Chapter 549: I Like Your Spirit

On a vast dune formed of yellow sand, hundreds of thin figures could be seen digging away at ancient ruins.

Looking from above, one could see that they had dug up what seemed to be a rectangular structure. The structure was buried up to a hundred meters deep. Its steel structure had long corroded after being worn away by the sands of time.

This structure appeared to be a hall buried underground. Most of the dome had collapsed and buried deep underground. Only a small part of the dome remained clinging to the top of the structure.

The entire structure seemed to be made of steel, which seemed to be the aim of these people excavating the ruin.

“Shais, we must complete mining out this ancient ruin within three months.”

A man in a black robe with three gold rims wrapped around his waist remarked with a hoarse voice, “All the mined steel must be handed over to the high priest. You shall not emit any sinful thoughts of greed or else you’ll face the condemnation of the High Priest. Your body will be fed to God and your soul shall be plunged into the fiery depths of hell…”

The man in the black rob even had black gauze fabric covering his face. When the red desert wind blew in his direction, the fabric would flutter and briefly reveal his face underneath the fabric.

It was a hideous, disfigured face, filled with foul blisters and scars.

“We’ll follow the guidance of the High Priest and Master Deacon…”

Standing in front of this robed man was another man wearing a similar black robe. However, this man’s appearance was significantly fairer. He only had a small amount of lingering scars and blisters that he had almost completely recovered from.

This other man only had one gold rim around his robe. He bowed to show respect to the deacon.

“Hm, excellent.”

The deacon nodded, pleased with this reception. He then turned around and headed toward an airship nearby. There was another group of people all dressed in black robes next to him but unlike the laborers tasked with excavating the ancient ruin, these people were mighty, tall giants. The robes they wore could barely cover the bulging mass of muscles underneath. They were far taller than the average person with some of them standing up to three meters tall.

They looked like a group of brazen beasts.

“A pleasure, Deacon Armas…”

When the other man in black robe saw the deacon departing, he bowed respectfully again and smiled courteously to bid farewell to the deacon. The moment he lowered his head, a sudden cold glimmer appeared in his eyes.

Just as the deacon took another step toward the airship, he suddenly heard a round of urgent footsteps quickly approaching. A frail-looking man in a black robe approached. “Master Shais, the laborers… They, they found something strange!”

“Hm?”

The deacon stopped upon hearing of this. He slowly turned to address the frail-looking man in the black robe who approached Shais. “What did you guys dig up?”

“It, it’s something that looks like a coffin.”

The frail-looking man in the black robe sounded nervous. “It’s very heavy and sturdy. We couldn’t open it…”

Shais eyed the frail-looking man up and down, then turned around to address the deacon who seemed to have his interest piqued by this sudden discovery. “These laborers have no idea what they’re dealing with. Chances are it’s just some common mechanism in this ancient structure. I doubt it’s anything important at all…”

“Couldn’t we figure it out by just taking a look at whatever this item is?”

The deacon’s mouth twisted into a sly grimace as he began to head toward the direction of the ancient ruin. “Shais, you’re not trying to take possession of the High Priest’s tribute to God, are you?”

“Of, of course not!”

Shais immediately shook his head at the notion, then quietly trailed after the deacon.

Shortly after, they had arrived at the edges of the gigantic ruin. From this side, they could see that the ruin was the size of a regular football field. They also saw hundreds of laborers working tirelessly at the ruin. The laborers used a variety of steel tools to hammer away at the steel-framed structure of the ruin. At the moment, there was a large group gathered at the bottom section of the ruin. They seemed to be observing something.

“Tell them to carry that thing outside.”

The deacon ordered.

“Hurry, tell the laborers to take that thing over here and offer it to Master Deacon Armas!”

Shais quickly commanded.

Several large, muscular supervisors relayed Shais’ orders to the laborers below and similarly ordered them to carry the large metallic object from the bottom of the ruin to the surface.

“Huff… Huff…”

The yellow-faced laborers who were all skin and bones had to exhaust every ounce of strength left in their bodies to carry the item to the surface and present it to their masters.

Upon closer inspection, they noted that it was a metal object shaped like a coffin. The coffin was wide on the top and narrow on the bottom, and looked speckless and undamaged, looking as if the last several hundred years had gone completely unnoticed by it.

“Hm?”

The deacon noticed faint blue fluorescent light glowing from inside it and remarked gladly, “This must be something valuable. There’s no trace of corrosion despite being buried underneath the ruin for all these years. It must be made of powerful material that can be similarly used to produce high-quality weapons.”

“No need to rush just yet, Master Deacon Armas.”

Shais smiled. “This coffin-shaped object does seem like a box of some sort, which means that there must be something even more treasured hidden within. Perhaps this is the tomb of a royal in ancient times, there may be jewelry contained within…”

“Jewelry?”

The deacon squinted at the suggestion, his eyes shone with greed. “In that case, what are we waiting for? If it does contain jewels inside, you and I shall receive great blessings from the Divine after we offer it to the High Priest.”

“Yes.”

Shais turned to the previous frail-robed man and commanded, “Find some well-bodied laborers and have them pry this coffin open!”

“Yes!”

The frail-looking man nodded and quickly ran to the other side of the ruin and gathered several slightly larger and stronger laborers.

“You guys, open it together!”

The group of laborers was brought to the coffin and made to lift the lid off the metal coffin.

“One, two, three!”

They counted down together and tried to pry the lid off at the same time. However, no matter how hard they pushed or pulled at the lid, it would not budge at all.

“What’s going on, are your muscles for decoration?”

Shais frowned, visibly irritated by this poor display. Upon noting that the deacon was beginning to show signs of irritation as well, he immediately barked more orders, “Get the tools, pry it open with tools!”

The laborers stopped trying with brute force and went to procure crowbars from the other workers. They tried to jam the crowbars into tiny gaps in between the lid of the coffin to pry it open by force.

After ten minutes of this futile attempt, it was quickly evident that it was no good as well.

“Master, there are no identifiable openings in the coffin that allow us to fit the crowbars into…”

One of the laborers mustered the courage to inform the masters.

“Useless maggots!”

Shais ridiculed them and pushed them out of the way. He approached the coffin and began inspecting it. He noticed that most of the crowbars were bent and damaged at this point but there was not the slightest hint of a scratch formed on the surface of the coffin.

What a resilient material!

Shais could not help but be amused by this strange structure but he knew better than to let his amusement show. Still annoyed, he turned to the deacon and remarked, “Master Deacon Armas, take a look at this…”

“Hmph, I’ve never heard such a thing as a coffin that cannot be opened.”

The deacon smirked. “How about the chainsaw? Couldn’t this thing be cut open with a chainsaw?”

“Right, the chainsaw!”

Shais suddenly remembered about the chainsaw and slapped his head in a comedic manner. Shortly after, the chainsaw was brought over and this time, Shais decided that he would do it himself. He held up the old chainsaw and placed it over the midsection between the body of the coffin and its lid, and revved the chainsaw!

“Screech-!”

There was a harsh, deafening screech accompanied by brilliant sparks that sprayed in all directions.

Shais held the chainsaw over the coffin for what seemed like forever and still could not see the barest signs of damage on the coffin. When his hands could not bear the tremendous vibration of the chainsaw anymore, he finally let go. What he saw after that completely baffled him.

The parts of the coffin he sawed over with the chainsaw still looked brand new, but the saw teeth of the chainsaw, on the other hand, were completely shaven clean!

It was not just Shais, even Armas and the others observing were floored by the sight of this.

It could not be cut open with a chainsaw nor pried open with crowbars. What were they supposed to do about this thing?

While the troubled group was trying to come up with a plausible alternative, they suddenly heard a sharp beep emitted from inside the coffin-shaped device. They heard what sounded like air being gushed out of vents, which was soon followed by continuous electronic beeps. The coffin that they were unable to crack open despite the best of their efforts was opening on its own…

What was going on…

Shais held his breath and instinctively took two steps backward, guarding himself mentally for what was about to come next.

Meanwhile, the deacon gave a signal and sent several of his extremely muscular subordinates forward.

“Ah…”

When the coffin opened, several of the onlookers let out a horrified gasp. They saw a strangely-dressed man levitating out of the coffin!

There was no mistaking it, this man was levitating!

The complexion of this man inside the coffin was pale and sickly. His eyes were still shut tightly and he sported an odd-looking short hairstyle. It seemed as if he was not bound to the usual laws of gravity. His very presence was ominous and spelled trouble for the deacon and the rest of them.

The moment he appeared, the air in the atmosphere seemed to have changed. The faint dust storm blowing restlessly along the desert suddenly halted. They felt as if the air around them had gotten considerably thicker and heavier. Each one of them tried to breathe but the air had gotten so heavy that it was difficult to inhale at all!

An inexplicable sense of danger rushed at them…

“Who, who are you!”

The air continued to thicken for an indiscernible amount of time. The deacon was the first one to recollect himself. He clenched his teeth and rebuked this man. “Why are you inside the coffin? Don’t you know that everything here is meant as a tribute for God? You’ve committed a grave sin!”

The man inside the coffin suddenly opened his eyes as he seemed to have heard the voice of the deacon directed at him. The moment he opened his eyes, the sky seemed to have darkened!

Those eyes were nothing that they had ever seen before. They were formed like two depthless pits or like the boundless stars and galaxies. It was an arresting sight to behold!

“God?”

The man squinted, seemingly adjusting to the harsh rays of sunlight. The corner of his lips curled up to form a dangerous smile. “How could there be anything such as a God in this world? If a God truly exists, then I shall be God.”

“What audacity!”

The deacon was outraged by this bold proclamation. The air around him seemed to shift as he ranted angrily, “How dare you to question the existence of God? Somebody, apprehend this man and bring him to the High Priest so he can become a blood sacrifice for God!”

The muscular subordinates in black robes followed the order given by the deacon and immediately stepped forward to try to reach for the mysterious man who had emerged from the coffin!

Before they could even approach the mysterious man, they were horrified by the realization that they could not move their bodies at all. They felt like a strange spell was cast on them.

“What are you guys waiting for, get him!”

The deacon’s eyes twitched with irritation. He seemed to have realized what was happening but refused to believe it.

“They’re already on their way to meet this God you speak of.”

The mysterious man took a step forward mid-air and looked like he was advancing down an invisible flight of stairs until he finally came in front of the deacon. As he did this, the band of robed religious members began crumbling away from the head down. Their bodies were cut into pieces like building blocks!

“Thump!”

Dozens of them died on the spot. An enormous pool of blood immediately formed on the ground. The sight was revolting for the stomach.

“You!”

The deacon’s pupils shrank into a tiny circle as he stumbled backward again. He could not believe what he was seeing. “Impossible, you’re a high-level psionicist!”

“Psionic, is that what you people call the mysterious power?”

The man tilted his head sideways. He could faintly sense traces of strange and yet somewhat familiar energy seeping from the deacon’s body. There was no mistaking it. It was the same mysterious power possessed by the Consciousness Stealer he once came in contact with…

“God, grant me the power to destroy this unholy sinner!”

The deacon suddenly bellowed and spread his hands outward. An invisible force began to circle his body but before he could continue channeling his power, he felt something clutching onto his throat and choking the life out of him.

“Hnghh, uhh…”

The deacon immediately reached for his neck but could not sense the touch of anything foreign. He turned to look at the mysterious man and tried to whisper something but before he could get his sentence out, his neck was snapped clean at a ninety-degree angle!

“Thump!”

Before the deacon could exert his power, he had collapsed lifelessly onto the ground.

After the trouble was taken care of, the mysterious man diverted his attention to Shais, who was staring at him wide-eyed and mouth agape.

“Psi, Psionic Master!”

Shais felt a chill invading his spine and seeping into every inch of his body. Without uttering another thought, he collapsed onto the ground and kissed the soil beneath the mysterious man’s feet. “I am your most loyal, most faithful servant. Please show me mercy and spare my life!”

The moment Shais surrendered himself to this mysterious man, the previous frail-looking supervisor and the other laborers followed suit. They got down on their knees and worshipped…

A mischievous smile came upon the lips of the mysterious man as he heard this. His expression remained unchanged as he remarked, “Good, I like your spirit.

“Now, why don’t you all tell me your name, age, and a brief of your background…”

With that, he pointed a finger at Shais who assumed the highest position among the remaining survivors.

“Let’s start with you.”