuminating the grey wilderness.

Very soon, a black gate appeared among the tombstones.

"Wu! Wu! Wu!"

The creepy cries and laughter suddenly echoed next to Lucien's ears, dissolving the 'Wall of Space' around him that he created with the Space Staff. He was also blown out of moonlight.

Lucien trembled hard, feeling that cold wind was pouring into his clothes and that the physical body of the legendary knight was melting. It seemed that only the clothes like the Robe of Grand Arcanists was not affected. But of course, they couldn't provide any help, either.

Faced with the 'doll' that could not be inferred with common sense, Lucien did not turn back but kept on flying at the black gate. In the meantime, he slashed backwards with the Sword of Truth without aiming at the target.

"Wu!"

The silver sword flashed, and the cries countless times more miserable than just now burst out. The freezing wind blowing at his neck came to an abrupt halt.

Having no time to confirm the result or to check the black gate, Lucien simply bumped in.

"Wu! Wu! Wu!"

After he jumped into the grey hall, the cries and laughter came to Lucien's ears even more loudly. He hurried to summon the moonlight and close the black gate.

Dum! Dum! Dum

The noise of somebody bashing the gate rumbled. The black gate was bent forward, as if it would be knocked open at any moment.

His blood freezing, Lucien calculated the coordinates and traveled among different black gates.

After several grey halls, Lucien and Rhine finally got rid of the mysterious doll.

"The location that Maskelyne left behind is right next to us…" After his calculation, Lucien's pupils constricted violently. His heart was racing beyond his control despite the pacification of magic.

What would he see there?

Could he find the secrets of the monster?

Would it be something unimaginable, or the omen of horror and desperation?

Rhine, on the other hand, was rather calm. He cleaned his black shirt and his red coat, before he pointed at one of the black gates with a smile. "I believe it's behind that gate, right?"

"Yes." Lucien walked over and checked it with magic first. After ensuring that there was no danger, he pushed the gate open slowly.

As the gate moved backwards without a sound, everything behind the gate was revealed before Lucien and Rhine.

"Why?" Lucien tried to control himself to prevent his rationality from being drowned by disappointment.

Behind the black gate was the same grey hall that was exactly like any other halls. There was not even any residue of the silver magic pattern.

"Check it carefully." Rhine stopped smiling and walked into the grey hall, searching for any traces.

After confirming that the coordinates were correct, Lucien followed him into the hall. Suddenly, he sensed that the Sun's Corona on his chest rippled, as if it were interacting with a certain object inside the hall.

Following the interaction, Lucien stopped in front of a grey pillar. He examined it with multiple spells.

After a long time, Lucien sighed, "As expected of a level-three prophet. This gate is the best example of hideouts. Without the instruction of the Sun's Corona, I'm afraid that only the top legends can possibly discover it, and even they will miss it if they are slightly careless."

As he talked, Lucien activated the secret door and stuck the Sun's Corona to it. Although Lucien had plenty of ways to crack it, it was the simplest and most time-preserving way to use the Sun's Corona.

The brilliance of the sun that did not belong to this place glowed inside the grey hall, and a secret door was slowly opened, revealing a messy grey chamber where broken magic tubes, alchemical potions, pots and utensils were everywhere.

It seemed that the master of this place was not in a good mood, or he had left in a hurry, because if a battle of legends had happened in this place, Lucien was very certain that none of them could've survived.

The chamber was arranged in the typical look of an ancient magic laboratory. It didn't take Lucien long before he found a hidden desk, on which there were three items: the torso of a puppet, a magic notebook, and a grey mirror where countless mysterious magic patterns were floating.

"'Mirror of Fate'. This is truly Maskelyne's laboratory." Rhine recognized the mirror after the first look. He explained to Lucien casually, "Maskelyne once worked together with McLeod, hoping to create a legendary item that could reflect the river of fate. However, even a demigod wouldn't have been capable of that. They only managed to craft an item that could only be used limited times. However, it proved very effective in the first two usages. The first time, it predicted the whereabouts of the Thanos belongings very accurately, and the second time, it predicted that he would be trapped.

"So, a legendary item of the school of prophecy." Lucien realized that Rhine knew more than he thought he did. He examined the Mirror of Fate casually.

"'Mirror of Fate', a level-three perfect legendary item, can tell what happened in the past rather accurately and predict a future scene less accurately. It is a reflection of the river of fate and shouldn't exist in this world. It will be broken after five usages."

"Times used: Four."

"Everyone's fate is preordained, but the eyes of mortals cannot see through the heavy fog."

"By Waldo K Maskelyne."

"There's only one time left. It seems that Mr. Maskelyne used it after he was trapped here." Holding the Mirror of Fate, Lucien said with a heavy mood.

Rhine smiled, "If it were me, I would've predicted the secrets of the monster with the Mirror of Fate, too. I wonder if he found anything."

Not in a hurry to open the notebook, Lucien picked up the greenish torso of the puppet. "Why would a part of McLeod's puppet appear in Mr. Maskelyne's laboratory?"

"Perhaps, Maskelyne found it as a clue after McLeod 'went missing'."Rhine looked around and suddenly smiled. "This place has been processed by Maskelyne. The time flow is as fast as the outside world. Even if the monster will arrive soon, we will have enough time for our recovery."

Lucien still did not open the magic notebook. Solemnly, he said, "I have two questions."

"What are they?" Rhine asked.

"The first question is what I had before. Why did the monster not destroy those remnants? I don't think they could've escaped the monster's attention, right?" Lucien clenched his right fist and tapped his jaw. "Let's think reversely. Why did Mr. Maskelyne and his teammates leave scraps, notes and items in the end as their final attempt? Were they certain that the monster wouldn't destroy them?"

Rhine did not say anything but listened to Lucien's analysis quietly.

"The second question. There are so many grey halls, and yet we found the paper fragments, the puppet parts and the residue of magic so easily. Wasn't it too much of a coincidence?"

"You think that the monster was misleading us on purpose?" Rhine pursed his lips.

"That's possible, but what's the point? Because it can't defeat us?" Lucien suspected that the monster was deepening the illusion or the dream through hints, but he could still open his spirit library.

Taking a breath, Lucien said in a low voice, "There may be clues in the notebook."

Opening the magic notebook, Maskelyne's familiar handwriting appeared:

"…Through the Mirror of Fate, we found one of Mr. Thanos' secret laboratories. The experiment he did there were truly incredible. It was a major inspiration for us…"