God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 314: Heart of the Mountain (2).

They continued their journey for several hours. The mountains were very big, and their speed of descent was agonizingly slow.

However, they couldn't afford to make any mistakes. The deeper they went, the more chaotic the flow of energy became. At this point, they had lost the ability to use any of their skills. Cain's expression changed from one of worry to annoyance numerous times during their descent.

All this time, the {Dark Soul} kept moving below them. Its job was to notify Cain as soon as it noticed any changes.

As such, they continued to move for hours without rest. Despite his superhuman strength and endurance, Cain could already feel his arms becoming numb.

He was exhausted because of the battle with the {Chaos Orc}, and although he had rested and recovered most of his depleted energy, the recovery was not absolute. He was still rather tired.

Despite this, Cain kept going. Evangeline had not uttered a single peep, expressing fatigue. This meant he couldn't say anything as well. Although it made him sound egotistical, he didn't care. There were some things he couldn't concede on...

A mental message was transmitted to him by the {Dark Soul}. Taking a sharp inhale, Cain allowed his senses to be spread through that of the {Dark Soul}.

Almost immediately, he was able to sense something different. The first thing he was, was not ground, but bones. Lots and lots of bones...

Finally, something inside his head seemed to just click...

"Stop," Cain said, his voice a little grim.

Evangeline paused her descent and looked up at him, her face a bit pale from exhaustion. Cain felt a little bit pleased seeing this.

Cain took a deep breath, "Remember how I said there had to be a monster eating the goblins, causing their population to remain balanced regardless of how high their fertility is?"

Evangeline nodded, waiting for him to continue...

Cain had a grim look as he went on,

"Well, I think I might have found the monster..."

Evangeline's eyes shot up,

"So there is a creature down there?!"

Cain shook his head, "I'm still not sure."

"What?! Then what monster are you talking about?!" She asked.

Cain sighed, "I think it would be best if you saw it yourself."

With that, Cain unsummoned his weapons and fell. It was only a few meters to the bottom, so there was no danger anymore. Evangeline followed suit.

Since they could see in the dark, they had no problems seeing what was before them...

Evangeline stooped down to touch the ground beneath them, her face grim,

"I see..."

Behind them was an earthen wall. Looking forward, a rather ghastly sight greeted them. The bones of thousands of creatures littered the ground.

"It's a graveyard..." Evangeline said in a dark voice.

Cain shook his head, "Hmph! More like a shrine."

Cain took a few steps forward and squared in front of a pile of bones. It was very obvious that the skeleton belonged to a {Chaos Goblin}. However, there were a few details that made him suspicious...

"I've been thinking about it for a while. There is no way the population of the Chaos creatures would be this low under normal circumstances. I initially thought something was hunting them down. However, now I know..."

Cain pointed toward another skeleton,

"From what I can see, they all died facing that direction..." Cain said, pointing forward. The direction he pointed to was where the energy disturbance was greatest.

Cain then pointed at the walls, "Look. Those are skulls..."

Sure enough, numerous skulls of varying sizes adorned the walls. There were also bones, as well as organs that had decomposed, painting a very grotesque picture.

Cain turned toward Evangeline,

"These goblins are sacrifices. I think I understand it now. The Chaos creatures are being bred like cattle."

Evangeline sighed, "I figured as much. It seems like Bemethshal isn't as dead as we thought."

"It seems so..."

"Let's keep going." Even Evangeline didn't seem as confident anymore.

The deeper they went, the more terrifying the corpses. The reason Cain could tell what type of place they were, was the way the skeletons were posture.

All of them were in a kneeling pose, their foreheads buried in the ground. Their forehead was also cracked open, almost as if they had all died by bashing their heads in.

Cain had never seen anything so bizarre. The kneeling skeletons, bowing their heads to the ground and facing one direction. It was eerie and disturbing...

They continued to walk in partial silence which would be broken occasionally by the sound of bones snapping beneath their feet like twigs.

Soon, the narrow tunnel opened out into a wider area. There, Cain finally found another missing piece of the puzzle. The source of fresh air was one that didn't cross his mind at all.

There, located in the center of a large space, was a throne...

And this throne was made from pearly white bones. Above the throne, was a gigantic skull. The skull had seven eye sockets. A huge pillar extended from the forehead of the skull, which Cain assumed to be a horn.

The skull was so big, that its open jaws were like the entrance to hell itself. The horn kept extending up until Cain could no longer see it as it became a part of the mountain itself.

The throne of bones sat at the very entrance to the skull's mouth. And surrounding the throne and the skull, was a pool of blood. The pool was distorted every once in a while, almost like the wind was blowing across its surface.

Seated on the throne, was a skeleton. Hidden in its chest, was a heart that pulsated with energy every once in a while.

'This...'

Cain was convinced...

'This is the Primordial Devil of Chaos!'

Cain couldn't help but feel shocked. This was far beyond his expectations. The skeleton seated on the throne didn't seem to possess any special characteristics.

A frightening thought came to mind immediately,

'Is he perhaps, trying to be reborn?'

Cain knew that celestials left remnants behind after their deaths. However, he had no idea what happened to the Primordial devils. According to some stories, they couldn't die. And according to others and what was displayed before him, that clearly wasn't very accurate.

'Just what the hell is going on?!'

"Do you think..." Cain began speaking,

Evangeline shook her head, "I don't know."

She really didn't. There were simply too many pieces missing. It was difficult to come up with your own conclusion when half the story was mostly speculation and the validity of the other half could be questioned.

Cain sighed, "We need to get the heart."

Evangeline nodded with a grim expression, "Agreed. But that lake... That isn't something we want to interact with."

Cain agreed wholeheartedly. The source of the strange wind was none other than the strange lake. Realizing that made Cain ask himself,

How the hell does a lake produce wind?!

"This is just... too much." Cain shook his head.

Being so close to the heart meant the energy flowing in the air would look like static if he could activate the {Eye of Clairvoyance}. There was simply no safe way to activate skills. Even skills attached to weapons or equipment.

This didn't bother him too much, as they weren't in any immediate danger. The chaotic energy was a nuisance, but it didn't harm them directly at least. Cain closed his eyes to think...

'How do we cross over? That lake is something I don't want to be near at all. However, the only way I see is either jumping over or swimming through. Both don't seem like good options.'

Evangeline suddenly spoke up, "I can try using {Blood Manipulation}."

Cain shook his head, "There is no way you can pull that off."

Evangeline raised a brow. However, Cain shot her a serious look and shook his head,

"I am not trying to pull you down. It is simply impossible. It is like trying to sift through sand to find flour."

Evangeline sighed then massaged her temples,

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Give me a minute," Cain said.

His mind worked fast as he tried to think of a solution. His eyes darted across the space, observing every single detail and taking it in.

'The lake is wide. However, crossing it isn't impossible...'

His eyes became as bright as light bulbs as an idea began taking form in his mind.

"Evangeline..." Cain called out in a quiet voice.

"Are you planning something reckless?" She asked.

Cain grinned, "Yeah? What do you have to say about it?"

Evangeline let out a soft chuckle, "Say the words, boss..."

Cain chuckled as well...

"I wouldn't call it reckless. Have you ever heard the story of the parted sea before?"

Much to his surprise, Evangeline nodded,

"It is an old story uncovered from the old world. A man was given the power to split a sea open to rescue his kinsmen, right?"

Cain nodded, "That's the gist of it..."

Cain then turned back to the lake of blood,

"And that's what we are going to do.