The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Hao Ren and Lily cried out in unison, “It’s you?!”

The old man was the mysterious elder whom they saw after they witnessed the ancient phantom at the monitoring station!

Back then, the old man had said a lot of puzzling words, but just as Hao Ren and his group were about to inquire further, he vanished into thin air—to think that they would meet the old man again, and in this dimension!

The old man did not look surprised when he saw Hao Ren and his group. He slowly got to his feet, his gaunt figure belying the strength of his body and will. “I saw you coming in my dream. Welcome, fellow guests from afar.”

“Your dream?” Hao Ren repeated the old man’s words. “What we saw earlier was…”

The old man nodded. “It is the Nightmare Realm. There is no longer a firm boundary between dream and reality, so don’t think too hard about it.”

“You’re the pope?” Calaxus exclaimed. “The pope I know is Auguste VII, but I’ve never seen you before! Who are you?”

“You have seen me before. You have seen every version of me.” The old man smiled in the face of Calaxus’ accusation and remained cryptic in his speech. As he spoke, his appearance began to change, and so did his voice. Gradually, he transformed from one form to another. Sometimes he was an elderly, and other times he was a middle-aged man. His voice distorted into a chorus of multiple voices speaking in unison. “I am Charles I, and Harold III, and Auguste VII, and also St Ivan… I am every one of them, and they are all me… I am the pope, and every other pope you knew.”

Calaxus stared at the old man as he recognized familiar faces in the latter’s appearance — these faces adorned the hallways of the Basilica Icon in the form of large portraits that reached one’s height, neatly hung along the walls of the hallway. From the moment he was appointed as assistant bishop, he had walked past the hallway many, many times. He remembered all the face of the popes, past and present. In this mysterious old man’s last form, he recognized Auguste VII. The form lasted for only a few seconds, but it sent a shudder down his spine!

“You… You’re…” Calaxus pointed at the old man with a trembling finger, but could not manage to finish his sentence.

“You’re the combination of all previous popes?” Hao Ren was more adept at dealing with this level of weirdness. He studied the old man curiously. “What are the corrupted creatures that we encountered in the real world? And what’s with the man that is also Auguste VII blocking the way at Asurmen?”

“Lockmarton thought it could easily corrupt a follower, but it did not realize the extent of our conviction.” The old man explained plainly, as though he was narrating someone else’s story. “We are willing to give up our physical bodies, or even our souls, for the sake of our belief. Lockmarton only has power over our mortal coils. If there is no other choice, we would rather destroy ourselves and take down the corrupted beasts in this world than surrendering.”

Hao Ren could roughly guess the truth at this stage, but there were still many questions he needed answered. “So, the ones we saw in the real world are only corrupted bodies? Wait a minute.. We encountered a very strange nightmare creature, it called itself…”

“Benedict III made a tremendous sacrifice in order to spread the message to the outside world.” The pope’s multiform shook his head slowly. “He failed at first, having lost consciousness before he could spread the message, but then he met you out of pure chance, and managed to relay his message.”

“So you have… You have the situation under control?” Calaxus asked shakily .”Your Holiness, why did you not tell me?”

He was asking all the popes in general, but his question was actually directed to Auguste VII.

“Since Lockmarton is monitoring everyone’s dreams, the secret can only be passed between the dead, who never sleeps,” the pope’s multiform explained. “Popes who passed away were buried under the Basilica Icon, while the bodies of devotees, sages, and living saints from all eras were all buried in various tombs in the Sanctum. Some of these Spirit Braves were summoned to enter the Forgotten Abyss and join the Eternal Battlefield, to fight alongside the Warden’s Army against Lockmarton’s invasion into the real world. Other Spirit Braves worked together to protect the living in the form of the will of the dead…”

Lord of the Mountains nodded slowly. “I know of this.”

The pope multiform nodded in acknowledgment at the Lord and continued, “When the Warden’s Army was corrupted, we realized something was wrong and considered the worst possible outcome. We started planning back then, but no one expected Lockmarton to regain freedom so quickly and continue to spread its influence in the Forgotten Abyss. It was also extending its reach to the real world through the Warden’s Army — by invading their bodies first, and then their souls…

“We realized that this contamination was irreversible. If it was trapped in the real world, and only cleansed through the War Against Chaos that happened once every century, then the mortals would never be able to overcome the threat from the Nightmare Realm. Our existing defense strategy was simply useless.

“However, the path to the Forgotten Abyss was barred to us. If we wanted to reach the other side, we will need divine intervention or the all-important key, both of which we did not have…

“Our opportunity arrived when we least expected it. It was not just an opportunity for us, but also for Lockmarton. A few months ago, a powerful fragment plowed through spacetime and landed on Asurmen.”

Hao Ren could not help but interrupted at this point. “Wait, do you mean you used energy from that crystal to transport Fidelinopolis here?!”

The pope shook his head. “We could not harvest energy from the crystal, but we made use of the ‘disturbances’ it caused. When the collision disrupted Asurmen’s functions, it created a weakness in our seal on Lockmarton, but it also opened a pathway to us, one that only the dead can see. Our millennia-old plan was finally possible to execute. When Lockmarton’s power finally took over Auguste VII, we were ready to initiate our plan. Auguste VII sacrificed his body to become the last member of ‘us’. When Lockmarton thought it had succeeded in corrupting and taking over the pope, its connection to the Basilica Icon became a beacon for us to track it down. While it was careful enough to quickly severe its connection to the real world, we had come after it regardless… to exact revenge!”

The old pope narrowed his eyes, his emotionless face finally betraying traces of pride and determination.

Lord of the Mountains was shocked by the grandeur and conviction required to carry out the plan. He stared at the pope and studied him for a long moment. “You people are always full of surprises… To think that mortals can do something like this…”

The pope returned his gaze. “We are mortals, but mortals have a backbone too.”

“I’ll admit that I never thought you have this kind of power.” Geddon shook his head. The massive church had enough room for his huge stature, but it was nevertheless, a little too narrow for comfort. “However, you should know that Lockmarton is an evil god, not one easily defeated. Even if you have gathered the most powerful weapons from the Sanctum and souls accumulated since tens of thousands of years ago in this dimension, it may not be enough to destroy Lockmarton.”

“At least we can deliver a heavy blow, strong enough to maintain peace in the real world for a few thousand years.” The old pope said. “We have no other choice. Instead of waiting idly for our defeat, dying this way is the more noble thing to do.”

The old man’s declaration touched the hearts of his audience. Lily stood forward and offered, “Well said! Don’t you worry, old man, we’re here to help!”

The pope nodded. “I know—it seems that the goddess is still protecting us by sending over a powerful army of reinforcement in our darkest hour. If I may ask, do you have a plan?”

Hao Ren said, “I have the strongest offensive attacks. If I’m right, I’m the only here who can destroy Lockmarton.”

Y’zaks added, “But first, we must find Lockmarton’s true body and understand its properties—under what conditions will it be vulnerable, whether it could hide or revive itself in some way, what kind of backup it has, and so on.”

“There’s more!” Lily joined the conversation. All this talk of beating other people up made her excited. “If Lockmarton’s dead, how will it affect the Nightmare Realm? We gotta have a Plan B…”

“That Lock-something, does it have any secret power moves? Will it drop any goodies once it’s dead?” Y’lisabet contributed her part, making it obvious that she was gaming heavily during her month-long stay on Petrachelys.

“One question at a time, people.” Hao Ren waved for them to be quiet, and turned to the pope once more. “Let’s begin with where to go, and how many to kill.”

The pope nodded and replied, “Travel past the Scorched Plains, and you will the Spiral Hill at the edge of the Sea of Turmoil. This was once a node that was part of Lockmarton’s seal, and the first node to collapse. Lockmarton is currently residing there.”

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