Chapter 334 332-The Skull Mark on the Hand
Ethan felt as if he had truly entered a realm of death.
He could barely sense the warmth of his own body anymore.
The searing Golden Divine Dragon Blood flowing within him had quieted, no longer raging fiercely.
Ethan gripped his spear even tighter, fearlessly taking another step forward.
Once his entire body was on the skull bridge, a strange energy surged wildly up from his legs.
This energy was intertwined with thousands of voices.
These voices were filled with twisted madness, despair, pain, and other such emotions, wailing sorrowfully.
Ethan suddenly plunged into an abyss of endless darkness.
Around him was a chilling cold, accompanied only by the cries and lamentations of wronged souls...
In this boundless darkness, the cries of countless souls sounded like a sad symphony, permeating the air.
These voices, sometimes deep and hoarse, sometimes shrill and piercing, seemed to narrate their misfortunes and endless suffering in life.
Each voice in the darkness was faint, but together, they roared like thunder.
Ethan felt his temples throb, the veins in his neck bulging like blue serpents.
The lamenting and wailing of these souls struck his spirit over and over again.
Amidst these cries, Ethan could hear the shouts of those wrongfully accused, who, even in their final moments, could not clear their names.
Their weeping, sharp as a knife, pierced through the barriers of time, reaching deep into Ethan's heart.
Ethan couldn't help but shed tears.
Outside the skull bridge, Lana Mokos and Daphne watched as Ethan suddenly closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face.
They couldn't help but step forward, calling out loudly:
"Ethan, what are you doing? Why have you stopped moving forward?"
But Ethan showed no response. The next second, he burst into a frenzied laughter, as if gripped by madness.
It was the sound of joy he heard, the laughter of souls filled with lust echoing crazily in his mind, influencing his emotions.
Then, Ethan's face turned somber, his features contorting with endless regret and pain.
Those souls who had lost everything due to greed and deceit wept with remorse and self-reproach.
They could not reclaim the beautiful lives they had destroyed with their own hands, nor could they erase the shame etched in their hearts.
Their crying was like gusts of cold wind, scattering all the beauty they once possessed and chilling Ethan to the bone.
Furthermore, there were the souls of warriors who died in dissatisfaction, without experiencing the thrill of battle.
They clashed fiercely in Ethan's mind, their souls shattered, yet they gathered together and roared hoarsely in all directions.
Ethan's face, inflamed with the battle spirits' intense fighting will, turned excited and red, filled with aggression.
In the endless darkness, it seemed as though Ethan was witnessing all facets of human life, numerous negative emotions influencing his mind.
Yet, Ethan knew in his heart that all of this was an illusion.
The moment he stepped onto the skull bridge, Ethan had a sense of realization in his heart.
He knew that within the skull bridge, attacks on the soul were inevitable.
A pair of giant hands tore open the dark space, letting light stream in.
The specters, upon contact with the light, emitted green smoke from their bodies and screamed in agony.
Ethan's face appeared in the rift, his voice resonating through the space:
"Enough of this, isn't it? Time to get out of my soul."
The Soul Language of Nature activated, acting like a spell, cornering and intercepting the spirits.
Soon, the chilling sensation receded from his forehead downwards.
Ethan felt the warmth within his body again. He stamped his foot and looked at the skulls' eyes:
"Still watching?"
He picked up his spear and thrust it into the eye socket of a skull, forcefully prying it loose.
A skull instantly separated from the bridge, the expression on its face one of fear and dread as it hung from the spear's tip.
"Like playing these messy, frightening games? Go to your death."
Saying so, Ethan swung his spear, sending the skull flying swiftly away.
It then plummeted into the river of magma, causing numerous bubbles to erupt.
The souls floating in the magma river, upon seeing something fall into it, immediately pounced on the skull like a pack of starved wolves upon a piece of meat.
Seeing this, the other skulls quickly shifted their gaze away from Ethan.
Ethan looked down at them deliberately, and the skulls dared not meet his gaze.
They feared that Ethan might randomly pick a 'lucky' spectator to throw into the river of magma.
Ethan sneered, continuing forward with disdain.
The sulfuric smell around him grew thicker, and the flames above the magma river danced like serpents.
The skull bridge under his feet trembled gently, as if on the verge of collapse.
Ethan paused once more, his gaze vigilant as he observed every movement around him.
The next second, the skull bridge beneath his feet shattered, nearly plunging him into the magma river below.
Ethan spread his wings, flapping them as he observed the transformation unfolding before him.
The skulls on the bridge seemed to be summoned by some mysterious force.
They began to tremble as if awakened by a power.
Their eyes flickered with a green light, and black smoke started to emanate from their bones.
The smoke grew denser, and the collapsed skulls gradually assembled together, merging into an awe-inspiring spectacle of a sky filled with skulls.
Their craniums formed heads, chests, arms, torsos, thighs, and bare feet...
These skulls slowly crafted the skeleton of a skull person.
More skulls adhered to the existing skeleton, causing the skull person to expand and enlarge, ultimately forming into towering skull giants.
They stood over ten meters tall, wielding enormous bone scythes and hammers, their bodies glowing with a sinister green light, dense as stars.
Ethan looked up at the massive skull giant, swallowing slightly.
"You dare to disrespect the sacred artifact of the Wraith Cult, you must be killed!"
The skull giant's mouth opened and closed, and though no sound came out, Ethan clearly heard the skull giant's words.
Wraith Cult? A flicker of light danced in Ethan's eyes, a cult he had never heard of before.
But the oddities of the Deityforsaken Land were not new to Ethan.
Ethan glanced back at Daphne and Lana Mokos on the bridgehead.
Seeing them holding hands, their expressions filled with tension and fear, Ethan understood clearly.
This time, it wasn't like facing the ritualist of the Serpent Eye Cult; he had to defeat the skull giant before him.
With this in mind, energy surged through Ethan's body, his Golden Divine Dragon Blood flowing vigorously.
He advanced like lightning, spear in hand.
Ethan's spear emitted a dazzling light, like a meteor cutting through the night.
He aimed for the skull giant's head, leaping up fiercely, his figure shooting forward like an arrow.
The spear danced in his hand, stirring up a storm-like momentum.
The skull giant, not to be outdone, swung its massive ancient hammer, attempting to smash Ethan's resistance.
However, Ethan nimbly dodged the giant's hammer, his spear striking swiftly like a serpent towards the giant's chest.
The spear pierced the giant's body, emitting a deafening tearing sound.
Without pause, Ethan activated the Thunder Language of Nature and Flame Language of Nature, swinging his spear again, targeting the giant's neck.
The skull giant let out a deep roar, its bone hammer and scythe clashing against Ethan's spear.
Sparks exploded in the air, blooming like beautiful flowers.
But its resistance was futile. Ethan roared, "Break!"
The Blasphemous Spear, carrying an offensive that could shock deities, was enveloped in the continuously flowing Flame Language of Nature and Frost Language of Nature, with the Thunder Language of Nature emitting roars that tore through the darkness.
Ethan's spear pierced through the neck of the skull giant, with the giant's bones clamping tightly around the spear. His eyes blazed with light as he roared:
"Break! Break! BREAK!!!"
Ethan stirred the spear, golden scales emerging on his arms, unleashing immense power.
The spear, like a dragon, churned through the giant's neck, its skull head bursting out from its body.
The skull giant's head flew off, its body losing its support and crashing to the ground with a loud impact.
Ethan, gasping for air, felt the air around him condense. The thick sulfuric smell in the surroundings gradually dissipated.
The black mist in the sky suddenly cleared.
Ethan opened his eyes, and to his surprise, the skull bridge reappeared before him.
The bridge was unchanged, except for the noticeable absence of one skull under his feet - the one he had angrily flung away in his mind.
Had he been standing there all along, motionless?
Realization dawned on Ethan, his expression grave:
"Was all that just an illusion? Whether it was those evil spirits tearing at the soul, or the recent battle with the skull giant..."
Suddenly, Ethan felt a warmth in his palm. He quickly looked at his hand.
In the center of his palm, unbeknownst to him, a skull-shaped golden emblem had appeared, clear and distinct, exuding an ancient will.
Ethan's heart stirred, and he looked again towards the skull bridge.
Indeed, the skull bridge had now become an ordinary stone bridge of skulls.
The eyes of the skulls on the bridge no longer emitted that eerie light.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢