Myths Reawakened

Once he understood the key, Cerci laughed heartily, mocking himself and Vergil for overthinking. Even their master could misjudge at times. Wayne wasn’t human at all and could never become the High Prophet.

He was laughing so triumphantly that he failed to notice the melted, severed hand clinging to his white robe, inching toward his neck like a living thing.

“You’re not human. You’re a magical creature created by the Windsor District. Such forbidden alchemy will yield terrible consequences.” Cerci spoke with certainty.

Since Wayne was no longer a threat, Cerci’s murderous intent receded.

“I never imagined that you’d see through me. Now I can die without regrets...”

Wayne’s eyes became blank. His body collapsed into a white clump of boneless flesh, pooling on the ground with only two rings and the clothes of drake scales.

He died just like that? What did I do?

Cerci couldn’t believe it. He raised his guard and stared at the white flesh warily in case this was a deception, backing away repeatedly.

“Over here...” a sinister voice said into his ear.

Cerci’s pupils contracted. He hastily conjured his vitality barrier, but it was too late!

The white tentacles had already taken root on his body, merging with his skin and secreting more white flesh that rushed into his mouth, nose, ears, and nose amid chaotic whispers, moving straight to his internal organs and brain.

“Ahhhh—”

Cerci clutched his head and wailed in agony. Crying desperately for help, he charged toward Virgil like a madman.

(눈_눈)

Veronica stared. How disgusting. He wasn’t going to turn into a tentacle monster at night, was he? She would rather let Vera have him than marry a tentacle monster. They made a better couple.

“Save me, Virgil!”

“Hurry and save me. He’s in my head!”

Cerci’s thoughts were in disarray, preventing him from maintaining his elven form. He staggered toward Virgil. Feeling the tentacles writhing beneath his skin, he pushed hard with his fingers and easily tore off his nearly melted skin. No blood flowed. From his exposed pale pink tissue, finger-length tentacles writhed slowly.

Cerci grabbed and tore at the tentacles; more and more and yet more emerged from his flesh. He didn’t quiet down until his eyes burst out, and several tentacles reached out of his eye sockets. His thoughts called out in tandem with the low whispers filling his mind.

He came to understand everything.

Virgil ignored the grotesque transformation Cerci was undergoing right in front of him. His thoughts weren’t within his body. While standing like a wooden post, his mind wandered in a vast world, lost in indulgence and unable to return.

Cerci wasn’t a legendary mage, and neither was Virgil. Ever since they showed their talents, Tubert had been grooming them to become the next High Prophet.

Tubert had wanted to pass on the baton for too long. He prioritized the communication with nature in his teaching of both students, so ranking up became secondary. As a result, his two exceptionally gifted students remained stagnating at Gold rank even after a hundred years.

The difference was that Cerci was genuinely stagnating, while Virgil had learned to question his master and gave himself lessons, reaching the bottleneck to Legendary rank.

Just then, Virgil had mistakenly believed that Wayne could alter his life essence by invoking Nature’s power, inspired to find his own path. He faced his evolution and ranked up, his vitality barrier upgraded to vitality field. The domain was similar to the Astral Plane. Forged with thoughts, it held endless possibilities.

A misconception had led to the correct result. He was indeed a genius. The High Prophet had held him back.

It also showed that he had been one step away from reaching Legendary rank. No wonder he had advanced today.

Roar!

Cerci charged at Virgil, smothering his face with tentacles. The handsome elf got tentacles inserted into his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. His limbs trembled and convulsed, and soon, he became still.

Cerci’s mind had collapsed. It would take a miracle to recover his mind. On the other hand, Virgil’s wandering thoughts had been dragged back through the open door by the tentacles. Continuous whispers made him collapse shortly after Cerci.

The first day he became a legendary mage, his mind perished before his evolution could even begin.

Two white-robed men stood silently with tentacles growing from their faces, their destroyed minds incapable of independent thoughts.

But they would answer whatever questions they were asked!

Veronica looked over for quite a while. With a section of tentacle wrapped around her calf, she carefully approached the two men. As she got near, that segment of tentacle fell to the ground, crawled up Virgil’s body, and merged into his face.

Tentacle +1

Veronica’s disgust +1

A moment later, the white tissue fell to the ground and squirmed as it morphed into a shifting human form. Gradually, the facial features cleared, and Wayne’s face came into view.

“Wonderful! That practically fell into my lap. I’ve learned the way High Prophets trained.” Wayne raised his hand for a thumbs-up, flashing Veronica a cheerful smile.

“Hey, Veronica. You’ve become prettier!”

Veronica remained expressionless, showing no reaction to the compliment. Wayne didn’t understand why until raindrops fell on his body and made him realize that he was completely naked.

“No wonder your eyes are so wide...”

(⁄⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄⁄)

Wham!

Taking a punch to the face, he meekly picked up his clothes and put them on. Then he returned to the two living coma patients, pondered for a moment, and used a trusty magic combo of the four elements.

Earth walls built a furnace, fire burned intensely, powerful gusts applied pressure, and torrential water washed the ground clean, leaving no traces behind.

Cerci and Virgil had achieved the highest accomplishment possible for High Prophets—returning to nature and becoming one with it, forever inseparable from it.

“Look at the height they’ve reached. How amazing.”

Look at your smug face. You’re annoying!

Remembering how Wayne had protected her, Veronica threw another angry punch at him with reddened eyes.

Wayne covered his nose, blood spurting through his fingers. He gave her a look, his face pale as he weakly collapsed toward her chest.

She caught him, confused until she sensed the explosive blasts coming from behind them and realized what was going on.

“Are you alright, Wayne? Wake up. Don’t scare me.”

In the pouring rain, Veronica sat on the ground cradling her brother, the shirt she wore stained red with blood in the chest area.

Senna arrived with a murderous expression. When she saw them, she was so frightened that her breathing stopped. She hurriedly examined Wayne and confirmed that he was only suffering from mental confusion without danger to his life. Only then did she sigh in relief.

“Veronica, what happened? Who attacked you?”

“Two elves. Both of them could communicate with nature, and they were better than Wayne...”

Veronica’s eyes reddened. She spoke while trying not to breathe, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t produce any tears.

With her limited talent in acting, she wouldn’t go far as an actress. Vera would’ve already been sobbing while holding Brother Wayne, kissing him and vowing to never marry in her life.

Thankfully, the weather cooperated by raining. Water slid down her face like two pearl necklaces with the strings cut, the droplets falling endlessly.

“Elves who can communicate with nature...” Senna’s eyes blazed with fierce light as she thought of High Prophet Tubert. She pressed, “What were their names, and what magic did they use?”

Veronica shook her head. In her arms, Wayne said weakly, “Master Senna... One was named Virgil, and the other... I’m not sure... They wanted to kill me...”

Wayne spoke in starts and stops, having to take several breaths in between phrases. In the end, he finally ran out of strength, his head falling onto Veronica’s chest.

He was so weak that he kept breathing heavily.

Bastard, getting your fill, are you?

Veronica’s mouth twitched. She tightened her arms around him and pulled his head against her chest, her body trembling like she was barely keeping herself together.

“Gentler. He’s weak right now.” Senna quickly intervened, afraid that Veronica might accidentally kill her brother in her anguish.

She extracted Wayne to pull him into her embrace, gently stroking the back of his head. “Virgil is High Prophet Tubert’s student. The other attacker had to be his other student, Cerci. The High Prophet sent them to kill you. Remember to stay far away from him in the future. That old man spouts nothing but lies. Don’t give him a chance to make excuses.”

Contrary to what she was saying, Senna had already removed Tubert from the list of suspects. She strongly believed that the Pope was the actual mastermind. He planned to use Cerci and Virgil’s jealousy to kill Wayne, framing Tubert for it. If they lost, they lost. If they won, the Pope would be killing two birds with one stone.

“Wayne, where are those two elves?”

“I don’t know... They seemed to have a disagreement. I barely defended against one of them. The other was about to make a killing blow when you showed up, Master Senna. Then...”

Wayne spoke in a muffled voice. His face was under so much pressure that he had difficulty speaking.

“I understand. Rest. I promise to get you justice!” Senna declared with an icy expression.