**Fifty-Seventh Sleeping Palace**
Within the underground palace of Dead Eagle Valley, Doro and Nephnis were preparing to escape on a magnetic levitation flying carpet. Chabakunka interpreted their intentions and immediately controlled the Sand Giant Lizard to manipulate the sand at the exit of the underground palace, forming an exceptionally sturdy sand wall that completely blocked Doro and Nephnis’s path. In an instant, they had nowhere to run. At this critical moment, Doro focused her gaze on the unfinished altar for the sacrificial ceremony deep within the underground palace, and an idea gradually emerged in her mind.
“Neph, turn back immediately!”
“What? Huh?!”
Doro transmitted her message to Nephnis via the consultation channel. Just as Nephnis was still in shock, Doro made a sharp turn with her iron sand carpet, speeding toward the depths of the underground palace in the opposite direction from the exit, which was perfectly aligned with the gigantic Sand Giant Lizard that followed her. Nephnis was momentarily terrified by the roaring giant lizard approaching them.
“Stop! Doro, noooo!!”
“Boom!!”
Just as Nephnis gasped within the consultation channel, two loud explosions erupted from the Sand Giant Lizard, accompanied by two blooming sands of flame. The simultaneous explosions blew away parts of the Sand Giant Lizard’s body while also hindering its attack on Nephnis, leaving Chabakunka confused inside the Sand Giant Lizard.
“How can there be explosions? Haven’t those puppets already been destroyed?”
With such confusion, Chabakunka cast his gaze towards Doro in the distance. Just as he wondered how explosives had detonated around him, he witnessed a startling scene.
A mysterious figure, riding a flying carpet-like extraordinary item, floated in mid-air within the underground palace. Several vertical explosives hovered nearby, which had recently been brought in by Shahab for blowing up the palace—originally stored in Karnak for mining purposes.
“That Extraordinary Being under the Judge of Heaven… can control these explosives?!”
While Chabakunka was lost in confusion, he saw several explosives hovering near the Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being suddenly begin to move. They split into two groups: one flew towards the Sand Giant Lizard, while the other aimed directly at the sand wall blocking the entrance to the underground palace.
“Boom, boom, boom!!!”
In an instant, continuous explosions echoed throughout the underground palace, as the Sand Giant Lizard and the sand wall faced the relentless bombardment of explosives. The physical form of the gathered sand continuously disintegrated under the series of blasts. Chabakunka had no choice but to keep the Sand Giant Lizard stationary, sucking in sand to heal its injuries while also striving to maintain the distant sand wall, constantly repairing it to prevent its collapse.
In order to focus on both repair tasks, Chabakunka commanded the Sand Giant Lizard to remain still. Doro concentrated on attacking while he defended, resulting in a stalemate for the time being. However, during this process, Chabakunka was not idle; he observed the explosives flying towards him, attempting to analyze the method by which the mysterious Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being manipulated them. Initially, the opponent had to use dead soldiers or puppets to deliver the explosives, but now they could be directly controlled, indicating that something had changed.
Before long, Chabakunka noticed that the explosives approaching him were all entangled with a layer of black substance. After communicating with the Wilderness Spirit Sand Tongue, he discovered that this black material was actually part of the current environment—a type of extremely fine black sand!
Upon realizing that the reason the Extraordinary Being could manipulate these explosives was due to this black sand, Chabakunka’s heart raced. Although he didn’t fully understand the nature of this black sand or how the Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being was able to extract and control it, he was satisfied to know that it originated from the sand in the current desert environment.
Using Sand Tongue’s ability to control the environment as a regional Wilderness Spirit, Chabakunka attempted to manipulate the iron sand attached to the explosives, aiming to seize control from Doro. For a moment, the iron sand carrying the explosives became rigid, ceasing to deliver any more explosives to the Sand Giant Lizard or sand wall for detonation. Doro’s continuous explosions against the Sand Giant Lizard and sand wall suddenly halted, allowing the suppressed Sand Giant Lizard to regain its vitality.
With a silent roar, the Sand Giant Lizard began to move again, leaping forward towards Doro with all four legs. As it further eroded the environment, its body grew larger, making the spacious underground palace feel a bit cramped. Under such immense pressure, even if Doro manned the magnetic levitation carpet, it would be difficult to evade. Additionally, the sand wall, which Doro had been continuously blasting, had not been destroyed either. At that moment, Doro was like a trapped prey cornered with no escape.
Just as the giant moved in to bite, several figures suddenly burst forth from the sand below, charging towards the Sand Giant Lizard. Upon closer inspection, they were several soldiers of the Savior Faction—shells whose souls had previously been taken by Chabakunka. After silently killing them, Doro had turned them into Zombie Puppets, each equipped with explosives as traps to ambush the Sand Giant Lizard.
Another series of deafening explosions erupted as the Sand Giant Lizard was blown apart by Doro’s self-destructing puppets. After losing part of its body, it toppled unsteadily to the ground, its attack obstructed. Seeing his offensive thwarted by this unexpected event, Chabakunka worked on restoring the Sand Giant Lizard while also strengthening the defenses of the sand wall to prevent the enemy from breaking through.
However, Chabakunka didn’t expect that the mysterious Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being wouldn’t exploit the opportunity to attack the sand wall to escape but instead put the pedal to the metal, speeding toward the depths of the underground palace in the opposite direction from the exit. It charged straight past the recovering Sand Giant Lizard and into the rear area.
Witnessing this scene, Chabakunka displayed a moment of surprise. Once he quickly restored the Sand Giant Lizard’s injuries, he immediately commanded it to stand up and turn, facing the direction in which the Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being had flown. Then he saw something astonishing.
At the end of a long staircase in the depths of the underground palace stood a figure at an altar where a sacrificial ceremony he had once performed took place, standing before five burning copper lamps, arms outstretched, chanting in Northern Ufeiga.
“Ah… the original King Adus, the great creator, the guardian of peace, I beseech to meet you in the name of the bloodline of Baruch!
“Open, Trial Gate, reveal the path for the future king!”
Staring at the Royal Sacrificial Book placed on the altar, Nephnis recited the final words of the ceremony. As her voice faded, the last of the six brilliant lamps ignited, and with all six lit, the towering stone door at the staircase’s end emitted a low rumbling sound, slowly opening to reveal a deep darkness behind it.
“What is going on?! They actually have the Baruch sacrificial book!”
Upon witnessing this, Chabakunka was stunned. He had never anticipated that the ceremony he had ended at the last moment was now being continued by others, leading to the opening of Rahman’s Sleeping Palace!
In an instant, Chabakunka understood why the Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being had flown into the depths of the underground palace in the opposite direction: its target was none other than the opening palace door!
“Don’t even think about succeeding.”
Channeling more spirituality, Chabakunka quickly restored the body of the Sand Giant Lizard and commanded it to chase after the flying Judge of Heaven’s Extraordinary Being while also controlling the accumulated sand on the ground to rise as countless sand snakes. One part aimed at the flying enemy, while another extended toward the opening stone door, attempting to reconstruct a sand wall to keep the enemy out.
However, contrary to his expectations, the sand snakes Chabakunka manipulated moved too slowly, completely insufficient to catch up to the rapidly advancing flying carpet. The opening stone door was different from the underground exit; it was not covered in thick sand but was solid and firm stairs. The sand Chabakunka controlled could not immediately reach the stone door to seal it, and the formation of the sand wall was exceedingly slow.
Riding the magnetic carpet, Doro sped from one end of the underground palace to the other. Upon passing the altar, she chewed a piece of bl**d-eating and extended her hand toward Nephnis, who likewise reached out. Just as the carpet passed by, Doro pulled Nephnis completely onto the carpet, and together they flew toward the stone door, directly crashing through the still-thin sand wall and into the black space beyond the door.
Then, Nephnis called out loudly.
“Royal heir enters the trial!”
After she shouted that phrase, the previously opening massive stone door suddenly hesitated before briefly pausing, then began to close again. Since it hadn’t been open for long, with a thunderous sound, the stone door quickly started to close. At that moment, Chabakunka, watching from a distance, couldn’t help but panic, hastening his speed towards the stone door. By the time the Sand Giant Lizard charged to the door, it had already closed with a resounding thud.
With a dull, booming sound, the massive Sand Giant Lizard rammed head-first into the now-closed stone door, and its immense force smashed its head into sand. Even so, the stone door, crafted from infernal stone, remained unyielding, utterly undamaged.
Thus, the headless Sand Giant Lizard stood at the entrance to the sleeping palace, staring blankly at the heavy and sturdy stone door before it. After remaining still for several minutes, the Sand Giant Lizard finally collapsed, disintegrating into grains of sand that returned to the ground. At the same time, the sand wall at the exit of the underground palace also collapsed, revealing the exit once more.
As the Sand Giant Lizard crumbled, Chabakunka, appearing in the form of possession, reemerged in the underground palace. Accompanied by two Wilderness Spirits, he slowly approached the altar, where six copper lamps still burned, maintaining the solemnity of the ritual site.
With a grave expression, Chabakunka glanced at the six ritual lamps before him and then at the distant, heavily closed stone door, sneering as he said, “The ancient Baruch Ritual of Refinement has its time limit. Once the time expires without a successful trial taker, they will be expelled from the Sleeping Palace. At that time, this door to the palace will automatically open.
“You… are simply moving from one prison to another. I would like to see how long you can last in there.”
Muttering to himself, Chabakunka sat cross-legged on the altar, closing his eyes to meditate under the watch of the two Wilderness Spirits, slowly waiting for the doorway of the Sleeping Palace to open again, anticipating the emergence of prey from within the prison.
During Chabakunka’s meditation, one of the six burning copper lamps in front of the altar quietly extinguished.
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After rushing through the stone door at the last moment, Doro immediately controlled the carpet to brake and slow down, turning to look at the closing door anxiously, watching as the Sand Giant Lizard’s head exploded and sand poured in through the door’s crack, showering Doro and Nephnis with sand, some even getting into Neph’s face cover.
“Ugh! Ugh! So much sand got in, ugh! Ugh!”
Spitting out the sand in her mouth, Nephnis complained while Doro gradually lowered the altitude of the carpet. By the time Nephnis had cleared most of the sand from her mouth, the carpet finally landed safely on the ground. Upon touching the floor, both Doro and Nephnis felt a deep chill.
“Um… is this… the interior of Rahman’s Sleeping Palace? It’s so dark that I can’t see anything. That Kapak’s Mourning Coffin cousin… won’t break in, will he?”
As Nephnis stood up on the carpet, scanning the surrounding pitch-black environment with a sense of worry, Doro, who was also brushing off her clothes, responded, “It should be fine. That guy had to put a lot of effort into the ceremony just to enter this palace, meaning he can’t force his way in here. We should be safe for now, at least temporarily.”
While brushing sand off herself, Doro treated Rahman’s Sleeping Palace as a temporary refuge, a strategy devised in light of the unfavorable situation against Chabakunka.
The ritual to open Rahman’s Sleeping Palace had already been largely completed by Chabakunka; only the final step remained before the doors could be opened. Doro decided to complete the opening of this gate herself and seek temporary shelter within the palace.
Since it was anticipated that only Nephnis would move within the underground palace, the Royal Sacrificial Book had been with her the whole time. Doro acted as a diversion to get Nephnis to the altar to complete the ritual, then set traps to delay the Sand Giant Lizard, allowing herself and Nephnis to enter the palace and close the door safely. All of this was to buy Doro precious time to prepare countermeasures against the formidable foes. Although the Mourning Coffin Shaman was a potent adversary, Doro was confident that given enough time, she could come up with a strategy to defeat them.
“Ah… no matter what, let’s see what the environment is like inside this palace. It would be terrible if there were dangers here too…”
Taking a deep breath, Doro began to explore the darkness, and before long, she found her magic box. From it, she retrieved a gas lamp, and upon turning it on, the light began to glow, illuminating the surrounding environment.
With the light’s radiance, Doro slowly began to discern her surroundings. She found more lamps in the magic box and lit them, using her magnetic abilities to make them float away, spreading light into the surrounding area. Under the illumination of these several lamps, Doro could clearly see the scene around her.
This space was not too large, with seemingly square walls completely composed of dark, massive stones. The stones were exceptionally smooth, and there were no engravings on the walls or floor, all emitting a faint chill.
In the center of the space lay a large stone coffin, approximately two and a half meters in length, also constructed from the same black stone material as the tomb. The coffin bore no scratches, and around it was a massive magical array.
This array was dark red, intricately adorned with numerous symbols and texts relating to “Silence,” exuding an ominous aura. Surrounding the array lay five skeleton remains. Upon careful observation, Doro could tell that this array was drawn with congealed bl**d.
On one wall of the Sleeping Palace, there were also dried bloodstains, but instead of an array, they bore inscriptions, written in Northern Ufeiga. Doro approached to closely examine the writings and discovered that many of the bl**d characters had fallen away. After attempting some repairs through calculation, she barely deciphered a portion of the content.
“Confession Document… Sixth Dynasty King Refinement Ceremony, all eighty-seven heirs failed the trial… Crisis in the royal lineage…
“For a king, there must be the greatness of a king; strength is the reason and foundation of a king. Adus cannot be without a king; for the prosperity of Adus, for the long-lasting reign of the Baruch dynasty, for the nation’s tranquility, one must commit heavy sins, employing secret evil rituals to desecrate the original king…
“Six priests of the royal palace…”
