Chapter 33.2

The creepy path did not lead straight to the end, as there were several identical-looking forks to navigate.

Each time he encountered a fork in the road, Kevin did not even lift his eyes, making a turn at the toe of his boot toward one of them, as if familiar with the path.

He soon reached the end of the road, with swallowing human faces behind him, who furiously licked the blood-soaked mud on the ground. Their eyes remained fixed on Kevin, seemingly unwilling to let him go, but the fear they held prevented them from doing anything to stop him.

In front of Kevin lay a bubbling, hot swamp, with mud that looked black but tinged with dark red. The heat generated by the swamp made it incredibly uncomfortable to look at.

After staring at the swamp for a moment, Kevin furrowed his brow. He then returned to his state of indifference, which was colder than before. He raised his left hand, which was rotten from skin to bone, and hung it over the mud.

Drops of blood fell into the swamp in strings, which were then steamed by the heat, generating a strong, bloody odor. Kevin's left hand, which was about to become a bone, gradually healed and regained its slender and well-proportioned appearance.

The moment he withdrew his hand, a gigantic creature emerged suddenly from the blood-drenched swamp; however, its appearance could not be discerned clearly, except for its fangs, which were big and showed saw-like edges.

Kevin took a step back, with the monster falling into the swamp at the same time. He quickly flipped onto the monster's back as it turned over and was about to bite him. Kevin caught its mouth firmly and twisted it nearly to the point of breaking. He then leaned over to stare into its golden eyes and calmly asked, "Are you going?"

For a few moments, the creature was forced to gaze at Kevin with its large, white eyes. It did not know whether it picked up on the blood scent on Kevin's body or was able to take a good look at his appearance. It promptly lay on the swamp floor in both excitement and fear, whipping its long tail, and swam to the other side of the swamp with Kevin on its back.

The monster shot over to the shore, and Kevin nimbly jumped off when it was just a short distance away from it. This allowed him to avoid the monster's final counterattack.

The monster utilized nearly ten times its strength, with a crisp sound made when its upper and lower jaw fangs collided. Kevin suspected that the monster's teeth were on the verge of shattering.

The monster was unable to withstand a single hit and fell back into the mud as if dying, staring unwillingly at Kevin on the shore.

Kevin gave a short laugh, waved at it and continued walking without looking back, while the monster bubbled twice and sank back into the swamp's depths. The seemingly terrifying journey was not a problem for Kevin, as he made his way calmly to the shore.

Before him stood a tall gate with four huge pillars on each side that supported the sloping roof above. Mountain flowers engraved with phoenixes, witch snakes, and flying deer adorned the sloping roof. If situated atop a mountain, under the high sun, the door would look magnificent and noble.

However, this place was neither on a mountaintop nor was it sunny, and the gloomy and somber environment made the standing structure seem exceptionally lonely and dilapidated.

Kevin looked up at it with a complicated expression before stepping through the door. Connected to the door was a huge pillar hall, with each stone pillar carved with the same three kinds of animals as on the mountain flowers.

In the divine history, these animals symbolized the three main gods of the old god era, with the phoenix representing Phae, the witch snake representing Fessa, and the flying deer representing Thenis. Though these three animals were all bound with vines.

Kevin glanced at the giant pillars before walking in without squinting. Though the hall of pillars was spacious, his footsteps hit the stone wall and turned back, forming repeated echoes. The wound on his body continued to repeat the cycle of festering and healing, as if two invisible forces were pulling and tugging at his body, but he paid them no mind.

Despite the open space in the hall, Kevin quickly made his way to the end. He then raised his hand and pushed open a huge stone door, and the main hall of Phae's tomb appeared before his eyes.

Giant birds of several kinds were on the walls on both sides of the main hall, and their wings were about to protrude from the stone walls. Still, they were dragged and bound by vines, as though they could never break free.

In the innermost part of the hall, facing Kevin, was a huge statue of a god. The statue was tall and slender, with a handsome face and drooping eyebrows. There was an indescribable feeling of nobility mixed with holiness.

Surrounding the idol were real thorn bushes that grew wildly, akin to the ones outside the tomb door. They had sharp thorns and intertwined branches, like a densely woven net, enclosing the idol.

Kevin walked to the stone cup in front of the statue, folded his arms, looked at it from top to bottom, held his mouth to one side, and snorted. He said to himself, "It's the first time I'm looking at it from this angle. The sculpture is really...not like me at all."