Chapter 149 - 50: [Night of the Heart of the Remains: Tomb and Midnight Diner]

Chapter 149: Chapter 50: [Night of the Heart of the Remains: Tomb and Midnight Diner]

"I don’t know." Samael shook his head, glancing around. "Where’s Talia?"

"Probably over by the Molten Stone calcining furnace. She mentioned earlier that she was going to check the Molten Stone output. Tomorrow, we need to dispatch the Rot Root Balls to reinforce the Insect Paths and officially begin construction."

Samael nodded and headed toward the firelight of the calcining furnace. However, halfway there, he slowly came to a halt.

Talia was standing in front of the furnace, checking the flames within. The warm firelight illuminated her cheeks and eyes as she quietly watched the fire. Two Earth-Devouring Demon Insect larvae were frolicking at her feet.

Suddenly sensing something, she turned and looked at Samael in the deep blue twilight.

Samael stood quietly in the distance, a dozen meters away from her. He didn’t step closer, nor did he back away, choosing instead to simply stand there across the gap.

The sun had just set. The lingering daylight was dyed a heavy, deep blue by the encroaching night, making everything look like puppets frozen in dark blue glass.

The twin copper and white moons hung high in the pale blue dusk, suspended between the two of them.

The warm, orange-red firelight from the furnace illuminated Talia’s soot-smudged cheeks, but it failed to light up Samael’s dim figure.

Behind Samael, the Undead wearing Nether Copper Bell-shaped Helmets stood quietly in attendance, guarding their Monarch.

"What’s wrong?" she asked.

He replied, "...Do me a favor and dig a circular trench. Gather the surrounding Undead into an underground space closer to me. This will prevent them from scaring the Exiles when they wake up tomorrow morning.

"It’s late at night. If I use Nether Copper resonance signals, the knocking or drumming will disturb everyone’s rest. They’ve been exhausted all day; they need to sleep."

Talia watched him quietly.

"Make this underground space a little farther away from the Underground City’s Insect Paths," he added. "Once they leave my control range, they’ll lose control again and start trying to attack the living. Keeping some distance will at least leave a little reaction time if something unexpected happens."

Old Duke had been attacked today by Undead that were outside the aura’s suppression range. Samael didn’t want to take that risk again.

Talia waved her hand, and the two Earth-Devouring Demon Insect larvae burrowed into the ground.

With dirt flying and a loud RUMBLE of collapsing earth, the surrounding kneeling Undead fell into the pit below one after another. Squeezed by the tunnels, they gradually gathered together.

The Demon Insect larvae emerged from somewhere underground, popping their heads out and wandering back to Talia’s side. Their spiral fangs rubbed against each other, emitting a HISSING sound as if claiming credit for their work.

Samael nodded.

"Thank you," he said, turning toward the pit and lowering his head over the edge.

The Undead in the pit uniformly raised their heads. Their festering, rotting gazes pierced through the suffocating gaps in the rocks and soil, staring straight at the Monarch before the pit.

The Demon Insect larvae were small, so the tunnels they dug were very narrow, resembling some kind of corridor.

He stared at the underground space packed with Undead, falling into a momentary daze as it reminded him of a tomb.

Perhaps Lahador and the other six Ghost Knights had also been full of vitality at first, brimming with passion for an unfamiliar world. It was only when they gradually forgot the feeling of being alive that they secluded themselves in their respective tombs, staring blankly at the silent Undead.

Abandoned here, suffering eternal torment... unable to eat or drink, unable to sleep. Marching forward, always moving forward—everything was just a cold, relentless advance.

"What are you doing?" Talia’s hand pressed against his shoulder armor.

He slowly turned his head. Her cheeks were smudged with soot, and her gray eyes reflected his Nether Bronze Armor.

"I’m just making sure this underground space is within my aura’s suppression range," Samael replied.

"Then don’t just stand here like a fool. Come sit with me for a while, okay?" Talia asked.

But she didn’t look like she was asking for his permission. Instead, she firmly grabbed his cold Hand Armor and dragged him over to the orange-red firelight of the calcining furnace.

"Talk," Talia said, looking at him.

"You don’t need to know—" Samael was halfway through his sentence when, with a loud CLANG, Talia forcefully yanked off his helmet.

"Speak." Talia agilely dodged his headless body’s attempts to snatch the helmet back. Cradling his helmet, she played hide-and-seek with his headless body, dodging around the calcining furnace. "Hurry up! No changing the subject."

After failing to reclaim his helmet, he gave up struggling.

Samael’s helmet replied, "...I’ve been dead for too long. So long that I’ve started to forget what it feels like to be alive.

"I’ve pondered too many purely rational things, to the point where I seem to be gradually losing my emotions.

"It feels like my entire existence has been reduced to nothing but advancing toward a construction goal. Just advancing, advancing without rest or sleep."

Talia held his helmet and slowly placed it back onto his neck.

"That’s not true," she said. "You’re still a gentle person. You’re more vibrant than anyone else I’ve ever met. I think you’re just too tired."

Samael remained silent.

The two of them sat side by side in front of the orange-red firelight of the calcining furnace, gazing at the twin moons in the sky.

"You always do everything with a specific purpose, wound up tight like a clockwork machine. When we were in Luojie City, you wandered around the market, but only to study the ecology of adventurers. During the Caster Festival, you said you were going to watch the forging competition, but you ended up trying to figure out how to infiltrate the Holy Hall. Then, at night, you refused the Exiles’ singing and dancing activities." Talia leaned against his shoulder armor. "You’re constantly on edge. That’s just too exhausting."

"I don’t need rest. I can use that time to—" Samael started, but Talia cut him off.

Talia corrected him, "You don’t need sleep, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need rest. After killing Musa, you zoned out in the carriage. Dead leaves fell onto your helmet, and you stared blankly, as if you were dozing off. I remember that moment clearly. Basking in the autumn sunlight shining through the carriage window, with a leaf resting on your helmet—that was a rare moment of relaxation for you.

"You should relax occasionally, instead of being tense all the time. Even if it’s just for a moment. Maybe it’ll make you feel alive." She looked at Samael as she spoke.

Samael fell silent for a moment.

"There are six Ghost Knights entrenched here," he replied. "How could I possibly relax? Once they realize we’re going to take root in this land, they will absolutely come—"

Talia gently pressed her palm against the side of his helmet. "A moment’s respite won’t cause the world to collapse. It will just give you more motivation to keep moving forward.

"You get tired, too. Since you’ve already told Lahador that you don’t hate anyone, then stop hating yourself for your perceived lack of ability. None of this is your fault. Give yourself a break." She leaned closer to his helmet, whispering the final words softly.

Her voice echoed within the Nether Copper Helmet, and Samael suddenly shivered.

The flames in the calcining furnace behind them coincidentally died down, leaving Talia’s gray eyes sparkling in the dim, deep blue light of the evening sky.

"Oh... the fire... the Molten Stone in the furnace..." The two of them froze for a moment, then coughed awkwardly and stood up at the same time.

Samael grabbed a handful of tall grass stalks and stuffed them into the hearth. Talia reached out, ignited a pale Spiritual Flame, and fed it into the furnace.

The explosively burning Demon Fire surged from the furnace mouth, its fiery tongues licking against Samael’s breastplate.

Samael was suddenly stunned.

In his long-dried-out hollow shell, after having lost his senses of smell and taste for so long, he tasted a strange, fresh scent of grass leaves. It was slightly sour and carried a hint of bitterness, like some kind of bizarre wild vegetable.

He looked down at the Spiritual Flame licking his breastplate and the grass leaves burning in the pale fire, suddenly realizing something.

The Nether Copper Breastplate absorbed both heat and Spiritual Energy from the surrounding environment to power itself.

Using the Spiritual Flame to burn different Demonization materials produced different kinds of heat and Spiritual Energy.

It... had a taste.

The next second, Samael shoved his entire upper body straight into the hearth, feeling the pale Spiritual Flame wash over him, carrying the sour and bitter taste of the grass leaves.

"WOO-HOO!" He flailed around inside the hearth. "I can taste the grass stalks! The Spiritual Flame fueled by Demonization materials! This counts as food! My sun! My sun hasn’t set; it has risen again!"

"What? What? Wait a minute, get out of the furnace first!" Talia yanked on his legs in a panic, trying to pull him out of the violently blazing hearth.

"Your fire!" Having tasted enough of the grass stalks’ sour bitterness, Samael popped his upper body out of the calcining furnace with a loud POP and shook off the dirt clods from his armor. "The Spiritual Flame! Coming into direct contact with the Spiritual Flame allows me to taste its fuel!"

Talia froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"What do you want to eat? I’ll burn it for you to taste!" she exclaimed, waving her hand and eagerly igniting a pale Spiritual Flame in her palm.