Chapter 752: Fugitive

Chapter 752: Chapter 752: Fugitive

Ugh!!

Han Dong, who had just emerged from the stone tablet secret room, was about to speak.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea surged within him, and a large amount of black sea water poured onto the ground.

However, having been ‘filtered through his flesh’, the black sea water no longer posed any contaminating threat… it merely required a clean up.

To prevent the parchment from getting dirty.

Captain Hugo promptly instructed one of the Secret Language Knights to retrieve the parchment using a container specifically designed for artifact preservation.

“The ‘Node patterns’ and correctly sequenced stone tablet text have been accurately reproduced by Nicholas through the use of ‘Dream Communication’.

I can personally attest that there are no errors.

This achievement will be recorded as a ‘personal contribution’ in the archives.”

Upon hearing this.

A wave of emotion stirred within these scholars who had worked in the Secret Language Knight Order for decades.

Through their protective glasses, they looked at this rookie knight who had just arrived at the Secret Museum with approving eyes.

With this, their workload would be significantly reduced, and the potential dangers of deciphering the stone tablets would be completely eliminated… The thought of an impending month-long vacation comforted them as they gently stroked their sparse hairs.

Knight Charlie, standing a short distance away, commented: “This young man is quite interesting… The Sir has a good eye.”

However, Mr. Black White, who was originally standing behind Knight Charlie, had already left.

“Nicholas, you’ve worked hard… This will also be counted as a ‘pre-expedition’ contribution, and the corresponding points will be added to your account.

In light of your contribution in easing the overall workload of the Secret Museum, I am giving you the special privilege of ‘no work’ during the period leading up to the start of the Big Expedition.

Of course, if you have nothing to do and wish to stay in the Secret Museum to work or study the basics of tablet deciphering, that is also permitted.”

“Alright… I’ll stay in the Secret Museum for a few days. I plan to learn the basics of tablet deciphering.

During the Big Expedition, we should uncover some more ancient stone tablets. By then, I might be able to help out.

In addition, the ‘Female Mummy’ is still in the Secret Museum, isn’t she? I plan to make use of it.”

Captain Hugo gave an OK gesture, took the parchment deciphered by Han Dong, and prepared to head to the Comprehensive Deciphering Workshop.

He still had to continue deciphering the Old King’s stone tablet, and afterward, he needs to go to the parliament to present the fully deciphered documents and participate in finalizing the details of the Big Expedition.

He gave Han Dong a very casual glance before quickly leaving.

This matter had come to a conclusion.

Han Dong, who had now returned to his private office, was standing in the small shower room, washing the black sea water off his body. He was holding the completely spent conch shell, and his mind was full of fluctuating thoughts.

The ‘Wooden Raft’, ‘Sea Water’ and ‘Black Woman’.

That memory from deciphering the stone tablet is strange.

Han Dong didn’t have any conflict with the consciousness of the stone tablet in the dream.

On the contrary.

Together, they had drifted the raft to an unnamed small island, where they lived for quite some time.

Finding caves, building dwellings, looking for food and fresh water sources.

Later, in the process of searching for food, they had a conflict with the island’s indigenous inhabitants… not ordinary people. The indigenous people worshiped a creature from the deep sea and were performing a rather bizarre self-sacrifice.

After sacrificing their own flesh, a new limb with characteristics of the deep sea would grow from the corresponding location.

After their joint effort, they finally managed to clean up the whole island.

And just when everything had settled down, and they had established a certain foundation of a relationship,

When Han Dong tried to inquire this black woman about the ‘secret text’… the woman who was a personification of the stone tablet’s consciousness, directly turned into black sea water that entered Han Dong’s body through his mouth.

All the patterns and text sequences were clearly resulting in Han Dong’s head.

The dream also ended at this time.

Splash… cold water rinsed down from the above. There was one thing Han Dong couldn’t understand.

“Captain Hugo said stone tablets had undergone a non-organic level ‘fall’ due to the recorded information about the Old King on them, thus generating humanoid, independent consciousness that was related to the Old King’s record.

In other words.

The black woman in the dream, to some extent, was a ‘replica consciousness’ of the ‘Old King’.

Why did she willingly give me such important information?

That shouldn’t be the case… This information involves her own ‘weakness’. Even if we faced difficulties together in the dream for several days, our relationship should only be on the level of good friends, right?

All this while, neither the Yellow Mark nor Sea Seal had appeared.

“Could it be a problem with my own mind? This Old King… does he know something about my mind? At present, the information is completely inadequate to make any further deductions. Let’s leave it for now.”

He kept his doubts to himself.

Since he had had a good sleep in the stone tablet, he was now fully recharged.

Han Dong worked tirelessly for another eight hours to complete all the work entrusted by Knight Charlie.

Just as he planned to get some sleep, a letter was delivered to Han Dong’s office.

“Hmm, a letter for me?”

The letter was sealed with the crest of the Knight Regiment.

“Due to your assistance to the Secret Language Knight Order in deciphering the important Old King Stone Tablet (Affiliated-07, Highly Activated, Decryption Severely Restricted), your pre-expedition credits increased by +50 points.

Your personal score has now reached 100 (Full). If you continue to contribute, the surplus points will be exchanged for copper coins at the rate of 1:20.”

“To think it’s full already… Well, good.

I can take care of my personal affairs in the next two months.

Apart from the basic work within the Secret Language Knight Order, I also need to visit the port to set up a new laboratory.

Since the Secret Museum has reopened, the Gold Master might have some free time as well. I should take some time to visit the Steam Knights… Let’s hope everything goes smoothly.”

…

A month passed by since the ‘eve of the expedition’.

Outside the city.

At the Gaine Forest boundary, a hundred kilometers to the east of the Holy City.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

A knight squad was fleeing on foot, with a terrifying entity chasing after them—wherever it passed, crosses would rise from the ground, transforming it into a graveyard.

The squad was called ‘Blue Illusion,’ of the Gold Level.

They were currently undertaking a long-distance investigation mission – “Mysterious Corpse Holder”, which was one of the missions Han Dong’s squad had once considered.

The mission involved an individual mature demon body that was hiding in a remote, unnamed mountain village.

Strangely, the information given in the investigation task indicated that the Corpse Holder was a mature demon body but seemed to act independently, without any structure or hierarchy.

Any lifeform, including other demons, that approached the unnamed mountain village would be buried alive by it.

During their investigation of the village, the squad uncovered a conspiracy threatening the Holy City.

The Corpse Holder was hugely powerful, and the individuals it buried alive in the village provided it with a near-unsolvable ability to regenerate. It was impossible to kill.

With the squad’s powers, they couldn’t kill it directly. Instead, they were suppressed by the Corpse Holder.

In the end, they could only choose to escape and report the discovered conspiracy to the Holy City.

When they arrived at the carriage station in the Gaine Forest, they discovered that all the mechanical horses had been buried alive.

“The carriages…why!? Does it mean the ‘Burial Zone’ has already expanded to the Gaine Forest!? So that’s why they knew our every move.

Ivy… Can you hang in there?”

“Hmm…”

One female knight from the Holy Knights Group, who had been hit directly by the Corpse Holder, had a miniature cross embedded in her waist that couldn’t be removed.

She was being carried by a Hell Knight, pale as a sheet, in a very serious condition.

“We still can’t reach the Holy City… Damn it.”

The four-man squad took an endurance enhancer every once in a while as they swiftly maneuvered through the forest.

Regardless of how they quickened their pace, the sense of oppression from behind remained.

A dark figure holding a coffin and embedded with nails kept following them, with a constant distance of less than a hundred meters.

Unconsciously, they had traveled more than forty kilometers through the forest on foot.

A crow caw echoed.

A dense flock of crows appeared on the branches hundreds of meters away. A little further, there was a forest clearing.

“Crows!? How did we end up here? The clearing ahead is the location of the old Stuart Manor where the Old King incident broke out a few years ago. I guess we have no choice but to take a gamble and hope these crows can buy us some time.”