The Record of Unusual Creatures

A breathless man was sitting in the corner at the end of the ballroom. Covered in a black robe, the man almost blended in with the dark surroundings. The black robe was plain, no one recognized this man as one of the highest leaders of the demon-hunter organization. He had a weird mask on his face, kind of the golden mask of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs but was made of black iron with an air of solemnness. It seemed that this should be how the sage looked like before the forbidden knowledge ate his face.     

Teuton instantly recognized this man by his mask. He called out quietly, "Sage Beetholis!"     

It was Sage Beetholis. Against all the odds, Hao Ren and his team finally brought down the defense of the Council of Elders and entered the Netherrealm Clock Tower only to find that the sage was dead.     

Life had left Beetholis's body; the MDT announced this after a simple scan. Hao Ren reached out and carefully took the iron mask off Beetholis's face.     

Everyone's jaw dropped to the ground.     

There was nothing underneath the mask, just grayish smog swelling under Beetholis's robe. There was no physical core or skeleton inside. As the mask containing the smog under the robe was removed, the smog rushed out and disappeared into the surroundings in the blink of an eye, leaving Beetholis's robe on the ground.     

"He is dead," Hao Ren said with the strange iron mask in his hands. "He has disappeared into thin air."     

"Was he already like that since the beginning? Or did he mutate into smog only after his death?" Vivian asked, turning her head to look at Teuton. She thought that these questions were vital in finding out how Beetholis died.     

"Since the sages had their masks on, no one has ever seen their faces," Teuton said. He was also in disbelief. "But I am sure that they had physical bodies before they put their masks on. Just that their bodies had been severely deformed."     

"Then let us assume that Beetholis turned into smog as they died a terrible death." Vivian's eyebrows knitted together. "Can you determine the time of death?" she asked.     

The MDT hovered around the clothes of Beetholis. "I can't. But according to the dust deposit on the clothes and density of the dust suspended in the surrounding air, he should have come here and remained motionless about eight days ago," the MDT reported.     

"Eight days?" Hao Ren suddenly remembered the dusty table that he had seen on the lower floor. The strange time flow in the Netherrealm Clock Tower caught his attention again. Until yesterday, the Netherrealm Clock Tower still had contact with the outside world, and evidence showed that the sages personally commanded the frontline defense operation. But Beetholis had died eight days ago. "Something is wrong with the time flow here," Hao Ren said.     

"I have noticed the problem too. But there is nothing wrong with the current time flow," the MDT said. It had calculated the data. "I have compared the time here with that of the Data Network, the relative time distortion is zero."     

"But space and time in this place were definitely abnormal before this." Hao Ren got to his feet and looked around the color-faded, otherworldly-looking ballroom. "The time flow only returned to normal probably right before we got into the tower."     

Y'lisabet roamed around in thought, her red eyes glowed in a red that was unique only to flame demons. She then came near to the remains of Beetholis, asking, "Is this one of the highest leaders of the demon hunters?"     

White Flame and Teuton nodded and said in unison, "That is right."     

"How did such an important figure end up dead in this ballroom?" Y'lisabet pointed at the Beetholis's body. "What was he doing here?"     

Everyone suddenly came to their senses. The Thirteen Sages had been living as hermits in the Netherrealm Clock Tower for thousands of years. They had never left the tower and ventured outside the chambers except appearing in conventions or seminars of the organization. When the sages summoned together the demon hunters, it only happened in some specific venues. So why did Beetholis die in a ballroom that seemed out of place with his reclusive lifestyle?     

"What is this ballroom for?" Vivian asked curiously.     

Teuton spread out his hand. "It is just an ordinary ballroom where people usually come to relax here. It was a place where the sages would never want to come because they were always shy from the crowd. They only met with the preselected few."     

"It sounds like these sages had an infectious disease," Lily mumbled.     

"Forbidden knowledge is essential a plague," Teuton said, shaking his head gently. "Things that do not belong to this world, and even knowledge do not belong to the ordinary people could distort the reality. These things or knowledge would lure the ignorant to study the darkest and the most bizarre things in the other world. As people study it, they will not be able to help themselves but fall into that world and become strange beings in the real world. There is something that we should not know as our puny brains could not handle that knowledge. The sages voluntarily learned the forbidden knowledge just to defeat the ancient otherworldling gods, and they paid a high price for doing that."     

Those at the scene felt it hard to believe. But Hao Ren totally understood what Teuton said—not only understood but had profound insight. Hao Ren had come into contact with those mysteries that were beyond human's comprehension. This forbidden knowledge could turn people who looked at it into twisted monsters.     

Raven 12345 once took Hao Ren to a super-dimensional perspective to view the universe, where he had a chance to take a glimpse of the universe within a billion of light years. Hao Ren used to enter the spiritual world of the brain monsters and the nightmare of the First Borns. Every thought of the demigod creations was powerful enough to burn the neurocircuit of the mortal brain. Even reading the minds of ordinary otherworldlings could overload the reader's nerves. The human mind could not handle such super-experiential knowledge. Had it not been for the blessing of Raven 12345, who gave Hao Ren the divine body of a pope, he would have ended up like the thirteen sages.     

The Thirteen Sages forced themselves to acquire the knowledge of the ancient exotic races. There was little wonder how distorted the bodies of the sages would become.     

"Beetholis must have been injured in another place from where he fled and ended up dead here," Vivian said of what was in her mind. "I think the other twelve sages look suspicious."     

Lily was waving her Flamejoy around trying to find more evidence. But she found something else. "Hey, look! There is something on the wall!"     

Hao Ren quickly came up. Not far from where Beetholis's 'body' lay, there were twisted text on the wall. The horrible handwriting suggested that the author must be very frail. There was only one line of text.     

We have released the monster in the nightmare. It is at the top of the tower.     

"Did Beetholis write this?" Vivian asked Teuton.     

Teuton carefully examined it. "It is indeed the handwriting of Sage Beetholis," he said.     

"Monster in the nightmare?" Hao Ren had a bad hunch. When he associated it with the nature of the Coldpath dimension, this bad feeling had only become more disturbing. "Holy moly! The thing had better has nothing to do with the god. I am only a few days away from getting my year-end bonus!" he said.     

Just then hurried footsteps were heard outside the ballroom as if a crowd was outside.     

Everyone became nervous spontaneously. Y'zaks waved his hand. "It is our men."     

Indeed, it was the 'normal' commanders of the demon hunters and officers of the demonic army under the command of Lanina. Among them were also the elite soldiers of the coalition.     

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Even the poker-faced Teuton looked more at ease now. Lanina walked up to Y'zaks and said, "My king, I apologize for the delay. The Council of Elders has blown up the last defense device and caused dimensional turbulence."     

Lanina then waved to her men behind. The demonic soldiers immediately stepped aside as a demon hunter, escorted by three elven magicians, came in. It was Claude, who had been captured earlier.     

Hao Ren was a little surprised. "Can he talk nicely now?" he asked.     

Lanina nodded. "I do not know how but he seems to be sober now."