Chapter 195: The Colossal Gate And The Fated One
"Sigh."
Luke walked through the hallways alone. Earlier, after Evelyne’s encounter, Aurielle’s mood had become worse.
So he tried to calm her down, but to no avail.
"I hope she will talk with Evelyne and settle everything." He whispered those words, as he didn’t want Aurielle to feel guilty.
If by mistake she took any decision which she would end up regretting later.
As he was just thinking that—
WHOOSH!
The original Luke, clad in the Valzareth Armor, suddenly teleported beside him.
The very next moment, the clone dissolved into darkness and merged with Luke’s shadow, leaving only the original Luke standing in its place.
Then he brought out the Whispering Tide Conch, before telling Osric and Kai to take care of the territory, as he was going somewhere and would return by the morning.
"Understood My Lord." Both of their voices came from the artifact, before it became quiet again.
"I hope I will deal with it fast." Luke muttered worriedly, as anything could happen in his absence.
[Completing this quest soon would also make you stronger fast.] Then the system’s voice also came, which strengthened Luke’s resolve to complete this quest now.
"Okay." With that he teleported a few more times, before completely leaving the vicinity of Blackstone Highlands.
And none of the citizens, even the four mid-golden knight rank beings of Association building, noticed this.
After finding that he was in a mountain area filled with forest, he transformed into the faceless titan.
Which caused the lone Luke clone, who had been patrolling the territory while eliminating every beast and invader, to glitch for a brief moment before dissolving into darkness and merging back into the void.
"Sylvarion."
Luke didn’t pay it any further attention. Instead, he fully transformed into his Winged Titan form, intending to locate the temple from the skies.
FWOOOSH!
With a single powerful flap of his wings, he shot high into the sky.
A few minutes later, he finally found the temple’s location. It was hidden nearly 50 kilometers away from the Ashveil Trade Route and approximately 700 kilometers from Blackstone Territory.
There, he saw a colossal boulder that resembled a small hill.
"No wonder..."
"No one was ever able to find this," Luke muttered with an enlightened expression.
The massive boulder blended perfectly with the surrounding landscape, appearing no different from a natural formation. Nothing about it hinted that something was hidden beneath it.
Tuk! Tuk!
He tapped its surface a few times and quickly realized just how sturdy it was. The rock was tough enough that it would require at least Silver Knight-level strength just to leave a mark on its surface.
"Well, I can’t make that much noise."
With that, he returned to his normal form before summoning Valzareth once again. Using its teleportation ability, he instantly appeared beneath the massive boulder.
Underground complete darkness greeted him.
However, it didn’t affect his vision in the slightest.
"A tunnel..." Luke muttered as he looked down.
A long circular tunnel stretched into the depths, with a spiral staircase embedded along its inner wall.
It descended so far that even he couldn’t see where it ended.
"Well then, let’s find out where it leads."
With a smile on his face, Luke leaped straight into the abyss.
While still in mid-air, he transformed into his Nyx form, taking advantage of the Titan’s superior physique.
THUD!
He crashed onto the ground with a deafening impact.
The surrounding floor instantly cracked apart, results fractures spreading outward like a giant spiderweb.
Luke paid little attention to the impact behind him.
His gaze was completely drawn to the colossal gate standing before him.
It was utterly plain with no carvings and symbols.
Yet its sheer existence sent an indescribable chill through him.
The gate towered nearly one kilometer into the darkness, spanning almost five hundred meters across, disappearing into the surrounding stone like it had always belonged there.
Luke slowly looked around.
The ceiling...
The walls...
Everything was solid mountain rock.
It was as though someone had hollowed out the heart of an entire mountain... solely to imprison whatever lay beyond this silent gate.
"..."
He couldn’t even identify the material.
Then a crazy thought came into his mind, "Can I store this after cutting it down?"
Luke stared at the massive gate, already imagining it standing at the entrance of Blackstone Territory, turning his domain’s entrance into something far more majestic.
[Luke, the hardness of this gate is beyond your current understanding. Even with your current mastery of Physical Severance, you cannot cut it.]
The system’s voice carried a faint mocking tone, as if it was amused by his idea.
Luke’s expression froze.
"..."
For a moment, he simply stared at the gate.
A material that even his severance ability couldn’t cut?
Just what exactly was this thing made of?
But before his shock could deepen-
CRAAAAAAACK...
The colossal gate trembled.
Dust and fragments of ancient stone fell from above as the impossible structure slowly began to move.
GGRRRRRRRNNNN...
CREEEEEEAAAAAAAK...
The sound echoed throughout the underground part.
It was not merely the sound of a gate opening.
It sounded like an ancient existence, sleeping for countless years, finally awakening.
For several minutes, that terrifying noise was the only thing that filled the cavern.
Then-
Silence.
A silence so deep that even Luke could hear his own breathing.
Until finally...
A deep voice emerged from beyond the gate.
The voice that belonged to something ancient.
"Another one?"
The words carried no anger. Instead, there was curiosity... and perhaps even a trace of expectation.
As if the being behind the gate had been waiting for someone to arrive.
Hearing this, Luke’s eyes became wary and he peered inside. But this time, he couldn’t see inside.
The darkness present there seemed to reject his vision.
Which increased his wariness to another level.
’It’s really Peak Bronze difficulty?’ And he became doubtful.
’Let’s try another method.’ Finding he couldn’t see inside, he summoned his clone, then sent it inside.
Though, before the clone could even cross the gate, the voice came again.
"Huh? Why are you sending your clone?"
Luke’s eyes narrowed at this. ’He can see outside the gate? while I can’t.’
Still, he ordered the clone to go inside. But then something surprising happened.
The clone couldn’t cross the gate boundary at all, like an invisible wall was blocking its way.
"It’s futile kid."
"Only the fated one could enter inside." The voice said this.
In the voice, Luke could feel its amusement, which was directed toward his futile attempt.
’System, are you sure this is the right place?’ So with a worried face Luke asked the system.
As this whole place seemed to be becoming weirder by each passing moment.
[Luke, this is the right place.]
Afterward, the system even told him that his life would not be lost here, so he could go inside.
Which somewhat calmed him down.
’Let’s do it, Luke.’ So he gathered his courage, before stepping inside, and the clone disappeared the next moment.
"Huh!"
Luke’s eyes widened the moment he saw what lay beyond the gate.
The scene before him completely overturned his expectations.
The interior of the temple was not a dark, forgotten ruin as he had imagined.
Instead, it was illuminated by thousands of old wall lamps, their soft light spreading throughout the enormous chamber and pushing back the endless darkness.
The vast hall stretched very far ahead. And at the very far end...
A statue present.
A colossal statue of a 100-foot-tall giant sat silently upon the ground, its massive body unmoving as if it had been watching over this place for countless ages.
Luke took a slow, deep breath.
Despite his confidence, the atmosphere here was different.
Filled with strangely oppressive aura.
After calming himself, he slowly began walking forward.
Step by step, his footsteps echoed throughout the empty temple.
However, as Luke continued walking forward, his body suddenly rippled.
A strange sensation spread through him.
Before he could react, three figures emerged from his body, stepping into the ancient temple.
"What?!"
Luke instantly retreated several steps, his instincts kicking in.
His hand tightened around Voidfang as he raised the sword, his gaze becoming cautious while he stared at the three unknown figures before him.
But in the very next moment, his expression froze.
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Author note: Thank you so much for your precious golden tickets and power stones, Purp_Panda, Ricardo_Marquez_4013 ,Eric_Hutcheson ,BigTank and everyone, whose name I had not mentioned here. But I am truly very gratefull to all of you.