234

Mark looked around, and there were only the phantoms of him and Selina in the empty space. The altar, the cave, and Albert were all gone, leaving only endless white. He frowned slightly, and a sense of uneasiness surged in his heart.

"Selina, where is Albert? Where did he go?" Mark asked with a slightly hoarse voice.

Selina's figure flickered slightly, like a candle swaying in the wind. She lowered her head, her expression was gloomy, and her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her eyelids. "Mark..." She sighed softly, her voice full of sadness and helplessness, "Albert... he has..." She paused, as if it was difficult to speak, and finally said slowly, "In order to fight the giant beast, he exhausted his vitality and has completely transformed into a tree man. And the tree man is a race created by "him" in this world, and cannot enter my space."

"What?!" Mark widened his eyes in disbelief, as if he was hit by a bolt from the blue. He staggered back a step, almost falling, and subconsciously reached out to hold the "air" beside him, but grabbed nothing. This empty space, except Selina's phantom, had nothing.

Selina continued: "Albert... will sleep forever under the temple..." Her voice became lower and lower, as if she was talking to herself.

After hearing this, Mark was grief-stricken. He knelt on the ground powerlessly, clenched his fists, and his nails were deeply embedded in his palms. The bright red blood slowly flowed out from the gaps between his fingers, forming a sharp contrast with the white ground. He lowered his head, said nothing, and his shoulders trembled slightly, as if he was suppressing the grief in his heart.

Selina sighed, and a trace of pity flashed in her eyes, but she knew that now was not the time to be sad, and there were more important things for Mark to do.

"Mark," she raised her head, stared at Mark, and her tone became firm, "'His' conspiracy is far more terrible than we imagined..."

Mark slowly raised his head and looked at Selina with empty eyes, his eyes were red and tears were rolling in his eyes.

Selina continued: "'He' was originally invisible and intangible, and existed in people's cognition, but 'He' tried to use the holy stone as a carrier to come to the world and turn all living things into 'His' puppets..."

Her voice was trembling, as if telling a terrible prophecy.

"Puppet..." Mark muttered to himself, with a flash of fear in his eyes.

"In order to stop 'his' plan, I hid a piece of holy stone fragment deep in the temple..."

Selina's eyes became deep, as if penetrating time and space, "and set a seal with my own life..."

Mark's breathing became rapid, he stared at Selina tightly, waiting for her next words. Selina stretched out her illusory hand and gently stroked Mark's cheek, like a mother comforting a wounded child.

"Mark, I beg you... to inherit my will..." Her voice became weaker and weaker, and her figure gradually became transparent, "Find the remaining fragments of the holy stone, purify the fragments, and completely crush 'his' conspiracy..."

Selina's figure finally disappeared, and this empty space returned to peace again, leaving only Mark alone. Mark stood up, his eyes full of determination. He bowed deeply to the place where Selina disappeared, and turned to leave this empty space.

With a flash of light, Mark returned to the altar. On the wall of the cave, the ancient runes flickered faintly, and the gap on the top of the cave still existed. A beam of moonlight shone down and fell in the center of the altar. Under the altar, Albert's tree-man body lay quietly, like a sleeping giant.

Mark picked up the spear that fell beside the altar, glanced at Albert who was still sleeping, and a trace of reluctance flashed in his eyes. He gently placed Albert under the altar and used the mysterious runes scattered on the altar to carve a protective formation around Albert. After the formation was completed, a faint golden light flashed, covering Albert.

"Albert, wait for me. I will restore you!" Mark whispered, his tone firm.

He turned around and walked into the depths of the temple without looking back to find information about the fragments.