Chapter 156: Where Questions Become Death
'No hands but tells a tale?' Raven stood in silence, thinking deeply.
After a few minutes, he finally spoke.
"Memory."
A small clapping sound echoed in the hall.
"Excellent!"
"What is this place?" Raven asked.
"It is the Hall of Infinite Riddles," Sere replied, pointing her fingers at the mysterious boxes placed all around. "Every time you answer a riddle correctly, you may ask one question—or take a riddle box as your reward."
'Oh? The Hall of Infinite Riddles, huh?'
Before Raven could think further, Sere began another riddle.
…
"Seven locks guard what none can see,
One key is truth; the rest are three.
One melts iron but not the lie,
One sings songs but never cries.
One blooms bright but turns to ash,
One breaks the silence with a flash.
The true key neither speaks nor moves—
But stands alone, as silence proves.
Which is the real key?"
…
Raven remained quiet, studying the words.
'Hmm, the true key neither speaks nor moves…'
After ten long minutes of thought, he finally answered.
"Silence."
"Correct." Sere nodded, her expression serious.
"How do I leave this place?" Raven asked, voice firm.
Sere blinked her tiny eyes. "If you give the right answer, you can leave whenever you want."
"Now, it's my turn," she said excitedly.
…
"I am born when time is split,
Yet I move, though I do not sit.
I bend the path, yet have no hand,
I weigh the sky but touch no land.
Wizards call me power's breath,
Physicists name me with mass and death.
What am I?"
…
'What…?' Raven froze, his thoughts scattering.
'Born when time is split? Moves but does not sit? Weighs the sky but touches no land? Wind?'
But the more he thought, the more confused he grew.
'Can you help me, Zera?'
[I can't. I feel a strange power probing your mind. It's checking your brainwaves constantly. If I interfere, your answer will be invalid—and you might die.]
Raven's face hardened.
'I can't even rely on you, huh?'
'Wind… could it be wind?'
As he prepared to answer, he noticed the fairy's lips curve into the faintest smile.
He would've missed it if not for his mind's eye, which constantly monitored her reactions.
'Zera said something entered my body earlier. That means she knows what I'm about to answer. If I choose wrong, I'm dead.'
He studied the riddle again.
'The last line… Wizards call it power's breath. Physicists… mass and death… Mass?'
"Gravity?" he said cautiously.
"Perfect!" Sere cried, spinning happily in the air as her wings fluttered.
[Her riddles will only get harder. Ask her if there's a way to control her—or become her master like the other fragments.]
'Aren't we being a little too straightforward?' Raven muttered internally.
[No. Intellectual artifacts always follow their own rules. She may be twisted, but she won't lie.]
Raven took a breath and asked,
"How do I become your master?"
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
An invisible power wrapped around his throat and yanked him into the air.
Sere's eyes turned pitch black as she flew up to his face.
"U-Ugh—" Raven gasped, clawing at his neck.
'Sh*t! She's furious!'
Before he could react, Sere calmly snapped her fingers.
A nearby riddle box floated into the air and opened.
Raven's pupils shrank.
Inside lay a severed head of a middle-aged man with gray hair.
'S-Sir Aurelius Damaris!'
A familiar voice came from the crystalline gem on Raven's amulet.
It was Solis.
'Who is that?' Raven asked, still struggling.
'I… I remember him. He's the one who helped our Master to create us! Be careful, Raven. This is not the Sere I knew,' Solis warned telepathically.
Sere glanced at the amulet, then at the compass in Raven's hand.
She floated to Aurelius's head, set her tiny foot on his forehead, and burst into eerie laughter.
"Kekekeke! What an excellent question! I like it!" Her eyes gleamed. "This is the very same question Master Aurelius Damaris asked me after fusing me with the Wisdom Stone. Do you know what I did?"
Her smile twisted.
"I asked him one of the hardest riddles in the universe." She paused. "Unfortunately, he failed."
She leaned closer, whispering. "Would you like to try?"
[Sh*t! She's not an arcane fragment… she's evolved into an Arcane Relic!] Zera warned.
Raven realized it, too. His heart raced as he stammered,
"U-Ugh, I'm sorry! I asked out of curiosity, that's all!"
Sere studied him carefully. Then, with a sudden cheerful grin, she waved her hand.
"Oh! I thought you were serious. Silly me!"
The invisible grip vanished.
Raven fell to the ground, coughing for air.
Meanwhile, Sere clapped her hands like a child.
"Let's continue!"
…
"Dark glass passes over day, a whisper steals the sun—
Two bright lords meet on a narrow road and borrow one another's crowns.
Seers hold their breath; charms loosen, secrets hide, then dare to speak.
I am the moment the sky concedes, a borrowed night that writes new fate.
What am I?"
…
'Dark glass… must be the moon. A whisper steals the sun…'
"Eclipse," Raven said after careful thought.
"Correct!" Sere beamed, her eyes glimmering. She leaned forward, expectant. Clearly, she wanted him to keep playing.
[Are you going to ask more questions?] Zera asked, worry in her voice.
'I'm scared too,' Raven admitted.
Instead of asking, he walked toward a nearby glass box. Though transparent, its contents remained obscured.
He took out his monocle and tried to inspect it. A strange power blocked him.
'So I can only know once I open it, huh?'
Raven pressed his hand to the box.
It opened slowly, revealing a silver ring.
Raven used the monocle again.
…
[Name: Ring of Astral Drift
Rank: Epic
Abilities:
• Spell 1: Rank-1 Blink – short-range teleport (5 meters). (Cooldown: 1 hour)
• Spell 2: Rank-2 Dimensional Fold – evade one incoming attack by phasing. (Cooldown: 8 hours)
• Spell 3: Rank-3 Astral Displacement – instantly teleport to any location within 3 km (line of sight or pre-marked). Limitation: Cannot bypass powerful barriers. (Cooldown: 7 days)
• Spell 4: Rank-4 Astral Escape – enter the Astral Plane for 10 seconds, ignoring all attacks. (Cooldown: 15 days)]
…
'An Epic item!' Raven's heart pounded. Such an item was worth millions of gold coins.
But joy never reached his face. His life still dangled by a thread.
As he studied the ring, Sere's voice chimed again.
…
"I hold a sky of fallen stars,
each whispering the count of hearts.
Turn me once, and fate will slide—
What's above becomes below inside.
I mark the slow, the swift, the loss;
Yet bind no clock, nor bell, nor gloss.
Tiny prisoners fall and pass—
But none escape my crystal glass.
What am I?"
…
"Hourglass," Raven murmured, his brow furrowed.
"Correct!" Sere clapped her hands, smiling brightly.
But Raven shook his head.
'Though this game is tempting, one mistake means death. I'd better leave while I can.'
"I want to leave," he said firmly.
A binding light enveloped him.
…
Raven opened his eyes and found himself back at the temple.
Jovie, Alden, and Kaer were still searching outside, unaware of how long he'd been gone.
'What? I was inside for over an hour!' His hands trembled lightly due to anxiety.
[There's a time anomaly in that place. Time flows differently in the Hall of Infinite Riddles.] Zera explained, while Raven calmed down slowly.
'You mean… one hour inside equals only a few minutes outside?'
[Yes. Most pocket dimensions work that way. The hall must be a miniature pocket world.]
Raven nodded, placing the crown into his inventory.
After that, he stayed near the statue for a while, calming his mind and heart.
"Hey, I found a storage room," Jovie's voice called as she approached the Sanctum Sanctorum, where Raven was.
Jovie led Raven toward the left wing of the temple, her boots echoing faintly against the ancient stone. Towering pillars loomed around them like silent sentinels until they reached a massive two-meter-tall metal door.
Count Alden and Kael were already waiting, their gazes fixed solemnly on the barrier. Several skeletal knights stood nearby, their hollow eyes flickering faintly as they awaited Jovie's command.
"It's sealed with a Runic Lock array," Jovie said, her tone casual, but her eyes sharp. "I cracked it earlier." She gestured for everyone to step back. "Mark, open the door."
One of the armored skeletons clattered forward, placing both bony hands on the gate. The moment the door creaked open—
Whsshh!
A black-feathered arrow shot out at impossible speed. It struck Mark directly in the skull, its green-tinged poison spreading like wildfire. In seconds, the metal helm, brittle bone, and runes etched across the skeleton's armor corroded into sludge. What remained collapsed with a wet hiss into a puddle of bone shards and molten iron.