Chapter 564: Swift and Hasty Exchange

Chapter 564: Swift and Hasty Exchange

Deep within the sprawling mansion that had belonged to Alice, at the edge of a garden that had been shrouded in mystery, tentacles could be seen slithering in the shadows between lush bushes and thick undergrowth. These tentacles werent ordinary; they possessed a sinuous, elusive quality that suggested they were covered in shimmering, metallic scales as if they had belonged to a creature from another realm.

As Duncan navigated this mysterious garden, a rustling sound captured his attention, echoing from a different direction than before. Swiftly turning his gaze, he spotted another tentacle that appeared to be the limb of a soft-bodied creature. It wound its way through the narrow gaps between bushes, disturbing the branches and creating a friction against the soil that produced a soft, almost melodious sound.Upstodatee from n(0)/ve/lbIn/.(co/m

Bizarrely, the rustling noise felt like it was beckoning him, almost like a sirens call.

Immediately attuned to this strange experience, Duncan heightened his senses to become acutely aware of even the tiniest movements around him. He concentrated on the direction where he had last seen a tentacle vanish and began to cautiously move toward it.

As he stepped forward, ethereal green flames manifested beneath his feet, trailing behind him like faint wisps of fire. These flames gently seeped into the cracks in the ground, infusing the garden with an otherworldly glow.

Duncan knew better than to carelessly start a fire in such a sacred space since this could have very well possibly been Alices very own soul manifesting in the form of this mansion. However, the unsettling activities he was witnessing made it clear that he must be prepared for any potential confrontations. If a malevolent entity had infiltrated this haven, he had to neutralize it without damaging the mansion or its garden.

Proceeding cautiously and guided by the mysterious rustling noises, Duncan moved further away from what he had mentally dubbed the Sleeping Doll. Soon, he reached the outer limits of the mansions enchanted garden. As he walked past thickets and crossed by a variety of unfamiliar small trees, he realized that the natural illumination from what he thought of as the Doodle Sun in the sky didnt reach this secluded corner. The overlapping shadows cast by the foliage darkened the atmosphere, creating a twilight zone within the garden.

In this dim, dusky environment, he noticed a group of plants quiver momentarily before him. Seconds later, a tentacle emerged from within the flora, slowly rising and swaying in an almost hypnotic dance right in front of him.

Unveiling itself without any pretense or subterfuge, the tentacle seemed to be inviting Duncan closer for some inscrutable reason.

Awestruck, Duncan studied this strange and inexplicable appendage. The tentacle was dark-hued, and its surface was adorned with complex, scale-like structures that appeared metallic. Interspersed among these intricacies, he could faintly make out pale blue patterns that struck a chord of eerie familiarity in him.

The patterns evoked memories or perhaps primal fears deeply embedded in him. They reminded him of something ancient, possibly from the icy depths of Frost or even from the abyssal depths of the oceanfeatures similar to those found on the tentacles of a god from time immemorial.

Can it be? Is this mysterious tentacle a limb belonging to the mysterious being known as the Nether Lord?

Duncans mind reeled as he suddenly recognized the source of the strange familiarity emanating from the tentacle. The moment he mentally linked the tentacle to the Nether Lord, the appendage shuddered as if an enormous and distant consciousness had finally managed to channel its essence through this limb.

In a slow, deliberate motion, the tentacle arched toward Duncan. Accompanying this action was a low, unique hum, almost like the resonant frequency of a distant world. The tip of the tentacle then gradually unfurled to unveil what appeared to be an eye. It flickered with an icy blue light, resembling a crystalline structure of irregular shape, its gaze locking directly onto Duncans eyes.

Hello, Fire Usurper, I have words for you.

The mysterious rustling sounds that had originally led him to the edge of the mansions enchanted garden abruptly ceased. The heavy, unsettling shadows cast by the dense foliage lightened as if the natural order had been restored.

Duncan remained stationary amidst the shrubbery, pondering deeply as he did so. Several minutes elapsed before he shook his head vigorously as if trying to rouse himself from an entrancing daydream.

The entire experience felt surreal as if he had been swept up in some cosmic play. The entity identified as the Nether Lord had suddenly appeared, delivered an enigmatic, almost incomprehensible message, and then vanished as abruptly as it had manifested. An event like this would be considered supernatural not just in the town of Wind Harbor but perhaps across the entire expanse of the Boundless Sea.

However, when Duncan took a moment to contextualize these otherworldly events within the tapestry of his own complex life, they didnt strike him as entirely earth-shattering. He turned to look back at the luxuriant Mansion Garden that lay not far behind him, glowing in the soft daylight. Nestled in a sunny clearing at the center of this garden was a silver-haired doll, serenely dormant.

This setting, connected intrinsically to an entity known as 099a product of the Nether Lords ability to clonewas essentially a nexus tied not only to Alice and her mansion but also to that enigmatic deity from the abyssal depths. It was quite plausible to think of this entire sanctuary as a kind of interface, a vessel perhaps deliberately designed by the ancient god to channel messages to the terrestrial realm.

Given this dense network of spiritual and existential connections, encountering an emanation of the Nether Lord within the secluded pockets of this garden was far from implausible.

What truly intrigued Duncan was something else altogether: The Nether Lords demeanor or state of being was quite divergent from what he had initially expected. The entity displayed rational thought and seemed to be operating under some sort of extreme constraint or pressure. Contrary to popular myths that painted such beings as malevolent forces of chaos, this deity appeared strangely benign, even friendly.

But Duncan didnt dwell too much on these apparent deviations. After all, only a very small number of individuals in this world had ever had direct experiences with so-called ancient gods. Popular narratives could hardly be considered reliable data. Moreover, perceptions of such beings were highly subjective. What manifested as a benign force in Duncans eyes could easily strike terror or awe in the hearts of average folks. He was acutely aware that his long adaptation to this mystical world had endowed him with a unique lens through which to interpret such phenomena.

What weighed heaviest on Duncans mind were the shards of information imparted to him by the ancient god.

He found himself replaying the mysterious phrases over and over in his mind, trying to distill meaning from the overload of cryptic hints:

Something had been engineered with a lifespan limited to eight thousand years and was now functioning beyond its intended operational span.

The we that the Nether Lord alluded to was waiting for some kind of signal, presumably from an external source, but had not received any feedback yet.

The term cycle reset was invoked What could that possibly imply?

He himself was designated as the Usurper of Fire awakening at the end of this mysterious cycle.

Finally, there was the perplexing directive about preserving fallen fragments to prolong the existence of something called the Node.

As Duncan continued to ruminate on these fragments of unearthly wisdom, his facial expression turned increasingly solemn. The gravity of the situation began to dawn on him as he grappled with the layers of ambiguity and significance wrapped around each piece of information.