Chapter 213. Irish Town Ⅱ (11) Golden Apple Temptation: A Civil War of One Against Three

     “Avalon is located amidst sacred lake, island, forest, and high mountains, a paradise where souls temporarily reside before reincarnation.” — Cited from the Baidu Encyclopedia of Celtic mythology.  

     These places are intertwined, and the distinction between the regions of Avalon is not based on physical geography but on the virtue and vice of the souls.  

     The paradise belongs to the souls of deities and warriors, who dwell in the divine lake or high mountains, a realm akin to heaven. Yet, even they may fall from grace.  

     Ji Li once glimpsed two fallen warriors from a distance, demigod-level beings. The mark of their corruption was the violent, overflowing dark energy around them, driving them to kill indiscriminately. Far more terrifying than the other malevolent spirits in the forest.  

     The souls of ordinary people most often drift upon the island, where the passage to the mortal world for reincarnation lies. The souls of the wicked, however, inhabit the oppressive, hellish gloom of the dark forest, where even in death, they continue to battle, brutalize, and torment one another, fighting for territory, perhaps even living a fate more agonizing than their mortal lives.

     Regarding the three aforementioned places, the souls of the utterly wicked cannot escape the dark forest. Most meet their end in agony and terror, their spirits scattering into nothingness. Only a rare few malevolent spirits endure for centuries or millennia, abstaining from killing any other lost souls, enduring their punishment, and purging the sins from their essence.  

     Ordinary souls, however, can enter the dark forest. Of course, the strong among them are few. To step inside almost certainly means annihilation. The souls of heroic warriors may roam any part of Avalon freely. Legends speak of a gate leading back to the mortal world, one they ceaselessly search for but never find.  

     Of course, this classification isn’t always “moral.”  

     For example, Ji Li belonged to a dark race and was inexplicably labeled “evil” from the start, forced to land in the dark forest. There, he fought and fled from hordes of lost souls, compelled to resort to blood sacrifices, eventually binding a pact with the most deranged of evil dragons.  

     Fortunately, Ji Li’s soul was not in the process of corruption, so he wasn’t confined to the dark forest forever.  

     Under his guidance, Ye Mo and the others traversed parts of this place, acquainting themselves with the myths of this otherworldly dimension.

     The first place they passed through was the island inhabited by ordinary souls—the safest area in Avalon. Thanks to the abundant spiritual energy, the island was rich in exotic plants and magical beasts. The magical beasts were almost exclusively high-level, and some exotic plants could even directly increase physical constitution by +1, +1, +1.

     Ye Mo, having already reached the peak of physical constitution, could no longer hear such notifications. However, they were still useful for Wang Xue, Watson and Ji Li. Watson simply can’t let go of them.

     Ji Li remained unfazed by Watson’s frequent distraction and obsession. As long as he got a couple more potions out of it, he was content, happily indulging in the joy of taking potions to improve his physique.

     The magic potion that Watson used to improve his physical fitness was also a high-points item in the system, and he couldn’t afford it normally.

     As for those wandering undead ghost, ordinary magical beasts and plants could neither harm them nor increase their soul power. The island was merely a pleasant backdrop in their eyes.  

     What truly piqued their curiosity was the appearance of newcomers on the island. A dozen or so mischievous but non-evil undead ghosts couldn’t resist playing pranks on them.

     However, this posed a dilemma for Ye Mo and the others, these ghost were too weak. A single strike could scatter their souls, and doing so would, at best, trap the survivors on the island or, at worst, condemn them to the dark forest as punishment.  

     Don’t ask how they knew, they had already encountered more than a few survivors who had been penalized by Avalon’s will. Many forgot that this was not a world of slaughter, and their quest for the Stone of Destiny ended right here.  

     At first, Ye Mo’s group was equally troubled, until Wang Xue unleashed her secret weapon: music.  

     In the realm of spirits, Wang Xue’s musical talents finally found their purpose, though lullabies had now turned into requiems. Surprisingly, she became the most spiritually attuned among them, excelling at calming the dead and gathering information.  

     Good music is a universal language.  

     With the spirit problem resolved, Watson could finally focus wholeheartedly on his potion research.  

     Along the way, the other three, aside from Watson, also discussed their experiences in the previous dungeon.

     The previous dungeon was no longer a chīmèiwǎngliǎng (demons and monsters) dungeon. They had spent 60 days in the Irish Town II instance, which also corresponded to 60 days in the real world.

     According to the Survivor app’s rules: Main Dungeon > Team Dungeon > Reality Dungeon.  

     All survivors in the Irish Town II dungeon had participated in the main dungeon, and some might have remained there forever.  

     Oh, right. They hadn’t even received their rewards yet.  

     In the last dungeon, both Watson and Wang Xue had taken on E-rank dungeons. Wang Xue said it was tough but felt she’d performed well. Meanwhile, Ji Li had participated in a three-person D-rank dungeon. No need to elaborate on the difficulty. It was no less treacherous than Avalon, pushing even the strongest to their limits, nearly claiming their lives.  

     As for Ye Mo, she had challenged her first solo C-rank dungeon, similar in scale to the World Tree dungeon. But this time, it wasn’t set in the twilight of spiritual energy. Instead, it took place at the end of myth itself—the Great Flood.  

     Her dungeon was titled “Noah’s Ark.” Unsurprisingly, it was a Western flood-themed scenario. But the flood wasn’t just water, it teemed with demons rivaling gods in power. The true challenge wasn’t the demons, however, but competing against deities for a spot on the Ark’s survival list

     Wang Xue set down her long flute and leaned in. “Sister Jing, what earth-shattering, god-shocking thing did you do this time?”  

     “Nothing much,” Ye Mo replied nonchalantly. “I just nearly dismantled the divine artifact Noah’s Ark. Though I was stopped in the end. Still, with the gods’ help, I gathered materials to expand the Ark’s capacity and barely scratched the surface of forging a semi-divine artifact.”  

     When Ye Mo entered the dungeon, half the world was already submerged. The beginning was undeniably perilous, straight into a brutal struggle for survival. The apocalypse meant chaos for all races, a collapse of order.  

     She grew stronger through the battles, and by the mid-to-late stages, she relied on advanced technology from future eras to survive, eventually becoming one of the legendary figures tasked with preserving the world’s species.  

     Wang Xue & Ji Li: “You call that ‘nothing much’?”

     Watson: “…Going deaf. Can’t hear a thing.”

     Ye Mo’s rewards hadn’t been issued yet, and there was no global announcement—likely pending until after the Irish Town II dungeon concluded.

     …

     After passing through the island, they arrived at a gloomy forest shrouded in a bloody mist. Here, fighting back or even hunting down the most wicked spirits was considered an act of justice.  

     The four of them each demonstrated their unique skills.  

     Watson and Wang Xue formed a coordinated duo one specializing in healing and support, the other in brute-force attacks. The now much-larger velociraptor also joined them, gaining experience along the way.  

     Ji Li countered darkness with darkness. With the help of Watson’s potions, the undead evil dragon was finally under his full control, becoming a formidable asset. He tore through and subdued more and more malevolent spirits with ruthless efficiency.  

     As for Ye Mo, she walked the line between light and dark.  

     Sometimes, she employed the dark arts Ji Li had taught her to eliminate the undead. She didn’t like being a necromancer, it wasn’t a matter of good or evil, but rather that the fragmented memories of those undead crowding her mind were truly uncomfortable. Therefore, the dark arts she learned leaned towards killing, as well as curses. The art of curses seemed to have opened a completely new door for her.

     Other times, she carved through the darkness with light. After all, she had acquired light-based skill books and amassed a wealth of faith. The sheer amount of belief she carried surpassed even that of many forgotten deities. The dark forest proved to be the perfect training ground for honing her light-based spells.  

     After passing through the dark forest, they arrived at another island.  

     At the far end of the island lay yet another stretch of woodland, and beyond the trees, they saw a towering mountain rising abruptly from the flat land, encircled by the surrounding forest.  

     Unexpectedly, Watson was unable to go up and was blocked by the invisible barrier.  After some deliberation, the trio concluded that the most likely reason was his insufficient contribution points.  

     They had no choice but to return to the dark forest, adopting a “three-carries-one” strategy to let Watson deliver the final blows in their battles—almost like veteran gamers power-leveling a healer (Wang Xue’s exact words).  

     Watson:”Are you being polite?”

     It didn’t take too long before all four of them successfully climbed the mountain. Thick spiritual energy washed over them as they reached the summit. The magical beasts and plants here were far more numerous and formidable, some even as sentient as the malevolent spirits, capable of thought, song, and speech.  

     Well, perhaps not speech, since some deities, even in spirit form, could shapeshift into various animals. This wasn’t mere illusion magic but an innate transformative ability. The ones speaking might have been them all along, simply playing pranks.

     On the high mountains, the Stone of Destiny was not found, but they gained something far greater. Some things need not be taken away, like the knowledge bestowed upon them by the amiable yet astonished demigods, who wondered where they had come from. Such wisdom could benefit them for a lifetime.  

     Yet there were also traps here. The “flag” of Celtic mythology was no exaggeration. Often, the gifts they offered seemed wondrous, but the outcome was impossible to fulfill, as if cursed. Once accepted, one might face death or lose something even more precious.  

     Perhaps it was like the goblin who forged the Stone of Destiny, or the fallen heroes of Celtic myths, or even the gods forever trapped in the “bliss” of Avalon.  

     Ye Mo, Wang Xue, Watson, and Ji Li refused firmly, even if their hearts bled with reluctance.  

     In a way, the temptation of the Golden Apple was the most terrifying of all, for its offerings were far too alluring such as resurrection magic, time-reversal spells, divine forging anvils, the legendary Golden Apple itself, the Sword of Kings, the druidic magical legacy, and more.  

     Many times, they had to rely on each other, even to the point of internal conflict to resist the lure of the Golden Apple. The most dangerous moment came when Ye Mo once fought against three of them, and only Wang Xue’s desperate, self-sacrificial intervention brought her back to reason.

     Watson, who had 10 broken ribs and a bruised face, was still terrified: “This is not heaven, it’s more like hell.”

     “It’s more like inducing the demons in our hearts in advance. After crossing the mountains, each of our states of mind will be improved differently. It may also be heaven.” Ye Mo said.

     At the end of the mountains is a very beautiful sacred lake. Directly above the sacred lake lived the only intelligent race in Avalon that wasn’t undead – the Lake Fae.

     In British mythology, they are also called the Lady of the Lake. They are the guardians of Avalon, very beautiful, but they don’t have a particularly ethereal fairy aura. They are more like mysterious and extremely beautiful sorceresses.

     The four of them originally thought that the Lake Fae would, like the deities on the high mountains, propose very difficult tasks. However, the leader of the Lake Fae, as if already knowing they would come, only said faintly, “Only those who break fate can obtain the Stone of Destiny.”