Hollow Knight: Hallownest

Tick...tick...tick...

The gentle sound of gravel rubbing against each other was particularly clear in the silent abyss, as if announcing the return of some supreme being to the beings within.

The soul wandering in the darkness stopped, its cloudy and numb eyes became clear for the first time, burning with fanaticism in the shadows.

They swarm, they cluster, they are frenzy, they bow their heads -

"Sing your return, King!"

The abyss remains silent, yet in a sense it is constantly echoing with loud cries. The darkness feels ashamed of itself because of Him, and the shadows cannot conceal His majestic and heroic figure.

The Void God walked slowly to the observation deck, but took a step and landed in empty space. However, he did not fall down, but stood steadily in mid-air, as if something was supporting his feet.

Looking closely, it turned out to be void matter condensed into a solid entity.

Countless wandering souls now had a goal, and they all raised their heads and rushed upwards, as massive as a swarm of bees, like a wave hitting him.

Then, one, two... every soul that was almost the same size as him tried desperately to drill into his body, like baby birds anxious to return to the nest and missing the warm embrace.

The Void God's pace remained at the same speed, not affected by the scene at all. His body swelled due to the influx of souls, but returned to its original shape after regular fluctuations. However, from time to time, some white light was discharged from his body and then swallowed by the surrounding darkness.

click-

His footsteps landed at the bottom of the abyss, crushing the masks that were piled up there. The pairs of mask eyes that originally looked empty and creepy became extremely ordinary after the soul disappeared, leaving only the stiffness of dead objects.

After returning to the abyss, the Void God couldn't help but take a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled. The hot breath sprayed into this cold land and merged together.

His extremely indifferent eyes rarely showed any emotion, but at this moment they were filled with nostalgia.

He himself didn't know what he was missing, the people who followed him to fight, the days of constant war, or perhaps the enemy he had fought against for hundreds of years without being defeated but who was now extinct.

The Void God was surprised to find that he did not feel happy about the disappearance of the Radiance, but instead felt a little... lonely?

Shaking off these unnecessary and redundant emotions, he continued walking forward at a leisurely pace, but before he had gone far, a hint of disgust flashed in his eyes.

A hundred meters away, a ray of light suddenly broke through the darkness and appeared abruptly at the edge of the Black Lake, out of tune with the environment.

In the abyss, nothing can destroy the beauty of shadow. Here, shadow is everything, and there is no room for even a little light.

The Void God raised his hand slightly, and the surface of the Black Lake, which was as calm as dead water, suddenly began to ripple. The huge black hand that had appeared in the Black Egg Temple earlier stretched out from the bottom of the lake and slapped the lighthouse directly, crushing it into ruins, and the light completely disappeared, and there was no light in the abyss anymore.

Without the suppression of the lighthouse, and even without the urging of the Void God, the surface of the Black Lake began to change, surging from small to large, with countless tendrils extending from the lake. The scene looked like a dance of demons, like a spring that had been stretched taut for a long time suddenly relaxed, continuously pouring out long-suppressed energy.

This scene did not last long. When the Void God stepped in front of the lake, the lake returned to its previous calm state. It was so well-behaved that it was unspeakably unspeakable. The former just lowered his head to glance at the lake surface and continued to walk into the depths on his own.

The silent tendrils stretched out in due time, entwining with each other to form a black platform. When they sensed that the being on the platform was firmly standing, they began to move steadily towards the other side of the lake, and soon came to a stop on the shore.

Generally speaking, the entire abyss is not much different from what it was like before I fell asleep in my memory. Apart from the lighthouse just now, there is only the independent space carved out of the stone wall above.

It was that intruder again... The Void God flashed, and appeared in the study the next moment.

Through the hollow windowsill, you can almost see the entire Black Lake. Of course, to those ordinary insects, this is not a beautiful sight.

Looking sideways, there is an opening shaped like a crack and a tentacle between the uneven stone walls, as if a stone tablet is covered in it. The edge of the opening is not natural and was obviously dug out.

"You actually want to use the stone tablet to spy on the secrets of our clan. You have such a big appetite."

This stone tablet records the secret technique of manipulating the Void Tendrils, but judging from the current cracking situation, there has been no progress at all, which makes the Void God feel slightly relieved.

In fact, this secret technique was just a trick for him, but he didn't want it to fall into the hands of outsiders, let alone an invader who coveted his land.

However, this thought had just disappeared for a short while before he noticed the manuscript on the table in the study. It contained many records, the most eye-catching of which was the information about the Gate of Void.

This made the Void God frown again. Compared to the Void Tendrils, the Void Gate was more profound and integrated the principle of space division. Even in ancient times, there were only a handful of people in the entire Void Tribe who were capable of building or operating the Void Gate. It could be said to be a secret art among secret arts.

He turned the papers page by page, and when the contents of the information fell into his eyes, his frown relaxed again.

"You actually figured out how to open and close the Void Gates just by relying on the ones left behind. Humph, you do have some skills, but to think you can master everything just by relying on these... you are really arrogant."

After pacing around the area again, the Void God saw that there was nothing left behind, so he left the study.

He drove straight in, finally stopped in front of a wider space, and then stepped out.

A gigantic insect corpse suddenly appeared before his eyes. Its limbs, which looked like dead wood, were holding a bowl from which black water continuously bubbled out. It remained in this position for who knows how long.

"The Void Holy Spring has not dissipated yet..."

The Void God looked at the gurgling black spring, then looked at the giant insect corpse behind him, with a rare look of recognition and appreciation in his eyes.

"You are the most outstanding general of our clan. You are the one who maintains the Holy Spring and the glory of the Void Clan..."

"Wake up, and I will crown you again."

The falling black spring suddenly changed direction, climbing up the giant insect's corpse like silk threads, or like muscle fibers shaping the latter.

And behind the huge mask, the pair of pupils that had been empty for who knows how long, once again glowed with a faint dark light.