Green Monster Epic

Chapter 575: An Unexpected Delight

The temple was dilapidated and silent, with rows of neatly arranged pillars supporting the ceiling. The height of the interior space was so vast that even accommodating an adult giant would seem spacious and grand.

The ceiling was composed of stained-glass windows of various colors. Some of the glass was broken, while others remained intact, casting the light that filtered through into a mosaic of colorful rays.

On both sides of the wide and magnificent temple hall, countless warriors holding long swords and wearing armor, with a pair of slender wings on their backs, were carved around the pillars, their expressions solemn as they gazed straight ahead at the center of the hall, giving the entire temple a sense of solemnity and awe.

Further inside the temple, a dozen steps led upwards to a platform where a golden throne was placed. With just a rough estimate, Allen figured that the throne, along with the jewels embedded in its intricate carvings, was probably worth more than the Green Field Tribe's assets for over a decade.

Allen's gaze wasn't focused on the priceless throne. He was more concerned with the goddess statue behind the throne, which was almost identical to the one he had seen in the square earlier, yet different upon closer inspection. Perhaps what the two statues had in common was the peaceful and beautiful aura they exuded, causing Allen to completely overlook the differences in their external shaping and carvings.

The statue's hands were raised upwards, cradling a fist-sized, dark blue flame above her delicate, flower-like fingers. It emitted a pure, noble aura. The brightly glowing tongues of flame seemed to possess life, rhythmically extending and retracting, perfectly synchronized with Allen's heartbeat, making it hard for him not to notice.

The profound aura emanating from the flame itself, while not inherently dangerous, appeared to Allen, with his powerful sensory abilities, like an endless ocean. Although it seemed calm and harmless at the moment, Allen couldn't shake the feeling that it could erupt like a volcano at any time, annihilating everything in its path.

Although it was just a seemingly inconspicuous flame, it was the most powerful thing Allen had ever seen in his life, even surpassing the presence of demigods like Briken and Allen, bringing an even stronger sense of oppression.

For a moment, as Allen stared at that dark blue, pure flame, he vaguely saw the figure of a deity.

Cautiously ascending the steps, Allen was surprised to find that there were no traps or designs in the temple, allowing him to easily reach the throne.

The magnificent and extravagant throne was far larger than Allen had observed from the temple entrance, which also meant that its value was even more precious. At the base of the throne, on either side, were two items radiating a faint magical aura. One was a crown woven from off-white thorns, with various precious gems still sparkling on the branches of the thorns; the other item was a cylindrical seal made of gold. The long cylinder of the seal was engraved with various mythical creatures, with the uppermost carving being a golden fox with its head held high and nine long tails behind it.

Items placed on the throne must be extraordinary, but when Allen reached out to pick up the thorn crown, his fingers had barely touched the thorns when the crown, which had maintained its complete shape, immediately eroded at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into a small pile of white powder.

Clang! Clang!

Even the most powerful equipment and items would eventually succumb to the ravages of time. Only the dozen or so pigeon egg-sized gems on the crown barely retained their original shape due to their material. However, the moment these brightly colored gemstones separated from the thorn crown, their brilliant and crystalline luster instantly dimmed, and their colorful hues gradually faded, slowly turning into useless, transparent crystals.

Allen was slightly stunned, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes. He then helplessly turned his hand towards the seal on the other side, finally managing to pick it up as he wished.

As soon as Allen held the seal, he felt a divine aura spreading from his fingertips to his entire body. This was clearly the magical attribute of the seal itself, and it was already affecting his body. Unfortunately, Allen couldn't immediately figure out what kind of effect this unknown magical attribute would ultimately have on its owner.

Generally, the characteristics of magical equipment either require the user to spend a long time using it and slowly exploring its secrets, or require finding an experienced appraiser to identify it, or even finding the craftsman who created the equipment.

Equipment made of metal is obviously more likely to survive the passage of time, but it has only survived. After a rough observation, Allen could feel that the actual efficacy of this seal was far less than before. If this seal should have been at least a demigod-level magical item in the past, then now its magical aura was at most just an ordinary mid-tier magical item.

Shaking his head, Allen put the seal into his dimensional bag and refocused his gaze on the statue above the throne. The face of the goddess, still unable to be seen clearly, was like a crescent moon under the reflection of the dark blue flame, sacred and inviolable.

The dark blue, sacred flame was even smaller than when Allen had observed it from a distance, swaying with the breeze blowing from who knows where in the wide temple, as if it could be extinguished at any moment, but also as if it would exist forever, an eternal radiance, full of contradictory feelings.

His gaze becoming infatuated with the flame, Allen once again reached out, trying to touch the dark blue light, but at the same time, a sharp warning rose in his mind, reminding him of the threat of the flame above his head, instantly startling Allen awake.

“Huff!!”

Allen's expression was solemn as he exhaled a long breath, regained his composure, and took two steps back.

It was necessary to maintain sufficient reverence in the face of this unknown and mysterious thing. Even seemingly powerful legendary-level experts could still face too many life-threatening threats in this world.

Raising the wide and sturdy Bone Cleaver, Allen cautiously poked it upwards, slowly bringing his beloved weapon close to the magical flame. But unexpectedly, the flame that could sway with the wind, in the test of the Bone Cleaver's blade, seemed to not exist at all, allowing the sword's body to almost cover its original location.

Only when the Bone Cleaver was pulled back, revealing the flame's original location again, did that sacred, dark blue light continue to bloom, illuminating this space.

Allen tried other methods one after another, but each time there was no effect, but it also reassured him a bit, at least the characteristics displayed by this flame did not seem to be dangerous.

In the end, Allen reached out, his hands enveloped in a ball of Wrath flames emitting an orange-red glow. Based on his years of research into Wrath, the outwardly projected Wrath flames possessed decent resistance against most magic systems, ensuring that even if the flame before him suddenly showed anomalies, Allen would be prepared.

The ghostly blue flame burned faintly, yet Allen felt no temperature change whatsoever. Just as his fingers were about to touch it, the flame, which had remained unchanged until now, suddenly exploded. The fireball, originally only the size of a fist, expanded several times over, directly engulfing Allen's outstretched hand.

Allen's mental will tightened. The moment the ghostly blue flame exploded, he sensed something was amiss and quickly retracted his hand. However, it was clearly too late. The suddenly erupting flame completely adhered to Allen's palm. The Wrath flames seemed to offer no protection against this ghostly blue fire, and the two colors of flame rapidly intertwined and merged into one.

Allen felt a chilling aura, following the bloodline route of his Wrath energy, directly approaching his heart, a vital area. Instantly, countless fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his back and face.

The Berserk skill was immediately activated. The massive amount of Wrath energy lurking in his blood and heart surged, attempting to block the threat of this foreign energy to himself. At the same time, Allen displayed his powerful self-control, using the explosive power of his muscles to sever the blood vessels along the way, stopping the flow of blood.

However, these measures were futile in the face of this mysterious, icy energy. It acted as if it were in an uninhabited land, completely unaffected by the rejection of Allen's body and mind, and soon arrived at its destination.

"Ah!!!"

The foreign energy, which felt extremely cold and almost froze his blood when flowing through his veins, immediately changed its energy form upon reaching Allen's frantically surging heart. An unbearable burning sensation rapidly filled Allen's mental world.

Boom!!!

The surging Wrath energy, no longer under Allen's control, overflowed beyond his body, not only forming Wrath flames that enveloped Allen entirely but also continuously expanding outward, creating a hurricane-shaped Wrath wind within the vast temple.

The unleashed energy storm pulverized everything fragile in its path, leaving only the eternally existing main body of the temple and the high platform throne standing firm within the storm, unaffected in the slightest.

The flame burned within Allen's body, and it was no longer satisfied with the energy supplied by Wrath. It began to use Allen's muscles and fat as nourishment, making the Wrath hurricane even more violent. In a short time, Allen's already not-so-burly figure quickly turned into a skeleton. The black dragon scale armor, which originally fit him well, was now several sizes too large, drooping on Allen's body and looking quite comical.

Chih!!!

Allen, who believed his will was as strong as steel, was still struggling with the pain, completely unaware of what was happening to his body. However, the foreign energy that had taken over his body discovered the crisis of its host's body first, diverting a portion of its energy to travel through Allen's limbs and blood vessels, quickly suppressing Allen's Berserk skill.

The surging Wrath energy, in the face of this foreign energy, was as docile as a little lamb, slowly turning from violent to calm. The Wrath hurricane, which had been soaring toward the dome, also gradually ceased due to the lack of subsequent support from Allen's Berserk skill, and the energy storm gradually subsided, with the Wrath energy returning to Allen's body.

Legendary feats such as Iron Will began to take effect, and the intense pain from the soul no longer uncontrollably affected Allen. Allen's will gradually began to regain control of his body.

With a pale green face and tightly furrowed brows, Allen felt as if he had just fallen into a pond, his entire body soaked in profuse sweat, even leaving a puddle of water on the ground. Feeling the changes that had occurred in his body in a short period of time, Allen felt a bit of lingering fear in his heart. If this change had ended a few minutes later, would he have directly turned into a real skeleton?

His heart, which had calmed down, began to beat wildly once again. Only then did Allen realize that his heartbeat seemed very different from before.

Focusing his mind and using his mental energy to examine his heart, he saw that this important organ, which provided Allen with infinite energy and vitality, was now wrapped in a ghostly blue flame.

The ghostly blue flame rotated continuously in a clockwise direction, creating an energy vortex at the core where the blood of the heart converged. The Wrath energy that flowed and traveled with the blood was swept into the vortex, constantly condensing and compressing, eventually completing a qualitative transformation.

His mental energy continuously observed the vortex's operation and trajectory, and he attempted to merge into the deepest part of the vortex for a closer look. He had a feeling that within the bright, pure light at the depths of this vortex, something extremely precious seemed to be gestating.

However, Allen's idea ultimately failed. Every strand of mental energy that he sent out to explore was directly swept up and decomposed by the vortex, thrown into the mysterious core depths until Allen could no longer sense it.

For a legendary Berserker who was not particularly strong in mental energy, every strand of mental energy was actually very precious. After a dozen strands of mental energy were swallowed into the core one after another, Allen only felt a blankness in his brain, and even his vision of distant objects became blurry. It was clear that his mental energy had suffered a considerable blow, scaring him into quickly withdrawing his mental energy.

He was still in an unknown alien dimension, and no one knew what kind of dangers he would encounter next. Allen didn't want to weaken his strength too much at this time, lest there be any flaws at critical moments.

Rumble!!!

A tremor came from the ground, but it quickly subsided. After giving up exploring the changes in himself, Allen refocused his attention on this magnificent and empty temple.

After losing the ghostly blue flame, the goddess statue behind the throne also turned into a pile of dust, which later disappeared into every corner of the space with the energy storm caused by Allen. And in the original location of the statue, a square dark grid baffle, one meter in size and exuding a metallic luster, slowly appeared in front of Allen.

If the statue hadn't annihilated itself, Allen might not have thought of such a dark grid. With some joy in his heart, Allen bent down, grabbed the recessed handle on the metal baffle, exerted force with his body muscles, and easily lifted the dark grid open.

Creak!!!

A harsh metallic friction sound rang out, followed by a slightly putrid air, gushing out from the concealed area of the dark grid. Allen quickly held his breath. When the air flow gradually stopped, a deep and dark tunnel had appeared before Allen, extending downwards from the position of the temple floor, not knowing where it led.