Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon-Chapter 822 - 819: The Dying City

A chime echoed.

It wasn’t loud, but it pierced through the thick fog like a blade.

Corey stopped, and so did the others.

In front of everybody, hovering silently in mid-air, were translucent screens that shimmered into existence.

----

[SYSTEM TRIAL- INITIATED]

Trial Name: The Dying City

Trial Type: Dynamic Curse Trial

Participants Detected: 7

Trial Format: Group Survival/Curse Resolution

Recommended Tier: Tier 5 and above

Objective: Survive for 7 Nights... or Solve the Curse

Penalty for Failure: Death or Fragmented Identity

Warning: This Trial Has Been Altered

----

A low hum accompanied the message, and as it faded, a new line of text burned itself across the screen like a brand.

You have entered a sealed region.

Everyone went silent.

Zeke took a step forward. "What the hell is this?"

"We weren’t told this would be a full System Trial," Myra muttered, her grip on her spear tightening.

Rhys looked up at the swirling sky, then at Kieran. "Captain?"

Kieran’s expression was unreadable, but Corey noticed the subtle twitch in his left eye.

"This wasn’t in the brief," Kieran said with a calm and collected tone. "The Whispergrove Mission was supposed to be a classified necrotic zone cleanup, a place in the actual system trial, not a full-scale system-locked trial."

"And the system trial was never meant to be this. It’s meant to be something else."

Kieran frowned deeply, and so did the remaining members of the Thirteenth Dawn.

Aelric looked around with a glint in his eyes, and he raised his hand, gathering the mana in the surroundings.

"It says the trial has been altered. What could have caused it?"

Zeke looked at him with a tinge of suspicion in his eyes, "Are you sure you didn’t do anything. You’re a Necromancer. Maybe your presence did something?"

Aelric gave him a look of disdain, "My presence as a Tier 4 Necromancer affected the entire system trial that even a Tier 5 could not complete? Can you be any dumber?"

Zeke chuckled awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head, "Well... When you put it that way, I see your point."

Aelric scoffed, but then he muttered softly, "But we have to be careful in this place though... The amount of death energy in this place is immense...

"... I believe one Necrotic Resistance Charm can only last two days at most with the amount of death energy I can sense now... That is if the death energy doesn’t suddenly increase or if we’re not possessed by specters, ghosts, or evil spirits."

The group went silent, and Corey finally broke the silence.

"I said something... Before the crossing the gate."

Aelric tilted his head, his staff still in his hand. "What did you say?"

Corey shifted his gaze from Aelric to Kieran, "Two phrases... The language is different from anything I’ve ever heard... It feels... old?"

"Say them again, " Aelric asked with his voice containing a rare solemnity that had not been there before.

Corey glanced at him, and a second later, he spoke. "Lauda Mortem. Cultus Mortem."

Zeke blinked in disbelief and amazement. "... Did you seriously just chant something at the giant cursed death gate like we’re in a horror movie?"

Corey shrugged slightly, but his face was still indifferent. "It spoke first."

Kieran frowned, "It spoke?"

Corey looked at him, "My ears are sharp. I heard those words before I crossed the gate, and I said them out loud out of pure curiosity."

Everybody went silent, and a chill swept through the area.

The air shifted. The fog curled tighter around their feet, and the stone beneath them vibrated softly like it was trying to breathe.

A second system screen appeared beside the first.

----

Trial Environment: The Dying City

Location Type: Abandoned, Cursed Zone

Cycle Start: First Nightfall Imminent

Daily Rule: Each night, something is taken.

Do Not Stay in the Same Place After Nightfall.

---- freewebnøvel.coɱ

Myra clicked her tongue. "Just keeps getting better."

Kieran looked at Corey. "We’re not certain if the phrases triggered all of this. But be careful next time. Don’t just repeat whatever you hear."

Corey nodded without saying anything.

Aelric’s eyes suddenly brightened as an expression of realization appeared on his face, "I remember now. I know what those words mean."

"Tell us then." Myra said while folding her arms with her spear still in her hands.

Aelric looked at Corey, "Lauda Mortem means Praise Death. Cultus Mortem means Worship Death."

The expressions of everybody changed, and Zeke could not help but chuckle.

"Great. The newbie literally praised Death in front of a fucking Death Gate. Why won’t everything change?"

"Enough Zeke." Rhys said with a frown. "Since we’re currently in this situation, we just have to find a way around it and get out alive."

Zeke snorted, "Get out alive? Easier said than done. Have you guys forgotten the part where the system said the recommended tier is fucking Tier 5!"

Everybody went silent once again, and this time around, their expressions were extremely solemn.

Zeke scoffed once again in annoyance and anger, and then he turned around in a slow circle, eyeing the now-shifting path behind them. The bones were gone. The statues too.

Instead, the bridge had become a cracked walkway leading toward a massive gate that resembled a decaying cathedral archway.

Black vines curled along the edge of the structure, and faint sobs echoed from within the stone.

"Sure enough, the entrance changed," Zeke said with a flat voice.

He picked up a random stone and threw it towards the gate.

A red barrier shimmered into existence, and the stone turned to ash the moment it attempted to cross the barrier.

"And of course we can’t leave like before... Damn it."

He kicked a stone in anger and annoyance.

Nobody said anything, and Corey definitely did not say anything.

He was already analyzing the terrain, scanning the city before them with his Eyes of Omniscience.

He could see buildings, but they were twisted and broke, and even the walls even seemed to be breathing faintly.

He could also see shadows without sources, and some buildings flickered, like mirages trying to decide if they existed or not.

No obvious enemies.

Yet.

’I doubt they’ll be able to see many of the oddities I saw. It’s only through my Eyes of Omniscience I could see them... This city is truly cursed.’

Corey thought while releasing an internal sigh.

"Captain," Rhys spoke, "Orders?"

Kieran looked at the system screen again, then at the city beyond.

"We move forward. Stay together. Tight formation."

He pointed to the largest and tallest structure near the city’s edge.

"We head there first. It’s a high ground, and we’ll be able to get a better view of the city from there. We then wait for nightfall... Then we observe, and don’t die."

Everyone nodded.

No one questioned the plan, and even Zeke kept quiet.

"Let’s go." Kieran said, and then they approached the Dying City.

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