NOVEL NEXT Chapter 772: -21- The Second Stone Door_2
The figure was vaguely identifiable as a female, her body covered in tumors, her features long since distorted. Her tense body was firmly pressed against the stone door, her arms raised high, holding the center of the door as if putting up all her strength to prevent someone from opening it from the inside.
Her eyes had long since lost their sparkle, leaving behind only an empty shell, while her now mummified chin trembled continuously, repeating a persistent, fragmented murmur:
"Run..."
Charlotte felt a chill run down her spine.
"Queen... Your Majesty!"
Great Prophet Margo's eyes went wide.
She almost instinctively wanted to step forward, but was quickly stopped by Charlotte's harsh command:
"Stop right there!"
"True... True Ancestor, that is the Queen!"
Great Prophet Margo said excitedly.
Charlotte took a deep breath and nodded:
"I know, but She... has already fallen."
Great Prophet Margo opened her mouth, the excitement in her expression cooled down, replaced by pain and sorrow.
Looking at the stern Charlotte, she knelt down with a thud and pleaded:
"True... True Ancestor! Can... Can you save the Queen?"
Charlotte was momentarily at a loss for words.
She looked at the Crimson Queen Royena, then after a moment, sighed:
"As I said, Royena has fallen."
"We are now in Her remaining spirit world, no... more accurately, in Her lingering world of regrets."
"What you see is not Her true self, but the last vestige of Her consciousness lingering in a body that has already been assimilated."
Great Prophet Margo still held onto hope:
"But... but True Ancestor, can't Gods perpetually exist as long as they are not forgotten, and return once again?"
"I remember the Queen, and so does our Harcos Clan, not just us, many Bloodline members from other clans also remember the Queen! Can't we... awaken Her again?"
Charlotte fell silent.
Her gaze landed on the stone door that the Crimson Queen Royena was leaning against and said:
"Margo, perhaps what you say is true, Gods might have the possibility of return if they are not forgotten, but have you ever thought about whether what returns... is really the God you are anticipating?"
"Royena has been polluted by some force, what you see now is Her residual consciousness, so... have you ever thought about where Royena's main consciousness has gone?"
After hearing Charlotte's words, Great Prophet Margo was slightly stunned.
Charlotte, however, did not continue to explain.
To be honest, she too was unclear about the answers to these questions.
She had some speculations in her mind, yet... at this moment, they were merely guesses.
With that thought, Charlotte looked at the eerie stone door again.
"Back off a bit, I'm going to start the sealing."
She said to Margo.
Great Prophet Margo obediently stepped back.
Charlotte moved forward a step, approaching the stone door.
She closed her eyes, Divine Power surged around her, and once again, she used the Talent Magic she had used during the initial sealing of the "help" stone door.
With the experience from the last sealing, she became much more skilled this time, with a crimson glow blossoming around her, forming series after series of intricate and mystic runes, sealing them on the stone door.
Soon, the mist around the stone door began to dissipate.
Layer upon layer of seals was placed around the stone door.
Within the light, Charlotte saw the stone door gradually fade into illusion, and even that eerie aura began to weaken.
"Hm? Is this... disappearing?"
She frowned slightly, surprised.
But the next second, Charlotte froze.
In her perception, deep within her consciousness, within the Crimson Star Sea that signified the Bloodline...
As the stone door in front of her vanished, the huge star within the Star Sea, representing the prince of the Four Great Families, or more accurately, the crimson star representing the Harcos Clan's Crimson Queen Royena, also began to change!
The red glow burst like a bubble, and the illusory light also disappeared with it.
Charlotte watched in horror as the stone door that had just been in the Crimson Queen's world of lingering regrets appeared in her own spirit world!
Just like the "help" stone door.
"What the fuck?!"
She almost let out an expletive subconsciously.
Charlotte's mouth twitched, and then she quickly intensified her output of divine power, wrapping the second stone door that had emerged in the Crimson Star Sea with various Sealing Magics as tightly as one would wrap a rice dumpling.
Only after ensuring that she could no longer sense the eerie aura of the stone door did her heart slightly settle down, but just slightly.
After tossing the sealed stone door into a corner of the Crimson Star Sea and splitting off a strand of spiritual power to monitor it just as she had done with the first door, she opened her eyes and returned once again to Royena, the Crimson Queen's, world of regret.
The stone door in the world of regret had completely vanished, but Charlotte's mood had grown even gloomier.
What is this?
Inviting the wolf into the house?
Or is it... that this too represents the true nature of that massive light that symbolizes the Crimson Queen Royena?
Outrageous! The Bloodline has five Princes, and there are five massive "Stars" in the Crimson Star Sea; surely not every Star conceals a peculiar stone door?!
Recalling the remaining three colossal stars in her mind, Charlotte felt somewhat numb.
And just at this moment, the world of the Crimson Queen's regret suddenly underwent another change!
Golden radiance pierced the sky of the world of regret, illuminating the entire world like the first ray of dawn.
Where the light shone, the corpses rapidly disintegrated, and soon green grass and fresh flowers began to spread...
In the blink of an eye, the entire brutal battlefield-like world of regret was transformed into a "fairyland" composed of blue sky, white clouds, green grass, and fresh flowers...
Watching this rapid transformation, Charlotte's gaze shifted slightly.
Is this...
The regrets of the Crimson Queen have been successfully purified?
A gentle breeze blew by, carrying with it a faint fragrance of flowers.
Charlotte saw a young girl in a black and red armor dress appear before her.
Her figure was ethereal, with fiery red hair and a spirited, beautiful face.
"Your... Your Majesty?!"
The particularly excited voice of the Great Prophet Margo came from behind her.
The Crimson Queen... Royena?
Charlotte's gaze sharpened.
The young girl slowly opened her eyes.
Those were a pair of beautiful, crimson eyes, clear and bright, extraordinarily lively.
Charlotte saw those eyes turn towards her, and soon... they widened slightly.
She saw surprise on the other's face, and that surprise was quickly supplanted by joy that came from the heart.
She saw the other softly speak, her pleasant yet ethereal voice blending with the wind:
"Ah... so it's you..."
"Thank you..."
"Ancestor... Your Majesty..."
Charlotte saw the girl straighten her back.
She extended her right hand, respectfully bowing in salutation to her.
With a gust of wind, her ethereal figure began to rapidly crumble and dissipate like foam...
"Wait a minute! You..."
Charlotte came to her senses and hastily reached out her hand towards the girl.
But in the end, she touched nothing.
Cracks spread through the sky, soon covering the entire firmament, and then they spread throughout the whole world of regret.
The next moment... the entire world of regret shattered as well.
With her vision flipping over, Charlotte returned to reality.
She was still standing in the Holy Land of the Harcos Clan, within the collapsed ruins of the Queen's Palace.
The Harcos Clan's Great Prophet Margo, her mind in a daze, stood slightly behind and to her side.
In front of them lay the Divine Throne of the Crimson Queen Royena, long since fallen into ruin.
The Divine Throne's ruins, where the monstrous and terrifying creature had been, were now devoid of any sign of it, leaving behind nothing but a bundle of ashes reminiscent of fire's aftermath...
Among the ashes, a glimmer of blood-colored light shone brightly.
It was a crimson book.
The book was ancient and substantial, giving Charlotte a strong sense of déjà vu, and on its cover were written a few gold-embossed words in Ancient Elf Text—
"The Blood Secret Book."