Simon walked towards the passage ahead, going straight and ignoring the tiered platforms and entrances on both sides.
Tall arches were formed by stacks of black books, creating a staggered effect due to their uneven piling, with edges protruding like thorns.
A peculiar, indescribable smell permeated the air, like a sewage pond full of duckweed steaming under the sun, a mix of decaying fungi and a faint fishy odor, much like an abandoned seafood market where mountains of goods slowly decompose and release their stench, though slightly milder.
The most terrifying aspect of this dreadful smell was its hidden hallucinatory quality; after a few breaths, the stench would quickly fade, gradually replaced by a fragrance, as if a fermenting, festering cellar had been sprinkled with fresh flowers and spices, masking its sinister nature.
The sea mist would also drift into these passages and rooms; often, standing in one spot and looking into the distance, one couldn't discern details, as the vapor would slowly permeate clothing and skin, causing a faint tingling sensation, as if countless insects were crawling into pores with the mist, taking root and multiplying.
The scattered pages on the ground were covered with incomprehensible text; upon closer inspection, it was noticeable that each page had forty lines, with approximately eighty words per line.
The paper, made of various materials such as papyrus, bamboo, wood pulp, or parchment, was uniformly yellowed; only by touch could their differences be distinguished.
There seemed to be a homogenizing quality here, capable of assimilating disparate things, erasing their individuality, and embedding them in this chaotic state.
At the end of the passage, there were other walkways on both sides.
Simon paused, looking out from the hollowed-out window in front of him into a large hall, with high steps leading up in the distance, and a square object placed on the highest stone platform.
Simon took the left passage, soon reaching its end.
To his right was the hall's door, also hollowed out and gleaming with a chitinous sheen, similar to the windows.
Beside the door was a strange, unnatural plant, like a small golden lantern, with several branches growing upwards, intertwining to form an empty groove, and another branch rising high, with a glowing orb suspended at its end.
Simon gently touched the lantern-like orb; the sphere dropped into the empty slot, and the door opened.
The Troll stepped into the hall.
By the steps in the distance, two terrifying creatures roamed freely, their appearance at first glance resembling a mass of grey-yellow, slimy octopus tentacles, draped with leathery cloaks that almost touched the ground.
Their bodies were slender, wrinkled insect-like torsos, floating, with a swirling mouthpart on their abdomen and two pairs of long, thin, withered arms on their sides.
Their heads were starfish-like, with long tentacles hanging down, swaying from side to side, rubbing against each other, dripping slippery liquid.
Daedric creatures, Seekers.
The two Seekers noticed Simon's arrival and immediately cast an invisibility spell; amidst a burst of blue-violet and golden-red spiritual light, their forms vanished.
Simon's entire body glowed with a verdant light, his tattoos fully activated.
The Seekers moved silently.
Suddenly, a dark green whirlwind blew from behind Simon, moving extremely fast.
Simon immediately leaped sideways to dodge the attack, and the Seeker, revealed by its active attack, briefly appeared behind a tall pillar of books.
Before Simon could pursue, it vanished into invisibility once more.
Now, it was a mage's duel.
The strange scent in the air numbed the Troll's sense of smell; he could not detect the two Seekers' positions and could only passively defend, constantly dodging the endless whirlwinds.
Each whirlwind was the size of a millstone, moving back and forth; the two Seekers almost drowned Simon in a sea of gales.
These wind-spirals possessed a malicious quality; Simon felt the tingling sensation on his skin intensify.
Seizing an opportunity, Simon threw his great axe, carving a deadly spiral, and brutally struck one of the Seekers.
It was hit but let out no scream, merely falling weakly to the ground, unable to maintain its levitation.
The other Seeker became even more cautious, no longer attacking Simon, but maintaining its invisibility.
Simon strode over and hacked the first Seeker to death, extracting its soul, and immediately twisting it into an undead.
Until the entire process was over, the other Seeker made no movement, seemingly having escaped.
The newly formed Daedric Undead flew into the air, circled once, and then suddenly unleashed a ghostly blue whirlwind into the corner of the hall.
Simon followed the whirlwind with a charge; the second Seeker had not left.
It was struck by the whirlwind, breaking its invisibility, and was then mercilessly bisected by the Troll's axe.
However, after falling, the Seeker's body slowly turned into nothingness—it was a clone.
Suddenly, two more cyclones flew out of the shadows; two Seekers appeared, and it was unclear which was real, which was fake, or if both were fake.
Simon raised his hand and cast Sleeve Flying Swallow, while he himself dodged the attack with a side-lunge.
Of the Seekers hit, one vanished, and the other oozed black blood, swaying unsteadily, before being struck by a successive axe blow and rendered motionless.
The second Daedric Undead.
Like human undead, they possessed high intelligence and could be cultivated, so they were also numbered, now reaching number nineteen.
With the hall cleared, Simon walked onto the high platform, where an open vista allowed him to see the eerie sky and sea of Apocrypha without obstruction.
On the platform was a book stand, upon which lay a heavy tome.
The Dark Tome.
In the game, the Dark Tome is a divine artifact of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora, allowing one to enter Apocrypha by reading it.
Within Apocrypha, there are other physical copies of the Tome, which, when read, grant powerful skills or permanent beneficial effects.
Additionally, some Tomes also function as portals, transporting the reader to different chapters of Apocrypha.
Simon carefully examined the cover; the black pages were as heavy as stone slabs, with a luster like some biological hide, and deep engravings on its surface.
Complex, unknown runes and intricate geometric patterns formed a dark emblem, like a sinister eye.
He opened the book.
The yellowed pages were covered with text and illustrations, yet he couldn't understand them.
After turning a few more pages, a dark green light suddenly emanated from the paper, and the observer felt a moment of disorientation, as if the world before his eyes was rapidly inverting and reorganizing.
When he regained his senses, many black, sac-like objects floated on the ocean outside the hall, like black holes, from which eyeballs emerged, extending tentacles.
Simon felt the auditory hallucinations in his ears intensify sharply; countless sounds converged, tones, syllables, and timbres constantly mixing.
The tingling sensation on his skin escalated into sharp pain, as if long needles were stirring his bone marrow.
His cheeks and exposed skin were filled with a burning sensation, and the pain had layers.
Staring at the eyeballs emerging from the sacs, they were chaotic and unnameable, some like lizards, some like lions or tigers, bizarre and varied.
Some had multiple pupils, haphazardly connected; some eyeballs seemed like fertilized eggs halfway through division, conjoined and unable to separate, trembling.
Among the countless sacs, the one in the center was the largest, and the eyeball floating within it was also the largest, constantly blinking, with grey-yellow whites and two dark green pupils—forming an ∞ shape.
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