THE STREAM UNDER THE SACRED GROVE
The Skeleton King Kolgane fired out his skeletal hands toward me to trap me under their grasp. But the skeleton hands were suddenly thrown into the air before they reached me.
A powerful chaos magic threw things into crazy collision with the objects in this world, including the conjured hands of the Skeleton King. It was my chaos magic.
"Upheaval of Greater Chaos"
"How can you throw away my conjured hands with your magic so easily?" Kolgane asked me angrily.
After I obtained the Black Heart of the Dark Angel, my templar sky and bone magic was ruined and destroyed by the excess magic from the divine heart.
I thought all my magic was ruined but that wasn't the case.
Delirium gave me a source of chaos magic and taught me how to use it. All the chaos skill that I used before could be used again even after my templar magic was lost.
"It is a special magic that goes against the rules of Order", I told Kolgane.
"Chaos magic. I knew you were dabbling in that cursed magic. But even chaos magic shouldn't be able to fend off my strike so easily. I am the Skeleton King", Kolgane shouted to me in protest and anger.
Previously, it wasn't easy for my Upheaval chaos magic to affect the Skeleton King's powerful conjured hands.
But my chaos magic inside this special magic duel arena was to my surprise greatly enhanced. This realm promotes the use of chaos magic just like chaos magic works better inside Delirium.
My chaos magic was greatly multiplied in this place.
"That is because my magic is a lot stronger here", I replied to him.
The Skeleton King was almost invincible when his magic was connected to the magic of the sacred grove of the skeletons. Without the magic bond, the Skeleton King's magic was greatly reduced.
I also suppressed his magic quite effectively in the chaos realm with another chaos ability.
"Chaos Suppression"
The Skeleton King was no longer invincible.
Suddenly, a long chain shot towards the Skeleton King. At the end of the long chain there was a large bell. The bell enlarged magically to capture the Skeleton King's head inside.
"Chasing Blood Guillotine"
Although I lost all my templar magic, I could still control my divine artifact. I've lost templar magic but at the same time, I have become semi-divine with the magic of my Black Heart. All my artifacts still respond to me.
"What are you doing to me?" Kolgane asked me furiously as his head was captured by my flying guillotine.
"I'm going to kill you", I replied to him.
"You will never be able to kill me. I will not die. I am the Skeleton King", the Skeleton King replied to me defiantly.
"At the very least you should feel the pain of dying again", I replied to him.
"You are such a big bully", he complained to me one last time.
Magical rotary blades inside the bell of the Chasing Blood Guillotine began to spin. The powerful blades ground the Skeleton King's head into fine powder before releasing them into the air.
Suddenly, the magic arena realm disappeared, and we returned to the sacred grove exactly where we left this place.
The Skeleton King was beheaded, and his skeletal body fell to the ground.
-----
"Is the Skeleton King really dead?" Chash asked me.
"I don't know. He seems to be able to resurrect himself from time to time", I replied to him.
"We should get rid of him once and for all. He is a menace", Cassandra told me.
"That is difficult. There is powerful magic under this Sacred Grove that couldn't be taken even by my Malevolent Slaves. That could be the source of the Skeleton King's revival", I told them.
"We should explore this sacred grove. Maybe we can find some treasures here", Ratatouille told me.
Soon, Sara and Rinna joined us.
"We are going down the Sacred Grove", Meera told them.
"How are we going to do that, there is no entrance to the underground", Chash said to us.
"Then we make an entrance if there are none, idiot", Sara replied to us when a powerful wind drilled into the ground.
Soon, dirt and stones were lifted from the ground, revealing a deep dug well. We investigated the well and into the abyss created, wondering what was under there.
"What is inside the well?" Rinna asked.
"There is a cavern under the well I dug. It could be the tomb of the ancient Trogdols", Sara replied to us about her opinion and assessment.
So, we dropped into the well that Sara dug.
It was a long way down and eventually we reached an enormous cavern that was filled by a small stream. To our surprise, this wasn't an unexplored cavern. We were surrounded by people. Dead people and skeletons.
"This place is filled with long dead people", Cassandra told us.
There were people here in this underground stream beneath the Sacred Grove. Dead people and skeletons lined the path along the stream.
"This place looks like a river of the undead", Meera told us.
"Great this is a great opportunity for loot", Ratatouille told us as he went around scouring for burial treasures.
"How did these people end up down here?" Cassandra asked.
"The Trogdol ancestors must have brought their dead down here to the river as some kinf of burial", Sara told us.
"It is surprising. Some of the dead bodies hasn't turned into skeletons yet after so many years", Chash told us.
Along the stream there were many corpses who didn't decompose over time and their bodies looked almost as fresh as the day they died.
"Are they new corpses?" I asked them.
"No, they were long dead", Sara replied to us.
"I don't understand. Why are some of these corpses so well preserved while those others turned into skeletons", Chash commented and asked about the skeletons along the walls of the cavern.
The walls along the underground stream were stacked with the bodies of the long dead too but these corpses already turned into white bones unlike the corpses on the banks of the river stream.
"What could be causing the different decomposition of corpses in this river cavern?" I asked.
None of us has an answer to my question except maybe, Sara.