"No wonder we can't understand the content of those murals."
Anthony's lips were dry.
Although the stone statues before them had human forms and outlines, they were not human.
Most importantly, the species carved into the statues wore accessories... that were human.
The rings on their hands and the necklaces around their necks were all strung together with human skulls.
"Truly the worst truth," Oboro said in a deep voice.
He had just finished explaining his conjectures to the three, and now he felt like he had been slapped in the face.
Oboro had seen a scene in the stone paintings of the Gyudondond tribe depicting their ancestors surrounding a mother monster, willingly entering its mouth to be eaten one by one... In fact, this already foreshadowed the predicament of the human ancestors in the Dark Continent.
However, Oboro had felt it wasn't that simple.
But what he saw before him confirmed the Gyudondond people's legacy.
Why would a human city build a statue of a monster, and place it in the most central location? Judging by the terrain, it seemed to be a place of worship.
And this creature, clearly harboring malice towards humans, was revered as a god by the human race.
This was the truth Oboro least wanted to accept... so he hadn't spoken of it.
The base of the monster statue was inscribed with incomprehensible text and images.
Identical to the patterns on other buildings in the city.
The reason they couldn't understand was that the inscriptions were not about the past or civilization of this human city... but about the history of the monster before them, the history of this species, memories not belonging to humans! Oboro walked around the statue. Although he couldn't fully understand the murals, he could vaguely make out some of them.
Humans... were simply too weak, lacking the so-called halo and embellishments.
For countless ages, human ancestors had merely survived in the Dark Continent, clinging to powerful creatures in a despicable manner...
Although humans had developed their own ways of survival and methods of controlling life energy, they were still no match for the powerful life forms scattered across the Dark Continent.
The only thing they could do... was to reproduce.
Continuously multiplying, ensuring that humanity would not go extinct.
To preserve the flame of life...
Until one day, someone returned from the sea and discovered a small island in the center of a lake. There were no terrifying life forms there... it was suitable for human habitation, which led to their migration.
Just as Oboro had initially suspected, humans... were driven out.
Eliminated from the food chain.
"So... over the long years, the human race has never truly stood out from the Dark Continent, always remaining at the bottom of the food chain. It's precisely because they were too weak that they were ignored..."
After a long pause, Oboro finished looking at the patterns on the stone wall and closed his eyes.
The appearance of the island in the lake saved the human race.
That was all.
The truth... was always bloody and naked.
"Captain..."
Menchi looked at his expression, wanting to speak but stopping.
Some thoughts flashed through Oboro's mind. His previous conjectures were not without reason.
The gate and the wall guarded by the gatekeeper were clearly human creations.
Furthermore, the clothing patterns of the Kurta tribe were very similar to that gate, implying that humans were living in the core area of the Dark Continent.
"This should not be the whole truth, only a part of it..."
Oboro opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "The human populations living on this continent should also have differences; the situation outside the wall and inside the wall is not the same."
"Based on my observations, from the characteristics of the food chain and ecosystem, weaker species are driven to the outermost edges of the Dark Continent, while stronger species inhabit the central areas. The entire Dark Continent is likely composed of countless food chains arranged in a hierarchy. Advanced groups are inside the great gate, while lower-level species are outside... The human population is not unified; they might also be fighting amongst themselves."
While speaking, the facts were laid out before them, leaving him no choice but to believe.
He still had some doubts that had not yet been resolved.
Just then, suddenly, beautiful music began to play in the plaza where the stone statues stood.
Menchi and the other two felt a chill run down their spines and immediately assumed a defensive stance.
They noticed that near the plaza, there were actually many small stone carvings of creatures identical to the stone statues. Each was over three meters tall. Perhaps sensing their life force, a dozen or so small stone carvings suddenly began to rotate like music boxes, playing the instruments in their hands.
Although the stone creatures had human-like appearances and forms, their craftsmanship was very rough. At first glance, they looked like upright cylinders, with unrefined lines carved into their bodies. The objects in their hands were not instruments familiar to Oboro and the others, so they couldn't identify them immediately.
Both large and small stone statues seemed to be covered in a thick layer of fur.
The back of their heads protruded outwards.
As soon as the music began, Menchi and the other two immediately shielded themselves with Nen and blocked their five senses, but it was useless.
They still seemed to be able to 'hear' the sound.
Anthony's facial muscles began to twitch, as if his skull and skin were starting to contort and deform...
Menchi's face rapidly showed wrinkles, appearing aged.
Soul attack!
Oboro was all too familiar with this ability.
A wall formed from black mist instantly enveloped the three.
And in Oboro's eyes, as the music played, the space began to fill with bizarre fluctuations... Soul lines resembling musical staves drifted through the air.
"The Demon King's Dark Sonata?"
"Is this the Demon King?"
Oboro's pupils contracted.
He had finally encountered a dangerous entity with soul abilities, just like himself.
This was within Oboro's expectations.
However... these stone creatures didn't look like the Demon King.
The Dark Sonata was a solo piece composed by the Demon King, performed on piano, violin, harp, and flute... But the instruments held by these small stone statues were not among these four.
The 'musical staves,' invisible to others, swirled within the space, repeatedly striking Oboro. Each note dissipated with a bang, clearly having no effect on Oboro.
"No wonder I couldn't detect them... As users of soul energy, it's not difficult to evade my perception."
Oboro realized with a start.
He suddenly waved his hand, and the air roared with turbulence.
All the rotating stone statues were instantly pulverized into dust and shattered.
But... the music did not stop.
Oboro slowly turned and looked towards the base of the towering stone statue, saying faintly, "Come out..."
As he spoke, the stone surface, like a pedestal, suddenly split open to the sides, revealing an open passage.
Then, a group of grotesque, bizarre creatures clad in black robes emerged from within.
Some still retained flesh and blood, but their limbs and appearances were completely deformed, more disgusting than the earthworms in the Yin Beasts... Among them, beneath one black robe, was a moving skeleton.
It was entirely a skeleton.
But its eye sockets burned with soul fire... somewhat resembling the necromancers from Oboro's past life memories.
These bizarre creatures... were all humans.
Oboro now understood what these stone statues were... they were humans!
They were humans who had mutated after listening to something like the 'Dark Sonata.'
Oboro scanned them with his Nen ability, 'Spiritual Vision.' These deformed and mutated beings were not just physically altered, but also their souls... The soul fire within them wasn't burning but resembled a mass of slime.
Only the white skeleton was different.
"I should have realized..."
Seeing this, Oboro let out a sigh of relief.
Since weak humans needed to cling to powerful creatures, living like parasites, they naturally became 'slaves' to various life forms.
In the human world, consciousness disappeared after death. Only a few Nen users awakened post-mortem Nen, but it was merely a single obsession, a mass of consciousness.
However, for the advanced beings of the Dark Continent, such as the Demon King... it could preserve the soul intact, abandoning the physical body in the form of post-mortem Nen, possessing independent mental will.
The soul is also energy, but it's unconventional energy... This further indicates that the Demon King's mastery of energy is unfathomable.
From this point alone, it was far beyond what Oboro could achieve.
The spiritual bodies within his ghost fog were controlled by him, like puppets.
They had no memories or thoughts from their past lives.
And they couldn't venture too far away independently.
Furthermore, the unique environment of the Dark Continent made things that seemed impossible in the human world, commonplace.
This black-robed skeleton was literally 'alive after death.'
"Apostles of the Demon King? Believers?"
Oboro asked coldly.
The soul fire in the skeleton's eye sockets flickered, as if it were also very curious about Oboro.
Its mouth trembled, uttering words and syllables that Oboro couldn't understand at all.
It was clearly an ancient language or the language of another race.
However, the two could communicate perfectly through soul fluctuations.
"Are you... human?"
And the sentence that followed from the skeleton surprised even Oboro.
This guy didn't seem to consider him a 'human.'
Then what was he...?
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