Chapter 302: Reliving the Memories
Cold wind rustled the leaves of the trees. The trees shivered, as if even they were feeling cold because of the wind.
In that moment.
A lightly dressed Fang Raon walked between trees, a lantern in hand, giving him some light as comfort.
’It’s cold, but for some reason I am not feeling that cold. It’s like there is fire burning in my veins. I feel strange...
’Is this the effects of the legacy being close?’
Fang Raon wondered.
He then pulled out the holographic map once more, checked the surroundings, and realized that he should be pretty much at the location of the red dot.
’Now... Where is it?’
Cawk~! Cawk~!
Out of nowhere, several crows flew over his head and flew past the trees in front of him, as if they were being called somewhere.
Fang Raon, with furrowed brows, pushed past the branches and then noticed something in the distance.
It was some kind of mausoleum, something one would find in a cemetery, but here it was in the middle of the woods.
It had a thick door made of black rock and covered in moss.
The crows were flying over it.
"That must be it..."
Fang Raon gulped and slowly approached the mausoleum, but as soon as he got close, the door started creaking.
It slowly opened on its own.
A dark, cold place greeted him inside.
Fang Raon dangled the lantern in front of him, and then he walked through the opening and entered the mausoleum.
BANG~! The thick door slammed shut behind him.
"Damn..."
Fang Raon looked at the closed door, tried opening it, but it didn’t budge—he was completely trapped inside.
"Great..."
He then turned around, and out of nowhere, the light of the moon poured in through the holes in the decaying ceiling above him.
Light flooded the inside of the mausoleum, and out of nowhere, the fire in the lantern died off.
"?"
Fang Raon looked at the lantern, quite puzzled, and then he stored it inside his inventory and looked around the inside of the mausoleum.
Then.
His gaze fell on a statue that stood there and on the written text carved on its base.
[The resting place of Aurel]
"It is really the place of the legacy, but the statue... It is one of a woman, so the rumors were true. Aurel was not a man but a woman instead."
Fang Raon thought out loud.
"Huh, what’s this?"
He then noticed a golden scroll at the base of the statue, with elegant writing on it, and he immediately had a desire to pick it up.
Slowly, his hands inched closer to the golden scroll.
But in that moment, the eyes of the statue started glowing brightly with blue light, and the statue’s mouth started to move.
"Don’t you dare to touch it!"
It was a voice of an angry woman!
Fang Raon immediately pulled his hand back, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, and he was just hoping that he didn’t already fail the legacy trial.
"You haven’t earned the right to take it..."
Aurel, the cold rock statue, said.
"I am sorry... You are Aurel, right? I got called here for the legacy... My name is Fang Raon."
He said and gave a respectful bow.
"...Fifth one."
Aurel said.
"...Excuse me?"
Fang Raon asked with a frown.
"You are the fifth one that has reached this place, seeking the legacy. Everyone else has failed. Will you be any different... I wonder..."
Aurel softly said.
’Four other people have already tried the trial, and they all failed? I didn’t expect the trial to be so difficult, but it’s also not really surprising...’
Fang Raon thought with a serious look on his face.
"Whoever fails the trial will have all of their memories removed of this place. Soon enough, you might not even remember us having this conversation."
Aurel said.
’Ah, that’s why nobody has spilled the beans about the location of Aurel’s legacy. It’s because they have all lost the memories of ever getting here!’
Fang Raon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"...Ready to begin?"
Aurel asked.
"Yes, I am..."
Fang Raon said with a serious look in his eyes.
There was no point hesitating anymore. He just had to jump straight into the deep end and hope that he got it right.
"...Dance for me."
Aurel suddenly said.
"..."
Fang Raon looked surprised and nodded, and he was about to do a few dance moves but stopped immediately.
’There is no way she wants to see just any dance moves. This might be a test where most people failed already.
’She is a woman known for the Selevian Waltz... I am sure that she likes to see that.’
There was just one problem, and that was that he was pretty much a novice when it came to the Selevian Waltz.
Maquella had only taught him some basic dance moves of normal dances, such as the waltz and the foxtrot.
The Selevian Waltz was a really complex dance!
’I don’t have time to hesitate. Aurel’s Blade Dance used Selevian Waltz, and I’ve done it countless times...’
Fang Raon took a deep breath, and then he moved his body gracefully, waving his arms slowly in a precise and calculated manner.
The wrists of his arms moved strangely. It was like they were grabbing something invisible.
Invisible swords.
"..."
Aurel stayed quiet, but slowly, her shining eyes widened, and she was able to see something that Raon didn’t.
A silhouette of invisible swords in his hands.
’Careful... Don’t hurry... If I go too fast, I’ll just trip over my own feet... Let it flow naturally like water.’
Fang Raon thought to himself.
In the tight, cramped place, he moved gracefully, but still with the usual clumsiness of a man.
It was awkward at times, but honestly, it had charm to it, and Aurel’s gaze was glued to him like a magnet to metal.
Then.
Fang Raon went from graceful movements to furious ones, his arms slicing through the air with power!
The silhouette of invisible swords cut through invisible enemies that only Aurel was able to see.
’Blade Massacre!’
Aurel thought, her breath caught in her throat as she watched in awe.
"Whoo..."
With a deep breath, Fang Raon stopped, facing the statue, while a couple of sweat droplets rolled down his face.
The silhouettes of the invisible swords disappeared.
It was a short dance, but it left a deep impression on Aurel.
"...You passed."
She said softly.
"Whew..."
Fang Raon let out a sigh of relief, looking visibly relieved.
"Thank you..."
"However, that was only the first trial. You have not earned my legacy just yet!"
Aurel immediately poured cold water down on him, but Raon expected as much, as he doubted it was going to be this easy!
"Many years ago... There was a huge battle over on the 33rd floor. It was later called the Whippers’ War. I participated in that war, fighting for King Julius against the Dark Rebels.
"We’ll be going on a memory lane. You’ll be taking control of my body, and if you survive the battle, you’ve made it through the second trial."
Aurel said.
"Wait, what?"
Fang Raon asked.
But he didn’t get an explanation, and instead, Aurel’s bright blue gaze engulfed Raon entirely, and light flooded out of the room.
For Raon, everything went dark.
...
33 years ago, 33rd floor, the Whippers’ War.
A gray sky stretched overhead. Screeching crows flew overhead. The stench of blood lingered in the air.
Corpses, upon corpses, lay scattered across the battlefield.
Crows were feasting on them. The ground was muddy and wet. Weapons were strewn about, abandoned by their former owners.
"..."
In the middle of it all, there was a beautiful woman, wearing light armor and two swords—one in her left hand and one in her right.
Beautiful rapier swords.
At that moment, that woman opened her eyes, but she looked confused, like she didn’t know where she was.
"Wait... Where am I?"
She looked confused and then looked around her and noticed that she was in some kind of battlefield.
’A battlefield... Aurel told me that we were going on a memory lane. Are we currently participating in the Whippers’ War?
’And what the hell is this body? Ah, she did say that I was going to take control of her body...’
Fang Raon, who was currently possessing Aurel’s body, thought inside his mind.
In that moment, she lowered her gaze and noticed that there were two heavy-looking things hanging from her chest.
They felt heavy. It did put her balance in jeopardy.
’That’s so strange...’
Raon thought.
"Death to King Julius! Freedom for everyone! For a world of no laws!"
At that moment, she heard something, and a distance away, she was able to see enemy forces closing in.
They were wearing dark robes and eerie skull masks—they were the infamous Dark Rebels.
At the present time, the Dark Rebels were just a dark memory of the past, as they were thoroughly destroyed in the Whippers’ War.
However.
When they were still active, they were a force to be reckoned with, as they had many powerful members!
"They’re coming again!"
"Oh god, we are so dead..."
"King Julius, save us!"
In that moment, Raon turned around and saw wounded members of King Julius’s army tearing up.
It looked like they had been suffering heavy losses in the war already, and the Dark Rebels army seemed to be overpowering them.
’This is a moment that turned the tides of the war. Take those swords, and fight. Put your trust in Dance Extinction.
’Don’t fail.’
Aurel’s voice echoed in his mind.
"...Alright."
Fang Raon took a deep breath, and out of nowhere, a flood of memories came to his head—memories of Dance Extinction.
Many skills that he had never even heard of flooded his mind—each more powerful and scarier than the last.
’Dance Extinction... Is this powerful?!’
Fang Raon thought in a shock.
But then, a smile crept to Aurel’s beautiful face, which was temporarily his face, and he wanted to give it a try.
’Dance Extinction... Show me what you got!’
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