Nolan's group moved quickly, pressing deeper into the Siofra River Aqueduct.
Along the way, they witnessed an unsettling sight.
Mangled corpses lay scattered everywhere. Some were on the ground, but most were in the water, all giving off a thick stench of rot.
"Strange." Asimi stared at the severed limbs strewn across the area, her forced-out brows knitting tightly as she muttered, "Judging by the wounds, they should only have been dead for a few days. But this smell and the state of their bodies couldn't have formed in just a few days."
"They're Those Who Live in Death," Nolan said calmly. He casually crouched down and examined one of the ruined corpses.
The body was completely hairless, withered to skin and bone, as though all vitality had been drained from it.
"These things," Nolan said softly, "were already no different from corpses even when they were 'alive.'"
True life could not possibly exist in such a state. Only Those Who Live in Death could keep moving even after becoming skeletons.
Hearing this, Asimi tilted her head curiously and asked, "Those Who Live in Death? What are they?"
Nolan slowly stood and continued along the wall, explaining as he walked.
"Those Who Live in Death are people who should have died, but failed to die completely. They live as the dead, neither alive nor truly dead."
The farther they went, the more bodies appeared, piling up like small mountains.
From the miserable state of those corpses, it was obvious that whoever had killed them was powerful and had shown no mercy.
Every attack had been as heavy as thunder, cutting Those Who Live in Death apart in a single blow without the slightest pity.
"People who live as the dead?" Asimi's eyes suddenly lit up.
Being dead and still alive. Wasn't that amazing?
But Nolan's next words poured cold water over her excitement.
He lightly poked Asimi's excited little face with a finger and said slowly, "Don't get happy too soon. Their original lives have already ended. Those Who Live in Death are just unconscious living corpses, their souls trapped and their bodies unable to die."
"Then I don't want to become one of Those Who Live in Death after all." Asimi's little face instantly fell, and the light in her eyes dimmed.
Her two short little arms drooped weakly at her sides like deflated balloons, as if all her energy had been drained in an instant.
As a life born from a dead thing, she understood better than anyone what the self meant to life.
Without a self, she was only the weapon known as the Silver Tear. With a self, she was Asimi.
After a moment of silence, Asimi lifted her head and asked in confusion, "But how did they end up here? I've never seen them before. Even Nokron didn't know they existed. And who killed them?"
Asimi's head felt itchy, and she badly wanted to scratch it. Unfortunately, her tiny arms could not reach the top of her head, so she could only rub them against her round body.
"They were probably swept down by the current while making a pilgrimage to the Deeproot Depths," Nolan said, standing up and analyzing the matter seriously.
"Godwyn, buried in the Deeproot Depths, was the first in the Golden Order Dynasty to die in soul, and also the first of Those Who Live in Death. He carries extraordinary meaning for the others."
As for who had killed these Those Who Live in Death, Nolan suspected the Crucible Knights, because he only remembered that this place had Crucible Knights.
However, judging from the crude and brutal traces left behind, it was hard to determine the enemy's identity.
After all, these Those Who Live in Death had fallen in droves to nothing more than simple chops and slashes.
So he was not in any hurry to draw a conclusion.
"Then what should we do now? Should we go back?"
Asimi looked at Nolan worriedly. Clearly, she had also realized that whoever had swept through this place was definitely not weak.
Nolan sighed helplessly, glanced at Asimi, and said, "How about I just burn you as firewood instead?"
Asimi was so frightened she hurriedly shook her head again and again. "No."
"Then we keep going." Nolan casually glanced at the trembling silver sphere, then stepped forward.
This little thing's strength was already among the very top in the current Lands Between, yet she seemed to have no awareness of her own power at all.
Judging from the battle at Gatefront Town, not every Crucible Knight was an expert comparable to a Demigod.
Even if she faced three to five Crucible Knights, or even a Chief Crucible Knight, Nolan could not say for certain whether she could win. But at the very least, she should have the ability to preserve her own life.
Of course, this was only Nolan's guess. After all, he himself had never truly fought a Chief Crucible Knight. But top-tier Demigods were not cabbages.
Before long, they reached the deepest part of the aqueduct.
Clear water slowly flowed down from cracks in the ceiling, gathering along the corridor into a shallow pool that covered their calves.
The water then flowed south with the terrain, as though guiding them forward.
Nolan mounted Torrent again. Torrent seemed quite interested in the puddles.
He walked cheerfully through the water, his hooves striking the current with crisp clopping sounds, as if he imagined himself some great musician.
As they continued, an archway appeared ahead. Beyond it was a long flight of stairs.
The exit looked somewhat dim, and as they drew closer to the archway, the sound of rushing water suddenly grew much louder.
From that sound alone, it was easy to tell that a massive curtain of waterfall hung outside.
"Found it. Torrent, head that way."
Nolan looked up along the stairs and remembered the great waterfall where one took a coffin to see Godwyn, though it felt as if there was still something important he had forgotten.
Whatever. He would deal with it when he got there.
When one had strength, one could simply charge in.
Torrent obeyed Nolan and stepped onto the stairs without hesitation. With each step, the roar of the waterfall became clearer.
When they reached the end of the stairs, a sight worthy of silent admiration unfolded before them.
A massive waterfall poured down like the Milky Way, sending spray flying with majestic force. Behind the curtain of water below, two dark figures loomed faintly.
Those two figures were around seven or eight meters tall, and even half-kneeling, they stood four or five meters high, like two sleeping beasts.
They held enormous Halberds and Twinblades. Their bodies were gray-white, their fleshless forms made of hard stone.
Just as Nolan rode Torrent into the pool, the two dark figures seemed to sense his presence and slowly raised their heads.
Their movements were somewhat stiff, yet they carried an overwhelming power that could not be ignored.
Nolan remembered now. He had forgotten there were two BOSSes here.
"What are those?" Asimi asked curiously, a trace of tension in her voice.
"Those are the Golden Order Dynasty's war weapons, the Valiant Gargoyles. It seems Leyndell was not entirely unprepared against the Nox people." Nolan looked at Asimi. "Go take them down."
"Me?" Asimi froze, pointing one tiny hand at herself.
Nolan's tone was perfectly calm. "I allow you to mimic my power. If you can't even deal with them, then you truly are of no use to me."
"I'll go right now!" Asimi said hurriedly.
Before her words had even finished, a massive amount of silver liquid surged out of Nolan's body like a fountain.
The silver liquid swiftly wrapped around Asimi and merged with her. Her body swelled at high speed like an inflated balloon.
At the same time, the two gargoyles spread their heavy wings and charged out like a tornado.
They were astonishingly fast. In the blink of an eye, they collided head-on with Asimi, who had already finished transforming into Nolan.
"You really do enjoy bullying people," Melina said, watching the scene while remaining in her spirit state. She shook her head helplessly, then revealed her form.
"How am I bullying anyone?" Nolan smiled, unconcerned. "With this kind of power, Radahn went off to conquer the Lands Between. What does it look like for her to hide on me every day?"
Melina was about to say something, but before she could open her mouth, she saw two enormous heads flying toward her.