Because he was unsure of Amon's current condition, Klein didn't dare delay. After his mental problems were initially resolved, he immediately went to Calderon to fetch water from the " River of Eternal Darkness."
Because this involves the Sefirah, he can only Divination and prophecy to a certain extent, vaguely seeing some images, but unable to make accurate judgments.
After looking around, Klein raised his hand and summoned the Historical Void image of himself from a few minutes ago, allowing his true form to return to the " Sefirah Castle ".
His consciousness then shifted to the projection, giving it a tangible presence.
Then, Klein reached into the void again and pulled out the " Staff of the Stars " Historical Projection.
Frankly speaking, after being able to use most of the extraordinary abilities below Sequence 0 through the " Apprentice " pathway via the " Sefirah Castle," Klein didn't really need the " Staff of the Stars," a Level 0 Sealed Artifact, that much anymore. He could basically reproduce all the magic the latter possessed, and it had almost no negative effects.
However, he always believed that an Angel still needed to have a melee weapon, because one never knew when their active supernatural abilities would fail.
In the mystical world, this is absolutely possible. Whether it's the rule restrictions of the " Arbiter " pathway or the supernatural failure brought about by a certain Outer Deity, it's possible to achieve a similar effect.
In this situation, picking up a sturdy cane with some passive effects and smashing the enemy's head open is an effective method.
As an Angel King follows the " Seer " path, being well-prepared in all aspects is instinctive!
After weighing the " Staff of the Stars " in his hand and adjusting his top hat, Klein took out the bird-shaped gold ornament from the " Sefirah Castle " and pinned it to the pocket on his left breast.
Then, he stepped out and entered Calderon City, which was once the divine kingdom of Gregali, the ancient god of death and the progenitor of the phoenix.
The first thing that caught his eye was a huge, bottomless pit. All sorts of bizarre buildings circled around this pit, extending downwards in concentric rings, forming a magnificent city beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
Some of the buildings were single houses perched atop pale stone pillars; others were long, rectangular coffins without windows, their doors opening onto the roof; some were simply graves with stone tablets at the entrance; and still others were constructed from various kinds of bones, appearing quite chaotic...
The closer to the bottom of the pit, the more intact the buildings are; the closer to the top, the more they collapse, filled with the decay and ruin ravaged by time.
Klein glanced at it and caused a faint gray-white mist to appear around him. He directly resisted Calderon's rule of turning all living beings into the dead by relying on the status of " Sefirah Castle ".
Becoming a dead person wasn't a particularly negative impact on him; it's just that he disliked that cold and indifferent feeling.
"The 'gray flood' that rose earlier has receded..." Klein, wearing a top hat, trench coat, and carrying a cane, nodded thoughtfully and stepped into the depths of Calderon, which was visible to the naked eye.
This time, he used the extraordinary ability of the " Marauder " pathway to directly Stealing the distance within his perception range, thus avoiding entanglement with the various dangerous Monster active in this mysterious city.
It wasn't that he was afraid; it was the Monster who should be afraid. If he didn't want to waste time, he wouldn't mind taking the opportunity to collect a batch of Marionette to make up for the losses caused by the destruction of " Utopia ".
Besides this reason, Klein also carefully considered another point:
Calderon is a city of the dead, and the deepest part of its underground may very well flow the " River of Eternal Darkness." Since the Marionette is essentially already dead, it may undergo mutations once it gets close to the underground.
As he delved deeper, Klein realized he was overthinking things:
None of the various Monster hidden in this strange city dared to show themselves; the aura of the " Sefirah Castle " made their survival instinct overcome their madness and predatory habits.
The deeper Klein went underground, the quieter it became. The strange buildings, though well-preserved, seemed to have been dead for many years, and even their aura had become cold, gloomy, and decaying.
It felt like watching a black and white silent film. If I couldn't hear my own breathing and heartbeat, I would have wondered if I was deaf... Klein coughed lightly, using his inner murmurs to fight against the silence of death.
He intuitively believed that once he adapted to this environment and his mind and body became stagnant, he would truly and irreversibly die little by little.
The closer you get to the ground, the stronger this feeling becomes.
Klein continued to Stealing distance, and after a long time, he finally saw the bottom of the pit.
No, this is not the true bottom; it's just that a huge, dark palace blocks the way down.
The palace was supported by massive pillars, studded with all sorts of bones and different parts of corpses, and in some places even covered with bloody skin belonging to different races.
Klein stared for a few seconds, then without hesitation, carrying the " Staff of the Stars," he entered the palace through the open door.
On both sides of the hall were coffins of different shapes and colors, placed there quietly, as if even their existence had been weathered away by death.
As Klein entered, some sounds suddenly emanated from inside these coffins, as if rusty joints were opening one by one.
The gray-white mist surrounding Klein thickened, and all the coffins suddenly fell silent.
Ignoring these things, Klein stepped into the depths of the hall, where there was a downward-facing gray-white stone staircase, and a huge stone tablet stood at the entrance.
At the top of the stone tablet stands a slender bird statue, seemingly made of bronze, with various pale symbols on its wings.
Beneath the bird-shaped bronze statue, on the surface of the stone tablet, characters originating from the " Words of the Dead " resemble simplified birds of different shapes or snakes coiled in various forms, forming two ambiguous phrases:
Even the gods cannot escape it;
"Even in death, they will be imprisoned."
Is this a warning to all beings who come to Calderon not to go down these stairs? Does it lead directly to the " River of Eternal Darkness "? Klein's thoughts shifted, and he began to carefully interpret the words on the stone tablet.
In his view, this seemed to suggest that even a true god of Sequence 0, once near the " River of Eternal Darkness," would be trapped there, unable to escape. Even death itself would be imprisoned by this abstract river of primordial Sefirah, never to disappear, but also unable to break free.
So it seems that, like the " Chaos Sea," without the protection of Sefirah, even just approaching the " River of Eternal Darkness " will cause terrible changes... Klein withdrew his gaze, adjusted the bird-shaped gold ornament clipped to his chest pocket, bypassed the stone tablet topped with a bronze statue, and descended the gray-white steps one by one.
He stopped Stealing distance to avoid crashing directly into danger.
In the dim, deathly cold environment, the bird-shaped gold ornament on Klein's chest emitted a pale glow, illuminating a small area, like a small boat struggling to survive in a wave of death.
After descending for an unknown period of time, the aura of the " Sefirah Castle " around him reflexively expanded, becoming extremely dense, resembling a grayish-white silkworm cocoon.
At the same time, Klein tilted his head slightly and heard a faint, ethereal rustling sound.
This seems to indicate that deep underground, not far from our current location, there is an underground river flowing slowly.
The next second, Klein looked down at his feet.
There, a dark, unreal current of water suddenly appeared.
Its surface is so dense that even light cannot exist.
"This is not quite the same as the one I saw last time..." Klein frowned slightly.
When he went to Calderon to hunt " Spirit World Plunderer " before, he caused a certain change, causing a large amount of grayish-white illusory water to surge up from the bottom of the pit.
The colors were completely different on the two occasions.
Just as Klein's thoughts were racing, at the bottom of the stone steps, where the dark tide surged, a thin, grayish-white mist rose up, combining with the illusory liquid and expanding into a grayish-white "light" water that was more like mist.
The water surged to Klein's feet and then quietly receded, as if undergoing a periodic rise and fall.
This thin, grayish-white mist looks familiar... Klein's expression immediately turned serious.
After pausing for a few seconds, he continued his descent.
This time, the rising tide of illusion overwhelmed him, making his body feel light, his emotions quickly turn cold, and his thoughts gradually wither away.
If it weren't for the protective aura of the " Sefirah Castle " around him, Klein suspected that he would have been passively and irresistibly absorbed into this tide.
Next, the grayish-white "cocoon" rose and fell in the water, slowly reaching the end of the steps as the tide receded.
Beyond the end lies nothingness, within which flows a straight, wide, illusory, colorless, and dark river.
The river was so blurry and difficult to see because it was shrouded in a thin, grayish-white mist, like a barrier.
"As expected..." Klein couldn't help but mutter upon seeing this.
He was very familiar with this kind of fog; he had seen it behind the door in the Bansy Ruins, at the easternmost edge of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and beneath the " Sefirah Castle "!
Unlike other places, part of the " River of Eternal Darkness " flowed through the gray-white mist and merged with it to some extent, sometimes appearing deep dark and sometimes pale.
This section of the river constantly swells and recedes, like a tributary rushing through the darkness.
On both sides of the tributary, there stand one huge, pale stone pillar after another, as if they are supporting something and preventing it from collapsing.
At this moment, among these stone pillars and along the edge of the tributary, countless slightly blurry, translucent figures moved back and forth, lingering slowly but without stopping.
Among them, the most eye-catching is a bewildered figure that sometimes walks into the depths of a tributary and sometimes turns back, but can never escape the river.
It was so huge, almost the same size as the surrounding stone pillars, draped in a deep black robe, its sides showing signs of age.
Suddenly, it turned its head and looked at Klein.
Its face had distinct features of the Southern Continent, but it was riddled with rotten patches, and white feathers stained with pale yellow oil were growing out of it.
Klein knew Him; He was Mr. Azik's father, the " Death " of the Fourth Age.
" The Death Emperor " Salinger.