Salted Fish Chapter 73.1: The Undying Legion (Part 1)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

The Queen sat on top of a high platform that overlooked the deep pit in front of her.

The shape of the deep pit was square, not like a mine, but like the foundation of a building. It was no wonder since the place was originally located under Perlilla Manor. When the manor was destroyed by fire, a large number of Ether crystal deposits were found beneath it, which was turned into a mine. The ruined remains of the manor were demolished and cleaned up, then the foundation was dug several feet deeper to form the deep pit in front of them. The Ether crystals were like a layer of ice crystals that covered the walls of the pit, so bright and eye-catching that people couldn’t open their eyes. Such a pit was enough to make all the countries of the world go into a frenzy.

Helen of Troy had triggered a decade-long war, but even the world’s most beautiful woman, in front of these Ether crystals, would have to bow her head. For those crystals, it wouldn’t  be uncommon for the nations of the world to fight even for a hundred years. For today’s ceremony, a high wooden platform was purposely built at the side of the mine. It looks rather like a stepped grandstand by a stadium. The best view at the top belonged to Her Majesty, the Queen. To the left and right of the Queen sat Lord Perlilla and his mother. As the owners of the place, they were rightfully seated second only to the Queen.

Lord Perlilla was acting nervous and restless, as he constantly squirmed in his seat, like there were thorns under his buttocks. His mother was much calmer, at least on the surface. However, she was clutching a handkerchief, and her white bones silently revealed her feelings. The seats below the platform were occupied by the members of the Committee for Scientific Progress. Some of them were key members of the two houses of Parliament, some were cabinet brawn, some were socialites, some were noblemen. Without exception, they were the top people in the country. All of them gazed at the mine with greedy and thirsty eyes.

However, the focus of their attention wasn’t on the glittering Ether crystals, but on the ten silvery gray human figures in the center of the pit. Those were the robots created by the Committee – their undying soldiers. Even the Queen was secretly surprised that so many had been produced in such a short time. This so-called “ribbon-cutting ceremony” was just a pretense.

The Committee would hold a secret ritual in front of her to inject into those ten undying soldiers into the charter. Of course, not a free charter will, but obey the eye smart charter will. The undying earth soldiers who obtain the charter would become a tireless, woundless, and fearless army.

In time, the whole world would fear them.

“Where is Carter?” The Queen asked one of the commissioners at her feet.

He rose at once and bowed his head in deference. “Carter got word that some undesirables were trying to disrupt today’s ceremony. He went over to deal with it.”

“What about the ceremony?” The Queen frowned.

“We’re perfectly capable of performing it, ourselves.”

“Hurry up, then. I’m afraid it’s going to rain.” The queen hated the rain, even though a rain shelter had been built on the high platform. She was too old to sit in the miserable wind and rain to watch a ceremony. She preferred a warm fire and a soft recliner, although it was far from time for her to rest. “Yes, Your Majesty. I also think it’s about time. I hereby order the ceremony to begin.”

The commissioner passed the order down. The six commissioners at the bottom of the high platform got up and scattered to the six points of the pit.

Once they left the rain shelter, they were all drenched like chickens, but they were not afraid at all, they all had expressions of ecstasy. After standing still for a moment, they raised their hands and began to chant incantations. The Queen sat up straight and stared at the pit.

The Ether crystals layered on the walls of the pit emitted a strange light, sometimes strong and sometimes weak. It was like a heartbeat that pulsated with the intonation of the incantation.

The Queen had a strange thought. That those crystals were like living things, or part of some kind of living thing, but in the form of crystals to human eyes…Something invisible to the naked eye rose up from the ground, and hovered over the mine. Even a person like the Queen, who knew nothing about the occult arts, could feel the chilling aura overhead. The thing was screaming silently. It roared in silence, scolded and cursed. Then it was captured, compressed, and sent into the bodies of undying soldiers. The eyes of one of the soldiers suddenly lit up.

Two cupped blue flames flared up in its eye sockets. The flames spread as fast as they could, and soon the eyes of the soldiers around it lit up as well. A low cry of amazement rang out from the stands. The Queen unconsciously pulled out her small fan, and tapped her palm with the handle.

“…It really can bring soldiers to life.” Lord Perlilla beside her whispered half in admiration, half in awe. His mother, however, only grunted coldly.

When the eyes of all the soldiers lit up, the six commissioners who cast the spell lowered their sore arms. They were sweating profusely, their sweat mingling with the rain again. They exchanged looks of success, each with a proud smile on their faces.

They had succeeded in capturing the will that had been hidden deep in the Ether crystals for thousands of years, and injected them into the undying soldiers. They had gained the most powerful army in the world, the most loyal slaves. The Forerunners were the closest thing to gods. In some sense they were gods. Now, the gods were captured by mortals. They had become the ones who dominated the gods.

“Commissioner,” the Queen said to the commissioner at her feet. “Since there are undesirables coming to cause trouble, why not send these undying soldiers to deal with them?”

“That is exactly what I have in mind.” The commissioner stood up and gestured downward.

The six commissioners in the pit also raised their hands and made the same gesture, despite being soaked by the heavy rain. The undying soldiers turned around at the same time and moved neatly, as they climbed up the pit with the same stride and trotted away into the distance. The Queen was secretly amazed. Even soldiers with long training couldn’t be as precise as they were.

A loyal mind and a body of steel, combined with the power to manipulate occult arts. To acquire them was to acquire the world. What in the world was there that she and the Committee couldn’t have at their fingertips? However, the Queen has lived to her great age and gradually understood a certain truth. There was nothing in the world that could be easily obtained without paying a price. What kind of price would the undying soldiers demand?

 

At the Lake House, Madame Boyle was retreating. She had her hair all spread out, which made her look less like a pretty girl, and more like a sickly child with a cloak of hair. Just to block Z’s sword power stretched her to the limit, not to mention Yeats who was also manipulating the occult arts to fight against her, but she couldn’t just admit defeat!

When Yeats summoned ice crystals again, Madame Boyle deliberately released energy to detonate them. She used wind to shroud herself in the fog and flew away from the battlefield. Z’s hearing was so sharp that he immediately caught the sound of her footsteps, and quickly chased after her.

Mrs. Boyle fled into the ballroom. Here stood four decorative armors. Z caught up with her, and chopped towards her head with a sword.

Suddenly, a heavy sword slanted out and blocked Z’s blade.

Four heavy suits of armor, under the command of Madame Boyle, transformed into four knights who surrounded Z. The armor had to be controlled by Madame Boyle at all times, and their movements were also very slow, but the victory in the skin was strong and thick. Although they didn’t necessarily subdue Z, at least they acted as a shield. Last time in the theater she also summoned many helpers, but unfortunately fabric was flammable and the use of the fire attack, resulting in her failing. However, this time was different. The armor’s body of steel was fearless! It was much easier to deal with the remaining Yeats now. A young man, whose occult arts couldn’t compare with a senior scholar who had studied occult philosophy for decades!

Yeats chased her into the ballroom, only to see Z fighting with four suits of armor, his sword and shadow dazzling. Madame Boyle was standing at ease, with a sinister gaze directed at Yeats.

The poet immediately conjured up ice crystals around him as a shield. Madame Boyle laughed as she shot out a stream of energy that shattered the ice crystals. A large amount of ice mist gushed out, and the ballroom suddenly became as cloudy as the foggy capital of London.

“Mr. Poet, I respect your talent, and can’t bear to hurt a talented man like you. Why should we fight with swords? Wouldn’t it be better to cooperate?” Madame Boyle’s figure wove through the fog, gathering energy while she tried to stall with conversation. 

Yeats seemed indifferent, as he looked around for the female occult practitioner. “You might be more persuasive if you weren’t saying such things with Miss Madeleine’s face.”

“This is the occult art of immortality. Aren’t you interested at all? You are also an occult practitioner. Going this deep into the study of occult philosophy…can’t you understand? What is it that we seek? Supreme power, supreme glory…eternal life! Alchemists seek immortality by making the stone of the sage. Other occult practitioners use other means. The art of ligeia is one of them. I can tell you about this occult art so you can share the joy of eternal life with me. \You can even use this secret art on your beloved girl!”

At the words “beloved girl,” Yeats paled. Madame Boyle sensed this, and giggled, “William Yeats and Maud Gonne, the youthful couple. You can be like the legendary Nicholas and Paneri, even death will not separate you!”

“And then just take two lives every once in a while and replace them in their bodies?” Yeats asked sarcastically.

“Just a small price to pay on the road to eternal life,” Madame Boyle said gently. She gathered enough energy to clear a shout, and the power in her palm turned into a raging storm and raced towards Yeats. The poet’s ice crystal shield was as weak as straw in the middle of the devastating storm.

Madame Boyle smiled in victory.

She walked gracefully towards Yeats with her bracelet sword, deliberately showing him her young, powerful body. She hoped he would regret that he didn’t know how to treasure such a good offer in front of him when he was in hell…

She raised her sword.

Suddenly, she couldn’t move her arm. The same strange phenomenon had occurred once before in the theater. At that time she should have burned those four people to ashes, but because of a moment of slowness, she was instead caught, left blind in one eye and lost terribly.

At the time she thought she was being restrained by her opponents’ occult arts. After all, her opponent had been a police Nightman, so maybe he had some occult technique that she didn’t know about, and was able to block her movements for a short time.

But what about this time? She knew that Z wouldn’t be able to do the occult technique, and was convinced that Yeats couldn’t have mastered such a profound occult technique.

Who was actually getting in her way?

She wanted to slice the poet’s throat with her sword, but her body wouldn’t listen to her.

This was…Madeleine?

Impossible! Madeleine should have died when she performed the art of Ligeia!

The one controlling the body now should be her!

The image of a young girl emerged in her mind. Her slender arms were like wildly growing vines wrapped around Madame Boyle’s body, her youthful face coalesced with boundless hatred and anger.

“Are you crazy?!” Madame Boyle shouted at the young girl. “If I die, you will die with me! There is no way this body will ever be returned to you!”

“It doesn’t matter!” the young girl shouted. “I trusted you so much. I looked up to you, but you only treated me as a tool. I can’t do anything about that now, but I can’t let you hurt anyone else!”

“Idiot!” Madame Boyle cursed. “I’m sharing eternal life with you, and you still don’t appreciate it? Do you think you can appreciate the most profound and wonderful occult arts in the world? If it weren’t for me, you would have been just a stupid girl from the countryside until now!”

“If I am a stupid girl, what are you?” Madeleine raised her eyebrows. “Just a selfish and greedy old hag!”

She had never spoken back to Madame Boyle in her life. No matter what her mentor said, the young girl always accepted it, like a good little white rabbit. This was also the reason Madame Boyle chose her as her apprentice.

Now the little white rabbit was free to attack her with teeth and claws. Madame Boyle was unable to control the four suits of armor. They were moving more and more sluggishly, like machines that didn’t work.

Z cut off the helmet of one of the suits with his sword, then cut off the arm of another armor, and broke open a path for himself. He bent over and rolled on the ground, as he passed through the gap between the armor, and stabbed Madame Boyle in the back. He thought the woman would certainly dodge, so the sword didn’t use much force. However, the other party was frozen, as if just by his sword piercing.

Yeats stared at the woman in front of him with wide eyes.

Her beautiful almond eye originally shone with cruelty, like a bloodthirsty beast. But in a flash, it turned into a clear, bright green…

Yeats couldn’t help but think of the bright green mountains of Ireland. The young girl’s soul was never far from her body, and had regained control of herself at the critical moment. Z’s sword missed her vitals, but she was like a prey pierced by Burrows on thorns. Immobilized, but couldn’t die.

The young girl’s eye lost its clear luster, and turned back to Madame Boyle’s cold cunning one.

“Why…” She opened her mouth, her teeth stained scarlet with blood. “Why doesn’t your body obey my control…This can’t be…”

Not only Z’s body, but even her own body…she can’t control them anymore. She had firmly believed that she had complete dominion over her own works, and that she had been reborn with the body of a young girl. But today, everything she had believed in collapsed.

“Someone modified my prosthetic body for me.” Z approached Madame Boyle’s ear, and said in a malicious tone, “They erased your charm. Erased it cleanly. Not a bit left.”

“Ha…So there are other mechanics in the world besides me who are so good at occult magic…” Madame Boyle opened her mouth, and her teeth were red with blood, as if she had just eaten human flesh. “But you have gone from being dominated by me to being dominated by others…”

Z said coldly. “You only have ever lived in the shadows, and you only use malice to speculate about others. Do you think that everyone is as mean as you?”

“To live is to control everything…Whether it’s me…or…” Madame Boyle paused, her cold eye turning a field of emerald green again.

Madeleine regained control of the body.

“I can’t hold back her for too long…” A trace of blood spilled out of the young girl’s lips. “She will be back soon…!”

“Hurry up, poet!” Z yelled. “Give her an end!”

Yeats had never killed anyone with his hands before in his life. He was a poet, not a warrior, and he fought with a pen, not a gun or a sword.

Madeleine’s bright green eye overflowed with tears, but she was smiling. “Mr. Yeats, tell my brother…it’s for Ireland…”

Yeats lifted his sword and slashed the young girl’s throat.

Z drew back his sword, held Madeleine’s torso, and placed her gently on the ground. The young girl’s throat was crimson, like a delicate rose in full bloom.

Yeats hung his head, as he half knelt on the ground, and used the blood-stained sword to support his body. He closed the maiden’s eye. “O great forces of giant waves, gale and fire, surround my beloved with your harmonious chorus, sing for her and lull her to sleep in peace.”

 

Heavy rain poured down. The lightning in the sky was like a torch, like the wrath of the gods, and the rumble of thunder was frightening. The thunder on the ground was not far behind. Carter’s fingertips lingered with lightning sparks, one after another, green and white light thrown  like a whip at Xenophon and Mr. N.

Mr. N held a white wand and raised a wall of earth. The plasma whip hit the wall of earth, and the current was actually directed into the ground. Carter cursed as he held the ruby necklace and once again summoned lightning. He didn’t believe that this Nightman could use a wall of earth to block their own permeability! As long as there was a gap left, it would be his victory!

The sound of wings flapping came from above his head. Carter tilted his head. A raven swooped down, sharp claws pointed straight at his eyes. He remembered Madame Boyle’s tragedy. He hastily withdrew the lightning, and transformed the energy into an occult shield. However, as if he knew that Carter would do that, the raven gently swept over his head, then transformed into a human form and landed behind Carter, and backhanded a shockwave.

Carter turned his occult shield to block Xenophon’s blast, but Mr. N came at him from another direction. He dealt with the two people at the same time, left and right, so tired and panting that he could no longer tell if the beads on his forehead were sweat or rain.

“Is this the strength of the occult practitioners under the Committee?” Mr. N mocked. “You’ve killed so many people, seized so many occult techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation, and this is the result?”

Carter glared at him indignantly, as if he wanted to turn his eyes into a knife to pierce his throat. He spat, “Let’s just say we didn’t kill enough.” 

Xenophon threw a flying knife at his chest. Carter dodged it with ease, yet the flying knife suddenly morphed into a dozen identical blades that rained down on Carter.

“Just for this?” he asked through clenched teeth. “You killed so many people just to take the secrets of the family lines of occult practitioners? Just for this?”

Carter pulled out his plasma whip and shot down the flying swords. “The fewer people competing with you, the better. Don’t you understand that?” Carter smiled a twisted smile. “Our committee controls the center of the country. Of course in order to avoid other occult practitioners coming through the same way to take away our power, we have to get rid of them!”

“Then why keep the orphans?”

“They’re good tools, aren’t they? Loyal to us, worshiping the Committee like dogs worship their masters. Have you ever had a dog, Nightman? If you have, then you know how we feel…”

“Bastard!” Xenophon snarled and rushed forward.

“Don’t be impulsive!” Mr. N warned him.

Xenophon knew, of course. Carter flung his plasma whip at his face. The secretary anticipated that the Nightman would surely dodge, but instead Xenophon raised his own cane without dodging, and took the blow right in the face! Carter’s eyes rounded. It was clear that he was controlling the lightning, but when Xenophon caught the attack, he felt the impact instead.

The two men fought for control of the energy, with neither side refusing to give in. When the duel between occult practitioners entered this stage, the competition was all about physical strength, perseverance and proficiency in manipulating energy. Carter was confident that he would never lose to this hairless little sufferer. However, for some reason, the energy kept draining out of his body.

It was like grabbing a handful of sand in a windy desert. As soon as he opened his five fingers, the sand flew away from his fingertips.

Mr. N rushed up to help Xenophon, but the dark-haired, yellow-eyed Nightman gritted his teeth and yelled, “Don’t come any closer! He is my prey!”

The rain was coming down harder and harder, and the air around him smelled like ionization. The last trace of energy was drained, and Carter could no longer maintain his occult shield. The electric current invaded his body like a ferocious snake, tearing every cell in his body. He couldn’t help but scream in agony. Xenophon rushed forward, and pulled out a sword from the staff.

“This is for my father!” He cut off Carter’s left arm with one blow. “This is for my mother!” He cut off Carter’s right arm with another stroke of his sword.

Carter fell to his knees. Dirty mud splattered all over him, blood gurgled out and pooled in small pools beneath him before it was quickly washed away by the downpour. Xenophon raised his blade and pointed it at Carter’s throat.

“This is for Isabelle.” He stabbed his sword through Carter’s throat.