30: Ashen Barrow

Por supuesto, aquí tienes la traducción al inglés:

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After 17 days of traveling towards Ashen Barrow, I finally managed to reach the area where I will wait for Sunny's cohort.

The great and titanic corpse of a marine creature rose hundreds of meters above the crimson coral. On its surface, along and across the bones, one could see how the labyrinth attempted to consume the white bone; it seemed as if the coral wanted to erase every trace of anything that wasn't the coral itself.

But if someone looked more closely, they might think that instead of consuming it to erase it, it seemed that the crimson coral was growing directly from the bone, as if it were using the corpse to feed and expand.

The arched spine protruded from the coral, and this is where we would stay for a few days, waiting for Sunny.

I looked at my cohort and saw expressions of amazement, terror, and fascination on their faces.

"Get those silly looks off your faces; we have to arrive before the sun sets. Hurry up," I said, snapping them out of their thoughts.

We needed to get there as quickly as possible since night was approaching. If we delayed too long, we would be consumed by the black sea.

...

We fought three more groups of scavengers, adding ten more deaths to my hands. The cohort had become extremely lethal during these weeks of traveling through the labyrinth; now each of them could kill three scavengers on their own, and with Sasha's area enhancement, they were even more deadly.

I had also become very strong, perhaps the strongest of the four, but not due to skills or brute strength. It's because I have the most saturated core and also my foresight, both of which give me a great advantage in battle, making me the strongest despite not being the fastest or the one with the most strength.

Even so, I am proud of how much I have grown, both mentally and physically. In my other world, I would never have imagined fighting against giant crabs or huge centipedes that wanted to devour me every day. But now...

'Runes'

Name: Jonathan

True Name: Soul Appropriator

Rank: Sleeper

Core: Inactive

Soul Threads: [676/1000]

Memories: [Fallen Legion Armor]

Echoes: -

Attributes: [Lost Soul] [Deception] [Lost] [Voracious Soul] [Flame of Divinity] [???]

Aspect: [Puppeteer]

Aspect Rank: Divine

Innate Ability: [Foresight]

Aspect Ability: [Soul Control]

Flaw: [Soul Bond]

I should now be as strong as Nephis, although perhaps she already has her second core; she had two after leaving Ashen Barrow, and it was never mentioned when she obtained the second.

Still, leaving the novel aside, we were already climbing the column of the titanic beast and ascending to take refuge at its top for the night.

...

After half an hour of climbing, we managed to reach the top of the column and prepared to eat.

I didn't want to see Ashen Barrow yet; that giant tree would look better in the morning than in the afternoon, so I'd leave it for tomorrow.

I looked at my group; we were all more united now that we had spent a little over two weeks together. Sasha also seemed to trust the other two more since they had saved her more than once in battles.

I looked at them and asked something I had wanted to know for a long time, but I didn't think it was appropriate to ask since we didn't trust each other too much yet, but now it should be appropriate.

I looked at my group and spoke.

"Hey, what do you want to do once we leave the realm of dreams? I would like to buy a house, buy lots of food, buy a dreamscape capsule, and many other things." I said first, to loosen them up a bit.

Ludwin was the first to speak.

"Well, go back to my family, spend the days enjoying with them and at night kill lots of nightmare creatures, the usual, I guess."

Then he looked at Isac and spoke again.

"And you, dwarf?" Isac looked at him with a somewhat irritated expression before responding.

"I will also go back to my family; we are from the outskirts, so I will earn money as an awakened and we will move to a better place, maybe a rich neighborhood where there are lots of restaurants to try food that isn't that disgusting synthetic paste. My little siblings will also enjoy it for sure."

I was a bit surprised by Ludwin's answer; I didn't think he was someone affectionate with his family. But I also didn't expect Isac to have a family and siblings on the outskirts; it was rare to see a family with more than one child since no one could afford to keep so many people fed and with a roof over their heads.

"And you, Sasha? What do you want to do?" I asked, noticing she was looking at us seriously.

"Maybe it sounds crazy, but I won't do anything like you guys. Maybe I'll also buy a house in a protected neighborhood and spend little time in the waking world. I'll return to the realm of dreams and get as strong as I can, then I'll challenge a second nightmare seed."

I was also surprised by her answer; it seems that their perception of a comfortable life is very different from mine, but I guess it's normal since I come from a calm and ordinary world.

I noticed Ludwin looking at her with a strange expression and then spoke.

"I will also challenge a second nightmare, but first I plan to enjoy a luxurious life with my family. What about your parents? Won't you go see them or announce your return alive?"

'Idiot, think a bit; if she didn't mention anyone, it's because she's on bad terms with her family or doesn't have one.'

And as I feared, Sasha responded.

"Oh, I don't have a family; they all died due to a second-category gate that opened near my house. The awakened who were supposed to help arrived too late; they were from the Valor clan, and it seems they arrived late because one of the awakened wanted to ignore the call for help on their communicators."

They should have educated him better at home, for the dead gods' sake, Ludwin, you're an idiot.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It doesn't matter, I've already gotten over it. I don't care if you ask."

An awkward silence formed for a moment before I spoke again.

"Well, regarding your second nightmare, you can let me know; I'll join you. I may want to live peacefully, but I also want to get stronger. Do you want to know what I aim to achieve?"

I looked at them with a smile on my face, and Isac spoke.

"Let me guess, you want to become a saint, right? You're crazy." He said, with a sarcastic tone.

"Well, you're not entirely wrong, but also not quite right. I don't want to be a saint; I aim to be something much higher."

They all gave me strange looks, as if they were looking at a madman or an idiot.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? I'm serious. But that's for the future; if I want to achieve my goal, I must be at least sacred. That's how crazy my purpose is."

They looked at me even more incredulously than before, and this time Ludwin spoke.

"Friend, you're really crazy or missing a brain. There are barely any saints, the pinnacle of humanity, and you want to be something stronger? What a joke." Ludwin said, with a sarcastic and mocking tone.

"Think what you want. For now, I will aim to become a saint, and after that, I will go for more. So Sasha, I'd like to join you when you challenge the second nightmare."

She looked me in the eyes and responded.

"Don't worry, I would have asked you anyway."

...

The night passed quickly and without fights; the cohort was able to rest, and now we were about to look on the other side of the immense skeletal remains. We were about to reach the highest point and then look towards Ashen Barrow.

After a few minutes of climbing and walking, we managed to reach the upper end of the column.

The expected view was; a giant island raised hundreds of meters above a barren and lifeless land made of ashes, on the island, a titanic tree decorating the center of the island and surrounded by green grass, fruits hanging from the immense tree, and a demon guarding the area.

But... reality was somewhat disappointing. Although, in a way, it was also better than expected.

At a certain distance, the labyrinth seemed to lose color. The crimson sheets of coral remained gray and deformed, as if they had been affected by some unknown disease and stripped of all life. The stone-like material seemed brittle and fragile, ready to crumble at any moment.

The patch of dead coral stretched as far as the eye could see. Further on, the walls of the labyrinth seemed to have collapsed into a sea of gray ash sand. This ashen wasteland looked so strange.

To the west, where everyone's gaze, including mine, was directed, there was only one high point. It was the island I wanted to see since I entered the Forgotten Coast.

It was a hill, the tallest I had ever seen, even in my two short lives. That hill was formed of dead coral, it looked like a mountain of ash, and at its center, stood the giant tree.

Its leaves were as red as blood and its trunk as black as the dark sea.

Completely different from my imagination.

That's right, that hill with the demonic tree was Ashen Barrow