Chapter 35: Beneath the Mountains

The Pale Lady raised her dagger high, seemingly about to pierce Ambrosia's skull, but Ambrosia raised her head without a trace of fear in her eyes.

She asked, "Is it true?"

Ambrosia replied, "It is true, Kaymakli. He buried them in the deepest depths of Kaymakli, and the Seal Stone is the key to the underground city of Kaymakli."

The Pale Lady said, "But Father did not truly become a god, otherwise he would not have died at your hands."

Ambrosia answered, "Cappadocia was bewitched by a very powerful demon. If he is not stopped, the consequences will only grow more severe. He will kill you, he will kill Lorenzo, he will kill Constantia... All the remaining Cappadocian Kindred will be sacrificed by him. What comes next? He will use his newfound power against the rest of the Kindred."

The Pale Lady said, "You said just now that Augustus does not know the secret buried within the Seal Stone. How is it that you know?"

Ambrosia gave a bitter smile and said, "Thanks to you, in my wandering undead life, I could often hear news brought to me by the dead... I knew Augustus was extremely greedy, and I dared not tell him the news of Kaymakli. I only informed him that the Cappadocian ancestors were plotting to eliminate our lineage, and we had to strike first.

We formed a suicide squad and raided Cappadocia's castle. That was how Father devoured our ancestors who were still in deep slumber. Yet Cappadocia's soul was already incomplete, and Augustus only obtained limited power. I thought that once Cappadocia was killed, everything was over..."

The Pale Lady said, "What about the conspiracy of the wedding? What about the century-long manhunt? Why exterminate us completely?"

"Because the situation spiraled out of control. My father knew deeply that he was a traitor, and he knew the importance of cutting weeds by the roots. He had to act, leaving no survivors, using ruthless means to make the Kindred believe he had obtained all the magical powers of the Cappadocian ancestors, thus intimidating them and preserving us."

The Pale Lady grabbed Ambrosia's hair, forcefully ripping out a large chunk, the strands stained with blood. She said, "You never even tried to stop it. You never even tried to save anything."

Ambrosia said, "I was already exhausted before your wedding. The only thing I could do was to ensure that you could be reborn sometime in the future."

The Pale Lady said, "Do you know why I married that incompetent Stone North?"

Ambrosia let out an intermittent, miserable laugh and said, "No, you wouldn't."

The Pale Lady said, "The person I truly loved was you, but you never responded to my love. That is why I formed a bond with Cappadocia through Stone North; through him, I tried to grow closer to you. To us Kindred, marriage has no substantive meaning, it is merely a change of status. My marriage to him could not stop me from being close to you. Yet on that very day, the one I loved deeply cut me to pieces with your own hands, imprisoning my soul among decaying wood.

Do you know my misery? Even if the world were destroyed, even if countless people experienced death, it could not compare to my pain."

Ambrosia murmured, "Hatred is the only thing that can keep you lingering, love will only cause you to die young."

The Pale Lady said, "And you? Have you ever loved me?"

Listening to this dialogue, the direction of it felt increasingly wrong. What if Ambrosia said he had loved her? Would the Pale Lady let her go on the spot? Women are irrational; for love, she might let go of everything. Even though she was already a skeleton-like Kindred, more terrifying than a living corpse and more desolate than a Kindred, love remained a curse she could hardly overcome.

Ambrosia said, "I am sorry, I have never loved you. I feel only gratitude and guilt toward you, just as I do toward Lorenzo."

The Pale Lady said, "Then farewell, Ambrosia. This time, I will make sure your soul has nowhere to escape, and vanishes completely."

Ambrosia suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Hey, Longinus, long time no see!"

How on earth did this bastard know my name?

The Pale Lady turned her head, and I hurriedly plunged into the shadows, praying she wouldn't see me, praying she would think Ambrosia was lying to her again. But the Pale Lady's hand moved toward me, and I felt the shadows suddenly turn freezing cold—a cold so biting it cracked skin and froze bones. I hurriedly leaped out of the shadows to grab the Seal Stone, but the hand holding the stone suddenly closed, and I only managed to snatch one piece.

The Pale Lady drifted toward me, and I immediately unleashed Dark Cloud to shroud myself within it. Then, I burst out of the mist and sprinted desperately downstairs. Along the way, numerous pale palms emerged from the walls, clawing at my eyes, my throat, my abdomen, and my heart. My Mind Blade shield shattered instantly, and it was only the Hardening Potion that saved me.

I activated Torrent, spinning my Lightning Blade to slice away most of these ghostly hands, and then leaped directly from the stairs to the ground floor.

The Pale Lady's Shadow of Death and a multitude of ghostly hands still pursued me relentlessly. I shouted, "I didn't take an extra one! Don't you still have one? Is it really necessary to be so petty?"

A layer of white fog blocked my path, out of which emerged a bride in white gauze holding a dagger. Her appearance was beautiful, her expression sorrowful, her eyes brimming with bloody tears. In an instant, I was infected by that sorrow, and all the strength in my body vanished into thin air. The white-gauzed bride said, "Come with me, my dear husband!"

I panicked and said, "I am not your husband!"

The dagger descended toward the top of my head. I activated Torrent once more; the intense pain instantly jolted me awake. The dagger shaved a slice of flesh from my face, and I leaped powerfully into the high air, slashing with Stone Cedar to cut the white-gauzed bride in half.

She had been transformed from a corpse on the ground, not Malacheni herself.

I mustered all my strength and shouted, "She found me! Come and help me! She's on the third floor!"

The corpses on the ground rose one by one, and under the effect of the mist, all transformed into identical beautiful brides, perhaps matching the appearance of the Pale Lady at her wedding.

I must admit this was my fault. Amidst such danger, I really shouldn't have been distracted to admire them. However, their gowns were indeed somewhat low-cut, making certain parts of them particularly conspicuous. I couldn't help leaning in closer to look, only to suddenly take two more knife wounds, squealing like a dead fish.

This was Malacheni's trick! What a cunning temptress she was, knowing how to exploit the irresistible weaknesses of a man! But I must point out that this wasn't because I was greedy for beauty, but rather because I was genuinely curious whether they were real or fake.

At that very moment, a thermite bomb flew in and detonated with a boom, the raging flames destroying these sirens. Lamia stood on the opposite building, continuously firing Divine Sword Bullets and shouting, "Run!"

At this moment, I was filled with endless regret. I regretted lingering to look at things I shouldn't have; I regretted relying solely on Mind Blades and potions in the first place. If I had been wearing body armor and carrying a waist full of thermite bombs, how could I have failed to break through this mere Shadow of Death?

I had allocated my talents wrongly at the start.

Simoco and his subordinates were also standing on high ground, firing continuously. Thermite bombs landed in the windows of the second and third floors, igniting raging fires.

Suddenly, thick fog billowed from the rooms, and the chill extinguished the flames, reaching the vantage point of Lamia and the others. Those pale brides materialized, wielding daggers and plunging them into the hearts of Simoco's men. Lamia and Simoco reacted instantly; Lamia evaded the blade, while Simoco was still heavily wounded by it.

Just as expected.

A man could simply not resist looking at them.

That wasn't my fault; it was the sirens' minds filled with wicked wisdom.

Lamia hoisted Simoco onto her back. I used Torrent to escape to her side, took Simoco from her, and said, "You run quickly. Getting injured is no joke."

Lamia asked, "Where are the two dukes?"

I replied, "I didn't see them!"

Lamia said, "Perhaps they took Wenling to kill Malacheni."

I asked again, "What about Wasted Bell?"

"He seemed to charge in as well."

I said, "They are right. We must stop Malacheni. She has lost her mind and will continue killing without end. With the power of the Seal Stone, she will only grow stronger."

Lamia said, "I will cover you."

I tossed Simoco aside, leaving him to fend for himself—I had to fight side by side with my wife.

We re-entered the fog. Here, the chill felt like a conscious entity, freezing thermite bombs instantly and preventing them from detonating. I continuously emitted Dark Cloud to block the sirens' vision, but occasionally a siren would still approach. Lamia responded with lightning speed, repelling them with Divine Sword Bullets.

I shouted, "There's no end to them! The fog will salvage these corpses and turn them into sirens again."

Lamia said, "There is only one path left: kill Malacheni."

I knew the truth: this Seal Stone perhaps held no mystery of becoming a death god, but was merely an entrance to a sealed underground city. We were simply caught up in the whirlpool of hatred between the Cappadocian clan and the Giovanni family.

Yet we had to end all of this.

We reached the top floor. Typhon and Chris were pursuing the Pale Lady amidst the fog. Bone-like hands continuously jutted out from within her body, but facing the dual swords of Typhon and Chris, she was losing the upper hand.

From the fog, the Pale Lady's pale brides emerged endlessly. At some point, Wasted Bell seemed to have mastered the secret to making them retreat; his nether-flames could freeze them in place before turning them back into corpses, allowing Typhon and the others to free their hands and focus on dealing with the Pale Lady.

Typhon thrust out a sword strike with the force of collapsing mountains, causing the Pale Lady to smash through several pillars and leaving her body even more battered. Chris unleashed golden swords, severing the Pale Lady's limbs. She tumbled in extreme panic and plunged into the fog.

I didn't see Ambrosia. Had he escaped in the chaos?

Norris shouted, "Now's our chance! Put the Seal Stones together, and I can disperse this mist. She has nowhere to run."

I placed the Seal Stone I had seized in front of him. He took out the previous piece, and the surrounding fog surged so densely that nothing beyond two meters could be seen. Typhon shouted, "Hurry up, don't let her—"

Suddenly, Wenling screamed. Norris's tumors ripped through her body, and he himself, covered in flesh and blood, appeared right there.

Typhon roared angrily, "Norris? What is the meaning of this?"

Chris thrust several rays of golden light toward him, but Norris laughed heartily. He embraced all the Seal Stones, the golden swords failing to harm him in the slightest, and said, "My dear Duke Typhon, thank you for your hospitality. Tables turn, and this time..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Typhon swung her sword in a heavy slash, but Norris had already turned into an illusion. The longsword passed right through him harmlessly, cutting nothing at all.