Chapter Forty-Six: Ascending the Golden Pagoda

“There’s someone on top of the pyramid!” Ruolan shouted loudly as she dragged Gamian aside.

A deep gash was left across the Corvus Cloth, but it had not been pierced through. Thanks to this, Gamian escaped with his life, though he was still gravely wounded.

He was now completely incapable of fighting.

Even without her warning, Yin Seventeen had already noticed that the source of the disturbance was the figure at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

The old priest who had been gravely injured by Recton at the start.

No matter how he tried, he could not understand how that dying old priest still had the strength to climb to the top of the lofty pyramid.

Then he saw the old priest’s body, like a black hole, drawing in countless gathering flames of the dead.

Within the priest’s body, that once feeble cosmos—so weak it seemed about to dissipate—steadily grew stronger, more formidable, and infinitely majestic.

More importantly, Yin Seventeen realized that the pyramid beneath the old priest’s feet was also changing.

At first, he’d thought it was just an ordinary shrine, like a temple or a statue.

But as the old priest’s cosmos swelled ever stronger, the pyramid seemed to resonate with him, gradually coming alive, emanating an ever more powerful aura.

This was no ordinary religious structure!

Soon, the priest’s cosmos stopped growing, but its power had already soared far beyond what Yin Seventeen could perceive—it was simply overwhelming.

“Is this, perhaps, the realm of the Seventh Sense?” he wondered to himself.

But whether or not the old priest had reached that realm, he knew he was no longer a match for him.

The gap in strength was enough to make one despair.

“Am I really going to have to use that move already?” he thought bitterly, clutching his chest.

That sword energy—once used, it would be gone.

Moreover, that sword energy wasn’t of this world. If he used it, his identity would be exposed, and only a bleak future awaited him.

At that moment, not far away, Recton was staring at the priest and demanded in a loud voice, “Who are you? Why are you here?”

“What?”

Hearing this, Yin Seventeen was utterly baffled. He quickly asked, “Isn’t he one of yours? How could you not know him?”

“He’s nothing of the sort!” Recton stomped his foot in frustration. “His cosmos has changed. He’s not the same old man as before!”

With that, he dashed straight toward the pyramid.

He didn’t know what the other intended, but he remembered Lord Sobek’s command well: no one was to touch the pyramid except Lord Sobek himself.

Now, with the pyramid undergoing a strange transformation, it was obvious the unknown priest was responsible.

No matter what, he couldn’t let it continue.

He had to get that man down!

Meanwhile, the priest atop the pyramid seemed to hear Recton’s words.

He merely extended a finger, and instantly a beam of ashen light shot toward the charging Recton.

It was so fast that Recton didn’t even see it before it pierced his chest.

“How… how is this possible?” Recton fell to the ground, unwilling to accept it.

The body he took such pride in, so robust and powerful, had been pierced by a casual strike—it was inconceivable.

“What should we do?” Ruolan brought Gamian over to Yin Seventeen.

The situation had changed so abruptly and so dramatically, it was far beyond anything they could handle.

“We wait!”

Forcing down the terror in his heart, Yin Seventeen replied telepathically, “If you want to live, do nothing!”

That unknown figure atop the pyramid was simply too terrifying.

He had no desire to draw the man’s attention.

“What about the Pope’s mission?” Ruolan asked silently.

“We’ll observe for now! We’re no match for him, charging in would be suicide. Let’s see what he intends to do.” Yin Seventeen replied warily.

Atop the pyramid, seeing no one dared approach, the old priest poured his immense cosmos into the structure.

The mighty pulse emanating from the pyramid abruptly subsided, then exploded out with renewed vigor.

A thunderous rumble shook the ground. The entire body of the pyramid broke free from the earth and began to rise, slowly and inexorably, into the air!

“That thing can fly?” Yin Seventeen stared, dumbstruck.

But then he thought, in a world where myth had become reality, a flying pyramid was hardly surprising.

Watching the pyramid ascend higher and higher, nearly touching the vaulted ceiling of the underground city, Ruolan couldn’t help but speculate, “Does he mean to break through the ground and reach the surface?”

“It’s very likely,” Yin Seventeen nodded.

Under their grave gazes, the pyramid, like a giant wedge, burrowed through the upper layers bit by bit, until only its square base remained in sight.

“Hurry, to the surface! Let’s see what he’s really after!”

With that, Yin Seventeen darted into the tunnel they had used to enter.

In no time, they emerged above ground.

By now, the ascending pyramid had not yet broken through the crust, but a massive mound had already formed on the surface.

There could be no doubt—that was where the pyramid was about to burst forth.

Yin Seventeen and his companions knew what lay below, but the people aboveground did not.

As the mound grew ever larger, the crowd sensed that some terrible demon was about to break free, and panic swept through them; they scattered in all directions, consumed by terror.

In a sense, they weren’t wrong.

The rising pyramid, and the figure atop it, were indeed terrifying presences.

Boom!

The mound swelled to its limit and exploded, and a massive square pyramid erupted from the earth.

The pyramid had finally emerged into daylight.

Yet it did not stop rising; freed from the earth, it ascended even faster.

“What is he trying to do?” Ruolan was utterly perplexed.

Just then, an enraged roar echoed from underground.

“Anubis—!”

“You stole my men, and now you’ve stolen my pyramid!”

“I won’t let this go!”

Immediately after, Yin Seventeen saw a familiar figure burst from the tunnel where the pyramid had broken through.

That half-man, half-crocodile form—it was none other than Recton!

But the wounds on Recton’s face and chest had vanished, and the aura of his cosmos was many times stronger than before.

It was as if he had become a new person!

However, while Recton’s transformation was astonishing, Yin Seventeen was more concerned with another question.

“Didn’t that guy just shout the name ‘Anubis’?” he mused.

He might not be familiar with Sobek, but the name Anubis was as well-known as thunder.

He remembered clearly: in his original world, in the civilization of the Nile, Anubis was the god of death.

Could this really be just a coincidence?