raknovel Chapter 78 Linem
Chapter 78 Linem
Chapter 78 Linem
Suiyue, who had almost fainted from the cold, was somewhat out of sorts and woke up with a blank look in her eyes.
Whose voice is that?
As she spoke, tiny shards of ice clung to her eyelashes and fell softly.
Along the path leading to the tower, light cascaded down like ribbons.
Just a few steps away, the snow prison created by Tish continued to howl.
The fluttering snowflakes drifted into the band of light, turning into wisps of mist that were swallowed by the light.
A mournful mist is tentatively seeping into the edge of the hanging light curtain.
The grayish-white mist, like a living thing, stretched out its slender tentacles and carefully touched the boundary of the band of light.
"Hiss~~~"
When the filament comes into contact with the light band, it emits a slight burning sound.
The grayish-white mist churned, and the tentacle quickly retracted, like a scalded finger.
But that clearly couldn't stop the encroaching mist of mourning.
More tentacles surged forward, relentlessly crashing against the edge of the light curtain.
Each contact creates a ripple of light.
The light screen was trembling.
Nan'an hesitated.
He didn't know whether he should trust the voice that had suddenly appeared amidst the weeping mist.
It's hard to say whether she or the Weeping Mist is more dangerous, given that she can communicate with him remotely from within the Weeping Mist and provide guidance.
But there doesn't seem to be a better option right now.
Nan'an began his journey toward the tower.
As he brushed past Tish, he couldn't help but gaze at his old friend—it was truly lifelike, every detail perfectly recreated by the Weeping Mist, even the notch on the staff.
The light screen swirled around the two of them.
Strangely enough, no matter how fast they ran or how they changed direction, the hanging light bands always locked onto their position.
Like a spotlight that never shifts on a grand stage, it firmly enveloped the two figures in its light.
A furious roar came from behind.
Nan'an approached the tower, lost in thought.
The momentary surge of thought was precisely captured by the Mist of Sorrow, which projected Tish's interception onto the path ahead.
But once inside the light curtain, the Mist of Sorrow seems to have lost its power to steal, outline, and generate.
At the base of the tower, Nan'an stops.
Looking back again, his face showed undisguised astonishment.
The three figures that had been chasing them vanished without a trace.
The blizzard that had covered the surrounding area has vanished.
The sky was a clear, bright blue, without a trace of fog.
The sun shone brightly, its warmth almost languid.
I don't know when it happened, but the surrounding scenery has changed into a lush green grassland. On the boundless grassland, flocks of sheep leisurely graze with their heads down.
It was as if the life-or-death chase just now was an overly realistic nightmare.
Suiyue opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.
Nan'an's gaze remained fixed.
The giant Rubik's Cube is still pulsating.
He preferred to trust the Rubik's Cube, which he had never sensed was wrong, rather than his eyes.
The weeping mist still lingers on the path it came from, but for some reason, it has transformed into a vast grassland dotted with cattle and sheep, a landscape filled with the poetic imagery of wind blowing through the grass and revealing cattle and sheep.
Nan'an slowly withdrew his gaze and looked at the tall tower in front of him.
The gray tower, with its airtight stone walls, has no doors and no windows, creating a closed and oppressive atmosphere.
Relying on his resistance to gods and demons, Nan'an stepped forward and gently touched the wall, but did not sense any unusual aura.
Suiyue looked up at the towering structure, puzzled, and asked, "Where's the entrance?"
"Please come in."
As if hearing Suiyue's question, that shy and gentle female voice floated down from the sky.
Like a thin veil, the sound gently floated above their heads, carrying a 3D surround sound quality.
The entire tower gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen, like mercury placed under the moonlight.
The interplay of light and shadow, like waves, gently ripples across the tower.
The seemingly impenetrable stone wall emitted a muffled rumbling sound after its metallic sheen shimmered.
The bricks and stones, like living things, slowly and orderly flipped and tumbled inwards, contracting and turning.
The once perfectly sealed wall now revealed a narrow entrance, large enough for two people to pass side by side, as the bricks and stones were moved.
Deep within the entrance lies a profound darkness.
Seeing the two hesitate, a warm yellow wall lamp suddenly lit up at the end of the darkness, illuminating the oily wooden floor and reflecting the warm light onto the inner walls of the passage.
Nan'an stood still, not taking a step immediately.
He turned around and took one last look at the clear blue sky and bright sunshine behind him.
The sheep bleated, and the calves grazed with their heads down.
Sheepdogs chase and play.
The birds flew lightly and low.
The wind left flowing traces on the grass, causing the ripples to spread all the way to the horizon.
Everything was as beautiful as a fairy tale illustration.
The passage was short, ending in just a dozen steps, quite different from the deep and secluded feeling it gave from the outside; the sense of space seemed distorted.
Suddenly, everything became clear to them.
The interior space is very spacious, like the entire hall of a noble manor that has been moved here.
The ceiling is high, with crystal chandeliers hanging down.
There was no lighting crystal as a light source; the candle flame inside the lampshade was kept burning quietly and steadily, without smoke, as if by some kind of magic.
The floor was just as it appeared from the outside, dark brown, oily and shiny, as if it had been coated with wax.
The walls around the room were covered with paintings.
Nan'an stood still, slowly turning his gaze.
The frames vary in size and age.
The paintings are mainly landscapes, featuring snow-capped mountains, tranquil lakes, and forest paths covered with fallen red leaves.
The portrait was secondary—Nan'an subtly felt something was amiss.
His eyes scanned back and forth, and he keenly noticed something unusual.
【Ragrag the Dragon Slayer】.
He unexpectedly met his old friend.
In the picture, Lagrag stands holding a sword.
Opposite him was the legendary dragon Dunakaron, rising from the depths of the mountains, its wings spreading to blot out the sky.
With this painting as a reference, it is not difficult to see when examining other portraits that the so-called "portraits" hanging in the background depict the epic heroic saga of Nora's history.
The paintings inside are of only two types, making it seem like a distinctive themed art exhibition.
However, furniture is placed below these paintings.
For example, an intricately carved armchair, a long, soft couch covered with a velvet rug, and a low solid wood cabinet inlaid with gold trim —
The chaotic coexistence of artistic and everyday life elements creates a visually disorienting effect.
It's very quiet.
Since the two entered the room, apart from their footsteps and soft breathing, no other sounds could be heard.
Dust floated slowly under the light, without a breath of wind.
Time seemed to stand still.
Is anyone there?
There was no response.
Nan'an's gaze passed over the long table and landed deep in the hall.
A spiral corridor winds its way up the wall, leading to an unseen height.
There is a wall lamp at intervals, which should be the passage to the higher floors, but a crystal wall seals it off completely.
The crystal wall rises from the ground, and if it weren't for the light reflecting off the surface, making it almost impossible to detect its existence when Nan'an saw his reflection as he approached.
It extends from the ground to the ceiling, forming a single unit that completely isolates the entrance to the entire spiral corridor.
Nan'an approached and reached out to touch it.
Cold, smooth, and hard.
The moment your fingertips touch it, you can feel the subtle pulse of magic flowing inside; it's a typical magical structure.
Suiyue looked up from behind him, gazing in another direction.
There, a vertical ladder stretched upwards along the wall, disappearing into the darkness above.
She ran over and looked up; halfway up the ladder, it was also cut off by a crystal wall.
What does that mean?
At this moment, they are like piglets who have been tricked into coming here to be slaughtered during the Lunar New Year.
"You've really been looked down upon."
He was thinking to himself, rubbing his hands together, ready to cause a big scene.
"Click—"
"Gurgle"
~~~, The crisp sound of bricks being pulled from the wall came from above the ladder that Suiyue had just been looking up at.
Nan'an shielded the curious Suiyue behind her, then went back to the ladder and looked up.
The crystal wall still separated the upper and lower parts, but vaguely—he felt a gaze coming from behind the wall.
"You were peeping, weren't you?"
'
'
"Hello, are you there?"
66
""
Nan'an was certain there was someone behind the crystal wall, but the other party remained silent.
This put him in a dilemma.
Is it about demolishing the house?
Or will they just tear the house down?
"So warm————"
The timid female voice drifted down the ladder.
Nan'an was indeed quite "warm" just now.
Although they escaped the clutches of the weeping mist, the guidance only went halfway through and then stopped abruptly. It's like those novelists who always abruptly end a chapter at a crucial moment, making you feel an urgent urge to jump into the screen, drag them out, and force them to write another 4000 words.
"Who are you?"
After a while, there was another response from the ladder.
"Lenem—that's my name."
Nan'an was about to introduce himself when Linem spoke up again.
"It really feels so warm—like a campfire. Is it related to your name?"
Nan'an asked in surprise, "You know my name?"
This damn name, in Nora's local semantics, not only means grain roots, but also wood ash.
It certainly evokes a sense of "warmth".
"Last time, you were also chased by that wicked fog."
Nan'an suddenly realized.
When he first saw the tower after being swallowed by the black mist, the weeping mist relentlessly pursued him. He and Suiyue managed to escape by carving out a piece of darkness.
At the time, they all thought it was a fluke that delayed the weeping mist's actions.
Now that I think about it, that "darkness" actually only weakened the overall abnormal reaction of the black mist. In that limited time, they should have been caught up by the weeping mist and torn to pieces by Aslipan.
"Did you help us last time too?"
"I originally wanted to ask you to come and take refuge, but you and that antler-wearing lady are really amazing————"
"My uncle told me that very few people can escape being caught and eaten by the fog."
Suiyue was extremely excited.
"What did you just call me?"
"The sister with antlers," Linem repeated blankly. "Did I mishear your conversation?"
Upon careful reflection, Nan'an realized that along the way, only Linem seemed to have thought that Suiyue had antlers when they first met.
Although she also "categorized" them based on their conversation at the time.
Wait----
dialogue?
"You can sense that far?"
"Sure, I heard everything Nan'an and Sister Suiyue had said back then."
"Why do you call her 'sister' instead of 'brother'?" Nan An asked, a subtle dilemma forming in his mind.
Linem hesitated, her cheerful and excited tone turning timid once again.
"Nan'an is different—"
"What's different?"
Nan An thought to himself, "Could it be that Linem can see through him at a glance and that not calling him 'grandpa' is already the greatest respect she can show?"
It doesn't make sense. He was only in his early twenties when he died, the perfect age to be an older brother.
"I—I don't understand either." Linem hesitated, then changed the subject, "But—I want to hug you, even though Uncle said I can't."
Putting aside the strange statement about wanting a hug, Nan'an was even more curious—
"Who is this uncle you're talking about?"
My uncle told me not to tell anyone.
Suiyue was rubbing her "ox horns".
From the moment she heard the name Linem, she had a subtle feeling that she had heard it somewhere before.
As the speed of the caressing increased, this posture, which seemed to extract wisdom, finally brought to life the corresponding images in her boiling thoughts.
"what!"
Suiyue's strange cry startled Nan'an.
"what?"
"Old man, she, she's—a member of the Leod family!"
"well?"
There was complete silence on the ladder.
"Lenem, hello, are you there?"
"Not here."
It sounded like a child trying to cover something up.
"Are you a child of the Leodor family?"
"My uncle told me not to tell."
The case is solved.
The "uncle" that Linem Lyud keeps referring to is most likely the same person she met at Eldritch Manor, Vahdeen.
"But we know your uncle, Wahdien."
"My uncle said we can't admit it."
"So you've already admitted it, haven't you?" Nan An said helplessly.
"I don't."
He increasingly felt that Linem, who was climbing the ladder, was probably no more than 10 years old.
Has the Leod family bloodline become so scarce?
To combat the Weeping Mist, should we simply stuff children into the tower to guard it?
Can she handle the Mist of Mourning?
No—it seems she has twice successfully transformed the weeping mist into harmless gods and demons, helping the two of them escape.
"Alright, let's not talk about your uncle." Nan'an changed the subject. "Can you tell me what you did, and why the Weeping Mist dares not approach this tower?"
Linem fell silent again, seemingly pondering whether this was a topic she had agreed with her uncle to not discuss with outsiders.
Left with no other option, Nan'an had to reveal his true identity.
"Didn't Uncle Vahedeen tell you that besides the evil gods and demons, there are also the Mistbreakers representing justice, and the Ereshkigal, within the Black Mist?"
"I said—" Linem paused, "I can sense—Nan'an isn't a bad person, because I want to hug him."
"No, no, no, there's no basic logical connection between wanting to hug someone and being a bad person. You can't deduce that from this." Nan An felt a chill run down her spine.
Linem's perception is truly that of a child.
The conversation must be conducted with utmost care to avoid leading Linem astray.
Nan'an suspected that this was one of the Leod family's "shit mountain" codes, and that the code balance might be accidentally broken.
"But I just want to hug you," Linem said firmly.