Chapter 541: Chapter 54 Coward
The dim firelight illuminated the narrow staircase, and a cold breeze wafted up from the deep darkness below, brushing against Bologue’s skin and making him feel as if he had returned to the winter days not long ago.
Secret Energy·Wind Source, is the starting point of the Clarks’ power and, among the known Secret Energies, the one that can push the Commanding School’s power to its limit, with great potential.
This power seems fearsome, but through long work with Palmer, Bologue knew that this seemingly all-encompassing Secret Energy actually had a very fatal flaw.
Even though Palmer was now promoted to a Prayer Believer, and Secret Energy·Wind Source had upgraded to Secret Energy·Furious Wind Pardon, the essence of its operation remained as it was, commanding airflow changes.
Once Palmer was trapped in an enclosed space, the stagnant airflow would severely limit his power, and this limitation would become increasingly deadly as the space grew narrower and more sealed.
Members of the Clarks should belong to the free sky, not bound by anything, but then they couldn’t really sleep on the ground and hide inside a castle; the enclosed space made them feel uneasy.
To solve this problem, the entire Fortress of the Morning Wind seemed to be built of sturdy bricks and stones, but to suit the Clarks’ Secret Energy·Wind Source, these strong castles concealed many hidden wind tunnels.
When the gale blew over this sprawling castle group, the wind wasn’t completely blocked, and much of it would seep into the castles, maintaining the flow of the airflow.
With years of construction added more designs to the Fortress of the Morning Wind, such as opening or closing certain special wind tunnels. Whenever a gale swept by, the airflow within the tunnels would resonate with the structures, producing a strange melody.
Like an omnipresent ghost orchestra, playing that lost movement within the Fortress of the Morning Wind, until this magnificent castle collapsed in the passage of time, turning into brilliant ruins.
As he moved toward the darkness below, the temperature gradually dropped, and the air turned moist.
According to Palmer’s introduction, there was a large cave below the Fortress of the Morning Wind, which the Clarks had excavated into a secret port.
Bologue suspected that the damp moisture arose from the secret port, and then a low rumble gradually became clear in his ears.
It sounded like someone’s indistinct murmurs, or the dull crash of water against the embankment.
Bologue lifted his hand to press against the wall beside him, feeling the vibrations from within the wall, with a wind tunnel just beyond the bricks, through which the airflow roared, bursting with resonance.
"Can you talk to me about the specific course of the Dawn War?"
Bologue broke the silence of their advance and asked Fuen who was in front, "My clearance level isn’t high enough to learn the specifics of the Dawn War."
Fearing his intent wasn’t clear, Bologue bluntly asked, "I want to know about the part concerning Serey’s betrayal."
Serey Villeries.
In fact, Bologue was quite clear that despite Serey’s carefree demeanor, he could be sure Serey was definitely not a good person. This guy carried a debt of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Now, he was just tired and retired in the Undying Club.
But regardless of everything, Bologue never thought Serey had such a past.
"As the Night Race Lord, they were one step away from building an Eternal Night Empire, yet Serey suddenly abandoned it all, betrayed his father, and destroyed everything... I can’t understand."
The more Bologue thought about it, the more confused he became.
"There’s nothing hard to understand."
Fuen, in their advance, turned back. Compared in biological age, Fuen would count as a young man in Bologue’s eyes, but Fuen looked at Bologue with the gaze used for a child.
"Not everyone pursues eternity blindly."
Bologue whispered, "Are you suggesting that an undead got tired of being immortal?"
Was he tired of immortality? Bologue wasn’t sure; the Undying Body was merely a useful tool for him.
Perhaps he was still "young."
Yes, he was still "young."
Wei’Er often told him he was a young undead, still having many desires unmet in his heart, that’s why he lived with so much energy; whereas undead like Wei’Er had no desires left, living was merely as a walking dead.
Fuen said, "Tired of immortality? I never heard Serey say such a thing... actually, like you, when I first learned these things, I asked Serey too, but Serey didn’t say a word."
"I guess Serey probably gulped down a few drinks and pretended to be drunk to avoid your questions, right?"
Every time Bologue tried to probe those secret pasts, Serey would evade the conversation in that clumsy way, Bologue knew it well and didn’t press him too much.
He and Serey were good friends, blood oath kind of friends, and as a good friend, Bologue was willing to maintain a safe distance from Serey, not intruding upon his sensitive boundary.
Fuen was surprised, "Yeah, always pretending to be drunk... wait, after all these years, he’s still using that trick?"
"To Serey, ’all these years’ and ’a few days’ make no difference."
"Hmm, true."
They chatted idly with occasional silence, only Church remained with a serious face, loyally doing his duty.
Bologue asked, "You and Serey are so close, haven’t you thought about going back to see him?"
"We sometimes meet, but the time interval is a bit long," Fuen said, "and I’m no longer that free-field staff; I’m the head of the Clarks’ now, once I leave the Fortress of the Morning Wind, it will definitely attract other people’s gaze."
"Sounds stressful."
"It’s just responsibility, can’t be helped," Fuen said enviously, "if I could, I’d also like to live like Serey, such a life would be so joyful."
"But I think Serey isn’t that happy; he’s just wasting his endless life."
Hearing Bologue’s answer, Fuen laughed out loud, in this deep spiral staircase, his laughter was so loud.
"That’s how it is."
Fuen affirmed, "So sometimes eternity isn’t a good thing, at least not for Serey."
The topic returned to the initial question and answer, and Fuen began telling another story.
"I can’t quite remember which day it was, anyway, it was another night of drunkenness. Under the intoxication of alcohol, the two of us lay on the table, chatting absentmindedly.
Serey asked me, if one day I were about to die, and he was beside me, would I plead for his mercy, to grant me the Blood of the Night Race, to attain the same Undying Body as him."
Faced with the temptation of an Undying Body before death, even if it was a drunken chat, Bologue could empathize with Fuen’s feelings back then.
"To be honest, I was tempted."
Fuen held up the candlelight, the play of light and shadow dividing his face into an ancient sculpture, carrying a sinister meaning.
"But I am from the Clarks’ family. If I did that, the old undying ones would kill me themselves, so I stubbornly responded that I wouldn’t accept Serey’s blood."
Fuen suddenly stopped, and Bologue couldn’t halt in time; they were very close, facing each other, and for a moment, Fuen exuded infinite pressure, squeezing Bologue’s mind, Bologue could only stubbornly stare at him, facing that scrutinizing gaze.
"I can’t recall Serey’s expression at that time, but I think he was quite happy then."
Fuen looked at Bologue emotionlessly, repeating what Serey had once said.
"Immortality is a curse, our shells may be eternal, but the inner soul has long rotted in immortality."
An eerie atmosphere lingered between the two, Fuen seemed to be recounting Serey’s past, yet it seemed to imply Bologue.
Bologue paid no heed to the undertones but gave his own opinion, "If Serey is tired of immortality, he just has to step out of the Undying Club and bask in the sunlight."
"I mentioned this to Serey back then," Fuen turned and continued leading the way down, "but for my suggestion, he just pretended to be drunk and avoided it."
"Serey is still nostalgic for immortality?"
"No, I think he’s just not brave enough to take that step."
Fuen’s words paused, a mocking smile lifted at the corner of his mouth, "Just like his father, the Villeries are all a bunch of cowards."
"Cowards..."
Bologue recalled the first time he met Serey, the story Serey had told him.
The coward feared death, and for this, offered his soul and those of his descendants to the Devil, who gladly accepted the proposal, thus the coward died in that long night.
The Night King endures.