Chapter 604 Awakening: Being Of The Ancient Past

"Alex! Where does that voice come from?!"

Finding the eerie voice keeps on resounding and echoing inside the dark place, and the emotions of fear started to envelop them. Some of them wanted to get out but can't, the invisible barrier disappeared, wiping their only way out of this place.

Going into formation as they were trained, they put their backs against each other.

Although they were very scared at this current moment, the will to survive is still there and they are not willing to die without even trying to survive. Each of them listened to the echoing voice, speaking in riddles.

But despite hearing it attentively, not one of them managed to find the source of the voice.

On top of the fear of the unknown that is stiffening their bodies, their fear also increased from the fact that they can't use their elements to protect themselves. Just like a normal human, these Awakened feel fragile as glass.

Despite not knowing where the voice comes from, Alex trusted his guts.

Looking straight at the entrance of the Egyptian temple, he then said to the others, "We're going to the entrance of the temple, it's our only bet in getting out. Standing here like this would get us nowhere"

"I don't think we should get inside the temple..."

"Agreed, who knows what kind of traps are prepared for us inside"

Many expressed their disagreement but Alex already heads over to the entrance, this made the others helplessly follow him as splitting up is an even worst idea. The group of nine heads over to the entrance of the temple carefully.

Upon reaching halfway through the way, one of the Awakened stumbles on something.

"Eugh...", the woman looks down to the sandy ground and finds a mount there, she was confused as to what is buried underneath the sand and got curious. Poking the mound with her feet, she finds that it was not a rock since the surface is somewhat soft.

Digging her feet underneath the mound, he flips the thing over before she screamed.

Since the place is completely silent from the fact that the group was fearful of whatever is the thing inside the place with them, the scream surprised all of them, prompting everyone to look back at the woman.

Looking at the woman that has expression drained from all colors, Alex went over to her.

But the woman didn't even look at Alex and kept her eyes on the mound that she just flipped over, this made Alex looks at the mound and finds out that it was a corpse of a person! It was buried very well under the sand and unseen from the surface.

Not only that but the surrounding place has many mounds just like this one.

Realizing that it was a corpse the others also yelped as some of them are standing above a mound. From counting roughly, there are about thirty mounds scattered all over the place. Fear and crisis started to develop strongly inside their hearts.

Out of fear, half of them forcefully activate their elements using their permanent mana.

Swoosh!!

Harnessing the permanent mana inside their bodies, these Awakened started to brim with power as their auras exploded to the surroundings. Even Alex needs to hold on tight to not get pushed by the gushing aura.

"Calm down! Don't panic!", Alex tries to calm the others down but fell on deaf ears.

While the others are starting to panic he looks down at the corpse, his eyes squinted realizing that the corpse is actually an Awakened. Inspecting the corpse, Alex finds that the medias on their major joints shattered and there's also a big hole in its chest which is supposedly the attack that killed it.

Frowning for a second, Alex's eyes widened before he looks at the others.

"Stop!! Don't activate your elements here!!", Alex shouted trying to warn the others.

As they were already panicking they were already exposed fully to their elements, but in the next second their auras got blown away, stripping them from power. It happened in a second and this catches the five Awakened off guard.

Not only were their auras stripped, but their bodies becomes as weak as normal humans.

Without even wasting another second Alex ran at the nearest Awakened that had already activated his element earlier, but before he can reach the Awakened a blade came out from the ground beneath him before impaling him from below all the way to the head.

Upon seeing this, the others wanted to run but four other blades also came out of the ground.

Stab!

Stab!

Exactly five of them excluding the ones that didn't activate their elements were killed by the blades that look rusty, but these blades are still very sharp since there's a mix of energy cloaking them completely.

Feeling the mix of energy cloaking the blades, the remaining four sucked in a cold breath.

Everything that they had experienced ever since stepping into this place has been horrendous, but their surprise peaked when they saw this energy that excludes a hint of all fundamental elements. It was an energy that is a mix of water, fire, earth, and wind.

Although some Awakened are born with dual elements, their condition is very rare.

N0 v el Next. CoM

Dual element condition is rare not because, without a reason, there's one distinctive reason. Basic elements are very contradicting each other as they act as a counter and neutralizer at the same time, it's hard for them to be used at the same time by one Awakened.

In some cases, the elements are impossible to be fused together such as Fire and Water.

But now the energy cloaking the blades that impaled and killed their friends contains all four fundamental elements and not only that but they are also fused perfectly without any friction and even create harmony.

Something that is unheard of, requiring an impossibly God-like control over elements and mana.

Watching five of them die in an instant struck the others with imminent fear, they were completely helpless not knowing what to do. Just like a couple of sheep that are stalked and preyed on by wolves that are hiding inside the darkness, they were completely defenseless.

After the Awakened killed, the eerie voice appears again but this time it's chuckling.

But for some reason, Alex feels that the chuckle wasn't directed to his people that were killed, but instead was directed to the thing itself, almost like a ridiculing chuckle filled with self-pity.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!"

Upon hearing the shout from Alex who is glaring at the entrance, the blades slowly retracted back into the ground before the corpses of the people under him fall to the ground. Soon enough, the voice answered.

"Come closer..."

Alex clenched his jaw before striding forward straight to the entrance without a hint of fear.

The remaining four immediately follow after him fearing that the blades would impale them from below, standing above the sand makes their heart thumps faster, it's better to stand at the stairs leading to the entrance of the temple.

Reaching the entrance of the temple, Alex looks at the tall blue barrier blocking the entrance.

Beyond the blue barrier was filled only with darkness, even the light that comes from the blue barrier can't penetrate the thickness of the darkness inside the temple. Aside from that, Alex saw a couple of coffins leaning against the wall near the entrance.

In fact, there are seven Egyptian coffins with a weird symbol of a blood droplet carved on them.

One word is engraved on each coffin, and 'Believers' is the word.

While looking beyond the very thin blue barrier, Alex can feel that there's something staring at him from the inside but he can't see the thing from the outside. Not long after, the same voice resounded once again.

"Humans, do you believe in the Supreme Origin?"

"Only Supernaturals have an Origin, we humans don't have an Origin. We only have Gods!"

Alex replied confidently which sparks a choking couple of seconds of silence.

"Do you believe in Gods?"

"Yes"

Right after Alex said yes, the ground on their backs started making a mechanical sound, and the sand started to fall down into the circle-shaped hole that appeared out of nowhere. Soon another circle-shaped surface replaced the hole in the ground.

But unlike before, this circle-shaped surface has many runes and writing engraved on it.

Inside the circle-shaped surface is a triangle with three pointy points, the three edges of the triangle have another smaller circle. Aside from that, there's also a skull-shaped chalice in the middle of the circle-shaped surface, its hollow eyes are glowing with a red light and bring an ancient and evil feeling.

Alex and the others feel like they were absorbed into the darkness when looking at the chalice.

While they were looking at the surface, the voice echoed once again.

"Believers of the Supreme Origin will be granted the ultimate mercy, only three believers can be escorted to a better place. Endless joy awaits, but one needs to continue serving in the hollow world"

Upon hearing this, Alex looks at the three others.

"I don't know what this creature is but it's definitely very strong, you guys go on ahead. As the leader of our group, I'll stay behind and take the fall for all of you", Alex said determinedly, it was the leader's responsibility to care for those under him.

Despite feeling reluctant to leave, the three nodded their heads and stepped into the small circles.

Slowly but surely the entire runes engraved on the ground started to light up with a red light, they created a connection to the skull-shaped chalice in the middle, making the glowing red light in the skull-shaped chalice's hollow eyes glow even brighter.

Not long after, three light beams shot from the skull-shaped chalice toward the three people.

Alex watches this silently while sighing inwardly, if he had known that the place is this powerful then he won't volunteer his group to check on this place. In a way, it was his fault for bringing his group here just to die.

With being unable to use his elements, there was nothing he and the group can do.

Out of nowhere the three people that the mysterious creature called believers started to float, they were going to be teleported out of this place but then suddenly, "A-Alex...?! Arggh! Make it stop!!"

"Raarghh! Stop!!"

Upon hearing their cries, Alex's eyes widened as he didn't expect this.

Even without any enhancement from the element he was associated with, Alex ran at the three trying to save them from the clutches of the red light. But he was met with a barrier that blocked his way inside the circle-shaped surface.

Looking at the three with bulging eyes, Alex started banging on the barrier.

But he was not able to do anything but watch the three scream in pain as the red light started to become stronger, the red light makes the three's inside glow brightly like a lightbulb until suddenly.

SPLAT!

Alex watches their bodies explode, staining the inside of the circle-shaped surface with blood.

From the moment he was birthed into the world, he has never been this helpless in his life. The scene zapped the power out of his body, making him weak and fragile as he watches the dripping puddles of blood.

Soon the blood started moving toward the skull-shaped chalice, filling it up completely.

Alex started panting heavily while he watch the skull-shaped chalice slowly levitate in the air before heading straight to the blue barrier, it was not obstructed by the blue barrier as it went inside, into the darkness smoothly.

Due to the silence of the place, he can hear the sound of chugging before a steely sound followed.

Without even being able to see the creature inside the temple, Alex knows from the sound that the creature chugged the blood inside the skull-shaped chalice before dropping it to the ground and creating the steely sound.

Ominously started to be induced into Alex's heart as he watches the darkness with troubled eyes.

But in the next fraction of a second, a big humanoid fist hits the blue barrier and shatters the blue barrier completely. Energy from the blue barrier evaporates into the stormy dark clouds above the place before disappearing.

Upon hearing the footsteps slowly coming out of the darkness, Alex held his breath nervously.

Stepping outside of the thick darkness of the temple, Alex marvels at a figure that is towering and brings an overbearing aura that of a God. Looking at this figure, his mouth trembled to realize that the figure is not as he expected.

"H-Human?!"

Alex saw the gigantic figure standing twice his height and finds that it was definitely a human.

Even though he was sure the figure was a human male judging from its body structure and composition, its appearance is unlike any other human that exists in this era. The figure's gigantic body is thin and slender, some kind of red marking can be seen on his face, and his red eyes are looking at Alex with a hint of boredom.

Wearing a sleeveless black robe and black armor underneath it, the figure looks battle-ready.

What seems to be vambraces on his arms were nothing like Alex has ever seen, the vambraces cover its arms but turn spiraled all the way to the figure's shoulders. But then, Alex's eyes caught the eerily sharp nails the figure has.

Out of all the things the figure has, the long black staff in his hand emits the most dangerous vibe.

Towering over Alex before looking down with his sharp red eyes, the figure then reaches out his hand, "Lesser human, help me break the restraints and it'll be my pleasure to bring doom to the insects", he said with an austere voice.

Just like that, Alex was given a perfect proposal as if the figure can read his mind.

"W-Who are you?", Alex asked nervously.

Upon hearing the question, the figure's red eyes flashed before he paused for a good couple of seconds, just staring at Alex blankly, "Darkness side of the Supreme Being, I'm the Executor..."

Although he was confused, Alex is still tempted by the proposal.

Despite feeling reluctant since his people were killed by this monstrous human, Alex swallowed back his pride for the sake of many, "I-If you help humanity win, then I'll do as you say. W-What do I have to do...?"