Chương 156

Rudra found himself standing in a massive, underground library. The walls were made of smooth white stone, lined with thousands of tall wooden bookshelves. The air smelled like old parchment and dust. It felt incredibly real. Rudra could feel the dry air in his lungs and the hard stone floor under his boots. People were running everywhere. They wore simple, ancient robes. They looked human, but their ears were slightly pointed, and their eyes glowed with a faint, scholarly light.

They were frantically packing heavy leather scrolls into solid stone vaults. They were terrified.

"Hurry!" a woman screamed, carrying an armful of books.

"The sky is already turning black!" Rudra stood right in the middle of the chaos. Nobody noticed him. He was just a ghost watching a memory. He looked toward the center of the library. An ancient man with a long, white beard was standing by a stone table. He was the Elder. He was gently placing a glowing, golden book into an iron box. A young boy was standing next to him, crying softly.

"Elder," the young boy sobbed.

"Why are they doing this? We didn't do anything wrong! We just wanted to learn!" The Elder sighed. He closed the iron box and locked it with a heavy key. He placed a wrinkled hand on the boy's head.

"It isn't about right or wrong, little one," the Elder said. His voice was heavy with sadness.

"We learned too much. The gods do not want scholars. They want followers. We looked behind the curtain, and now the board is being wiped clean."

"Where will we go?" the boy asked, wiping his eyes.

"To the sanctuary," the Elder replied, looking up at the stone ceiling.

"The hidden crater. The Sleeping Giant. We will lock the time inside the volcano. We will sleep until the new world is born. We are the Scribes. Our only duty now is to remember." The Elder raised his hands. A massive, blinding white magic circle appeared on the floor of the library.

"Everyone to the center!" the Elder shouted over the panic.

"Seal the vaults! We leave now!" The white light exploded upward. Rudra gasped. His vision snapped back to normal. He was standing in knee-deep water in the flooded cave. The dim blue moss glowed quietly on the walls. Kratos was nudging his leg with a wet nose.

"Hey. You spaced out," Kratos said.

"You stared at a wall for two whole minutes." Rudra rubbed his temples. The headache was already fading.

"I'm fine," Rudra muttered. He shook his head to clear the leftover dizziness.

"Just a class related effect. I got a memory fragment." He picked up the piece of parchment he had dropped in the water and shoved it into his inventory. He looked at Kratos.

"Remember that volcano we saw earlier?" Rudra asked.

"The one shaped like a big guy sitting down?" Kratos asked.

"Yeah."

"We need to go there. Right now." Rudra didn't wait for an answer. He turned around and jogged out of the temple, splashing through the water back to the boat. Finn was waiting by the steering wheel. He looked relieved when he saw them climb back on board. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Temple cleared?" Finn asked, pulling up the heavy anchor.

"Yeah, it's done," Rudra said, tossing his wet staff onto the deck.

"Turn the boat around. We're going to the Sleeping Giant." Finn froze. He stared at Rudra like he had just asked him to jump off a cliff.

"My Lord... I told you," Finn said, his voice trembling.

"That place is a cursed zone. It is strictly forbidden for any Siren or sailor to approach it."

"Why?" Rudra asked calmly.

"Because of the Storm Wall," Finn explained, pointing toward the horizon.

"There is an unnatural, permanent storm surrounding the entire island. The wind is like blades. The waves are twenty feet high. It is an ancient, impenetrable barrier. Every single ship that has ever tried to sail close to it has been ripped into splinters. We will die if we go there." Rudra looked out at the ocean. He could barely see the dark shape of the human-like volcano in the distance, hidden behind a thick, grey fog.

"It's a defensive ward," Rudra muttered to himself.

"The Scribes set it up to keep the gods and monsters out while they slept." He looked back at the terrified Siren scout.

"Finn," Rudra said gently.

"Just drive the boat. I promise you won't die." Finn swallowed hard. He looked at the Duke's calm face. He had watched this man casually slap an entire pirate crew into unconsciousness without breaking a sweat. If anyone could survive a cursed storm, it was probably him.

"As you command, My Lord," Finn whispered. He turned the wheel. The boat sped across the open ocean. For the first hour, the sea was calm. But as they got closer to the island, the sky suddenly changed. The warm afternoon sun vanished. Thick, pitch-black clouds rolled in from nowhere. The wind started to howl, tearing at the boat's sails. The water turned a violent, foamy white.

"It's getting rough!" Finn yelled over the noise of the wind.

"I don't like this!" Kratos barked. The lion flattened himself against the wooden deck, digging his claws into the planks as the boat rocked violently side to side. A massive wall of grey fog and black clouds loomed right in front of them. It wasn't just bad weather. It was a literal wall of chaotic magic. Purple lightning flashed inside the clouds. The sound of the wind was deafening. It sounded like a thousand people screaming.

"My Lord!" Finn shouted in a panic, desperately holding the spinning wheel.

"If we hit that wall, the boat will shatter instantly!"

"Keep going straight!" Rudra yelled back. Rudra didn't grab his weapon. He didn't brace himself for an impact. He just walked to the very front of the boat and stood right on the edge of the bow. He put his hands in his pockets. He stared directly at the approaching storm. He didn't cast a spell. He didn't use an active skill. He just stopped hiding his presence. He let his passive Staff Saint energy flow out naturally. A heavy, warm aura of blue and gold light radiated from his body.

It was the pure, unfiltered energy of a Pioneer Saint. The boat crashed headfirst into the Storm Wall. Finn squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the ship to tear apart. Kratos whined and covered his head with his paws. But there was no crash. There was no splintering wood. The ancient, violent magic of the barrier suddenly shifted. The purple lightning stopped flashing. The screaming wind died down instantly. The ward recognized the energy. It wasn't an enemy. It wasn't a monster. It was the presence of a Saint.

Right in front of the boat, the massive wall of black clouds and screaming wind literally parted down the middle. It split open like a pair of giant curtains, revealing a perfectly calm, clear tunnel of water leading straight to the island. Finn opened his eyes slowly. His jaw dropped. He stared at the back of Rudra's black coat. The Duke was just standing there with his hands in his pockets, completely relaxed, while the deadliest storm in the Red Sea politely moved out of his way.

"Just keep driving, Finn," Rudra said casually. The boat sailed smoothly through the parted barrier. The violent waves completely disappeared. The dark clouds vanished. A minute later, they popped out the other side. The sky above the island was perfectly clear and bright blue. The water was as calm as a glass mirror. In front of them sat the massive, human-shaped volcano. Up close, it looked even more impressive. The sides of the dark mountain were covered in thick, green jungle vines.

The boat drifted gently toward a quiet, sandy beach at the base of the mountain.

"We're here," Rudra said. He hopped off the front of the boat, his boots splashing lightly into the shallow water. Kratos quickly jumped off after him, looking back at the terrifying storm wall that was still parted neatly behind them.

"You really are a cheat," Kratos mumbled, shaking the sand off his paws.

"I prefer the term 'VIP'," Rudra smiled. He looked up at the smoking crater of the Sleeping Giant.

"Come on. Let's go meet the locals."