Chapter 401 Shrine With Secrets
A boy appeared in the swamp area. Many shadow creatures were following him. He appeared there and looked at the place from the top. He could sense with his shadow that something was different about this place. He asked Kajal to use a spell to help him breathe underwater.
She chanted a spell, and a strange bubble appeared around Rishi's head. He checked it by trying to breathe underwater. He found out that the spell was working. He looked at the girl and said, "It could take a lot of time, so don't get nervous; I will return soon."
He dove into the water. He reached the area that was filled with darkness. Behind him were the strong shadow creatures that were following him. He soon found out that this place was covered in various aquatic plants. As he passed through them, he reached the place, following Nimo.
Rishi appeared at that place and looked at the strange rock. As he used Shadow Sense, he discovered water current here was strange. He also found a where he could sense a large amount of shadow energy. He approached that rock and found out about the strange whirlpool.
It was stratifying from a small hole present below the rock. He pushed the rock to the side with the other shadow creatures' help before entering that strange whirlpool. Its center, to be exact, was filled with darkness; it was like a black hole.
Rishi passed his shadow sense and discovered it led to a strange place. He was not able to sense anything more. Shadow sense also had its limitations. He tried to use shadow creatures but found that he lost his link with them as soon as they entered it.
At last, he had to enter it himself. He took a deep breath, turned into black smoke, and entered that hole. He soon discovered he was falling very profoundly into a strange, dark place. He fell into the water. He moved out of there, and was a strange gate in front of him.
It looked similar to the 'П' shape with an additional horizontal line at the top, similar to 'tori' gates commonly found in shrines. He thought momentarily and saw that the area around him was filled with darkness. It looked like he went there; he would be lost in it.
He entered the gate, and what greeted him was a strange path that led somewhere. Everything was dark initially, and he heard strange things trying to scare him. It was as if ghosts were erupting; Rishi kept moving, ignoring them.
Soon he appeared in front of a similar gate; the only difference was that it was larger than the previous one. There was more darkness behind it, scaring anyone from entering it.
Rishi steeled his heart and entered it. As soon as he did it, he found it was less dark; strange, small, purple-colored elongated rectangular markers shone in purple. The rest area was dark black, but he could see tiles below his feet due to the little light here.
Strangely, he could not see much even with his 'Shadow Sense' and 'Night Vision'. With each step he took, he started feeling strange pressure above him. It was as if he were approaching some powerful being, and it was the pressure released by it.
It was hard, but he continued. He was not going to stop. There was no path back to leaving this place; the only way for him was to keep moving. The pressure increased with each step, as if more and more weight was put on his back. As he was moving, he was feeling the pain and sweating buckets. Even with his physique, he felt like he was struggling so hard. He had to give it his all to move further.
His whole body shook, but he kept moving, gritting his teeth. He released his will, which helped him keep moving. The next moment, he heard a strange sound. 'Chirm' was the sound of a bell. As soon as he heard it, he felt like it was calling him.
He kept moving forward. He struggled to take every step, but somehow he continued. Soon he appeared in front of a similar gate; this one had a strange bell attached. As he looked inside it, he felt a type of darkness he had never felt before. When he looked at it, he felt like it was also looking at him.
His heartbeat was raised, and he started breathing faster. His nerves could be seen stretching. It was a feeling that felt like a final warning. Many thoughts started appearing in his mind. They tried to distract him and tell him to return. He was breathing heavily and covered in sweat, but he was still unwilling to return.
He entered it as soon as he did. He regretted it; he appeared in a brighter place together. At first, he didn't feel anything; he sensed torches lit up on both sides with a purple flame burning on them. The markers on the floor were still present. He took a deep breath and took a step.
Ahh," he cried as he felt a sting all over his body. He felt a strange pain. He calmed himself down, biting his lips, and took a smaller step. Again, he felt the same pain. With each step he took, the pain increased. At first, it was still manageable, but it soon became unbearable after reaching halfway.
It felt like his whole body was on fire; he was burning. He resisted it and kept walking, forgetting his purpose for coming here. All his focus was on keeping moving. His regeneration skills, which made him recover even from a half-dead situation, were useless here.
Inside his body, he could feel strange energy that was inside his body and creating chaos. Some of his muscles evaporated into smoke. His eyes became moist, but he still kept moving. The threshold had now reached the point where his whole body was losing sensation.
He still kept moving, not giving up halfway. His focus was fixed on the strange gate in front of him. He kept walking. With a loud cry, he reached an even bigger gate. Inside, it was light. A blinding light, he entered it, struggling to move. He felt that the pain had finally stopped, but he could still feel that he had lost a lot of mass.
Below his feet were seven steps. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for anything that came his way, but to his surprise, the moment he took the first step, he felt a cold and comfortable energy entering his body, and the strange wounds started healing.
The chaotic energy inside him starts to merge with his body. The process was very slow, but it helped him calm down. He took another step and felt that the effect had increased; his body had healed more. He took his time and took one step at a time, patiently.