Chapter 137: The Well and the Second Book

Dion kept running nonstop, following Gina’s directions. The surrounding cityscape remained a messy, uninhabited ruin. After weaving through a dense maze of alleys, he finally emerged onto a backstreet lined with storefronts, potion shops, gear suppliers, and several taverns with inns on the upper floors where adventurers typically gathered.

Sprinting down the road, Dion finally reached a small roundabout at the dead end featuring an ancient stone well surrounded by residential houses. Dion stepped right up to the edge of the well, peered down into the black void, and turned to Gina.

"Luna fell down here?" Dion asked.

"Yes, Papa... Mama was sitting on the edge, the stone crumbled, and she fell right in," Gina answered from atop Dion’s head.

Dion glanced down and spotted a freshly chipped section of the stone rim, clearly broken away recently by whatever weight had shifted on top of it. Grasping the stone edge, Dion leaned further over the opening and squinted. The well looked impossibly deep and pitch black. Noticing a simple wooden pulley system and a hanging bucket above, he unhooked the bucket and tossed it down to gauge the depth.

"Ow... Hey!"

Splash!

A woman’s startled shriek echoed from the depths, instantly followed by the sound of something plunging into water deep underground.

"Okay... That voice was definitely Luna. Come on, Gina, we’re heading down," Dion said.

"Okay, Papa," Gina replied in his mind.

Dion summoned his Recall holographic interface and activated his Shadow Assassin persona. Without hesitation, he leapt over the edge while clutching Gina to his chest. He slammed his boots against the interior wall, ricocheted across to the opposite side, and repeated the motion with supernatural speed, plunging deeper and deeper into the abyss. The further down he went, the clearer he saw Luna sitting squarely in the middle of the water pool at the bottom, looking thoroughly disheveled with what appeared to be a twisted ankle. Dion dropped softly onto the stone ledge right in front of her.

"Hey," Luna said, tilting her head up with a cheerful smile.

"Not ’hey’, how in the world did you manage to fall all the way down here?" Dion asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um... I was just sitting around mindlessly, and the edge gave out, so I slid all the way down and twisted my ankle. I sent Gina flying out to find help, hehehe," Luna explained with a completely relaxed expression.

"Hmm... Right. Let’s head back up," Dion sighed, turning around and squatting down so Luna could climb onto his back.

"Um... Wait a second. I can’t stand up because something underneath me is snagged on my ankle," Luna pointed out.

"Huh... Let me check," Dion muttered, turning back around.

He shuffled around to Luna’s side to inspect her trailing foot. Squinting through the gloom, he saw that her ankle was hooked on something wedged in the muck. Slipping his hand down into the water, he gripped the obstruction.

"Ow... Oops," Luna gasped, letting out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a moan of pleasure.

"Hey... Please don’t give me a heart attack, and stop making weird noises," Dion scolded.

"Hehe... Sorry, pure reflex," Luna giggled cheerfully.

Dion groped along the submerged rope and metal to trace its source. Digging his fingers into the sediment, he unhooked Luna’s ankle and hoisted the object out of the dark water. It turned out to be an ancient, fossilized earthen urn that had apparently lain buried at the bottom of the well for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Luna’s foot had gotten trapped right inside one of its large, arched handles.

"Oh... An ancient artifact," Dion remarked, inspecting the relic.

"Hmm... Are there ruins buried beneath this city? Why else would something like this be sitting at the bottom of a well?" Luna wondered aloud.

"Who knows? Let’s just take it up," Dion replied.

"Yeah, it’s too dark to see anything down here anyway," Luna agreed.

"Come on, let’s not waste any time," Dion urged.

Dion crouched down in front of Luna again, handing the ancient urn over to her to hold. Once Luna climbed onto his back, Dion stood up and signaled to Gina. With a burst of speed, he bounded back up from wall to wall like a phantom, Gina clinging tightly to his head. Breaking out of the top of the well, Dion set Luna down gently on the cobblestones. He knelt to inspect her swollen ankle.

"Hmm... Just a bad sprain. Let’s head back to the palace so I can treat that foot," Dion said.

"Yeah, thanks Dion," Luna smiled, looking genuinely happy.

Just as Dion moved to scoop Luna back up into his arms, "Papa! Mama!" Gina cried out.

Both Dion and Luna whipped their heads toward Gina, gasping in shock as a brilliant beam of light erupted straight out of the mouth of the urn sitting beside them, which Gina was pointing at frantically.

Still under the influence of his Shadow Assassin persona, Dion swept his hand outward with blinding, invisible speed.

Crash!

The ancient urn shattered into a million pieces. Floating amidst the debris was a glowing, levitating book bearing a distinct title stamped across the cover: The Monarch. Seeing the book, Dion’s expression froze, but before he could even react, the volume snapped open on its own, unleashing a blinding flash of light that forced Dion, Luna, and even Gina to slam their eyes shut. When they finally blinked the spots from their vision, nothing remained on the ground except scattered shards of ancient pottery.

"Huh... What was that just now?" Luna asked, blinking in confusion.

"Search me," Dion lied smoothly.

"Hold on... Why is your face so pale?" Luna asked, reaching out to cup Dion’s cheek.

"N-Nothing at all. Let’s get back to the palace. Hop on my head, Gina," Dion rushed out.

"Okay, Papa!" Gina chimed in.

Dion scooped Luna up bridal-style while Gina perched atop his head. In a blur of motion, he vanished from the alley, reappeared atop a nearby rooftop, and sprinted across the skyline at breakneck speed. Yet his face grew paler by the second, a change Luna noticed immediately, narrowing her eyes in quiet suspicion. Dion risked a sidelong glance at the Recall holographic interface that had popped up automatically the moment the light faded, desperately trying to ignore it.

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Change Soul Persona :

Dion von Oswald (change) Black Knight rank SSSS (cooldown 07:23:08) Shadow Assassin rank SSSS [current] Berserk Monk rank SSSS (cooldown 12:10:55) Mechanical Crafter and Gunner rank SSSS (cooldown 67:17:18) Ancient One rank SSSS [activate ?] [yes] [no] (cooldown 5 days) Calamity Supreme Monarch rank SSSS (cooldown 10 days) First Primal Demigod rank SSSS (Unlock requirement: collect the Book of World Spirits scattered across the world [2/7]). Ultimate Persona : World Keeper rank GOD (Unlock requirement: all soul personas must be fully unlocked.)

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After confirming his worst fears, Dion looked straight ahead, forcibly swiping his hand to dismiss the holographic window.

"Damn it... I should have just left that accursed urn at the bottom of the well... Dammit all!" Dion screamed internally.

They hurried back toward the palace to treat Luna’s injured foot. As they vaulted across the central plaza, Cleo and Harumi caught sight of them from the ground, while Mei spotted Dion flashing across a rooftop overhead.

"Wow... Big Brother-in-law is so cool!" Harumi cheered aloud to herself in her head, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

"What’s going on now? Why is Luna hurt?" Mei called out.

"Ugh... What happened? Why is Dion carrying Luna like that?!" Cleo shouted, though she couldn’t drop her hands without breaking the barrier she was actively maintaining.

***

Meanwhile, in the capital of Thetor, "crack, crack!" the magical seal barrier enclosing the grand cathedral was riddled with fractures and on the verge of shattering completely. Evelyn clenched her jaw tightly as sweat poured down her face. The situation grew increasingly dire as the swarm of zombies inside multiplied rapidly, bolstered by the fallen knights who had breached the interior and been converted into the undead horde. A sinister purple mist began to seep outward through the widening fissures in the shield.

Evelyn glanced over at the circle of holy mages. Many of them had collapsed into a crouched, kneeling posture with their heads bowed, while countless others lay motionless and incapacitated on the ground. Several mages who had accidentally inhaled the toxic mist had transformed instantly and been cast inside the barrier to join the monsters.

"We’re finished... It looks like the Kingdom of Thetor ends here... I’ll fight to my very last drop of blood... Dion, if I end up turning into an undead, please kill me and burn my body," Evelyn thought to herself, drawing her blade and bracing for the inevitable as the barrier teetered on the brink of collapse.

Suddenly, a massive shadow cast itself over her and her remaining troops. Evelyn jerked her head upward to see a towering airship hovering directly overhead. Moments later, roughly twenty dark figures leapt down from the plunging heights. Boom! A squad of soldier golems landed heavily right in front of her forces and the failing barrier, forming an impenetrable bulwark between them and the horde.

Once the heavy infantry touched down, a group of lean, agile marksman golems landed securely behind the frontline soldiers. The entire unit dropped to one knee, the heavy cannons mounted on the soldiers’ shoulders angling directly through the barrier cracks toward the interior. The marksman golems raised their long rifles, locking onto their targets.

Blaaam!

The synchronized volley from the soldier golems’ cannons obliterated the entire front line of the zombie horde within the cathedral grounds. Any stray undead that broke through and lunged toward the barrier were picked off with pinpoint precision by the marksman golems before they could even draw close. Seeing the sudden turn of events, Evelyn’s knees went completely weak. She slumped down onto the ground, a profound wave of relief washing over her as the suffocating tension drained from her body.

"I didn’t turn into an undead today... Thank you, Dion... Thank you so much," she muttered in her head, her breath catching in a sigh of pure deliverance.