Chapter 44: Omens of the World's End
"This is by no means a common phenomenon."
Not long after, the gravitational anomaly subsided. Claire, who had been floating slightly due to her lighter weight, descended back to the ground. She steadied herself, then shook her head and said to Joshua and the others, "This is no elemental plane of earth. Stable gravity is one of the fundamentals of a world's existence. Its alteration signifies the approaching end of that world."
Shaking her head with some regret, the elven druid gazed at this small world and spoke in a tone almost like a sigh, "According to elven records, the destruction of a world is preceded by several omens. The first omen is the extinguishing of the First Flame.
"At the deepest core of every world, a First Flame shines, providing the power for its existence. When the First Flame goes out, it proves that the world is heading towards true annihilation. Otherwise, even if the heavens and earth collapse, it is merely a rebirth.
"The second omen is the freezing or evaporation of all oceans. The water cycle disappears from the world, and countless spatial rifts appear alongside it.
"The third is the atmosphere filling with toxic gases, energy drying up, spells completely losing their effect, and battle qi gradually dissipating... All of nature is destroyed along with it, and living beings go extinct.
"The fourth step is the overturning of the earth... gravity ceases to exist, and all things disintegrate.
"The existence of fire, the space-time of water, the energy of air, and the matter of earth—their disorder means the world is beginning to collapse from its very foundations. Now, the increasingly frequent steel rain and gravitational imbalances prove that this world is rapidly marching towards destruction."
Having said this, Claire looked around, her gaze serious as she fixed it on Joshua, Moria, and Lin. She spoke with a rare solemnity, "We need to leave this world as quickly as possible. In a little while, even the space-time passages might become unusable, and we'll all be swallowed by the world's end. If necessary, we should even attempt a random teleportation. Ending up in some other unknown world is still better than staying here."
"But the problem is, according to what this artificial intelligence said, no matter what kind of space-time gate it is, there are bound to be Wild God nests nearby." The old dwarf subconsciously ground his teeth, frowning. "The last time you saw a Wild God was probably over a hundred years ago, but I see their forms every day when I look up. Their numbers and terror are etched into my memory. If it were just one nest, it might be manageable, but not every space-time gate leads to Mycroft. That means we need to break through many Wild God nests just to find a space-time passage that leads to Mycroft."
Having said this, Moria shook his head. "Troublesome."
Meanwhile, Joshua directly asked No. 3, "How many Wild Gods are there in each nest, roughly?"
"The numbers aren't that large. The smaller ones have only tens of thousands, but the larger ones can have up to millions," No. 3 replied in detail. "Most of them aren't very strong, but a few are exceptionally huge, like mountains. Those are very powerful and troublesome. Even I have to detour around them and avoid contact."
As she spoke, she projected an image of this type of Wild God.
Joshua raised an eyebrow. He could tell at a glance that the powerful Wild God the artificial intelligence mentioned was of the same kind as the Ultimate Wild God that appeared in the Moldavia space-time gate—perhaps even the very same one. Thinking of this, he subconsciously clenched his fist. "There must be a space-time gate leading to the Mycroft Continent nearby. Otherwise, it couldn't have appeared there... No. 3, how many of these powerful Wild Gods are there in the vicinity?"
"If we're talking about the Great Plains, there's only one."
"Then it's confirmed. There's a space-time gate leading to Mycroft on the Great Plains."
The logic was simple. Wild Gods gathered near space-time passages, and the warrior had been transported to the Great Plains. This meant the connection between Mycroft and Carlis was near the Great Plains. Moreover, the only Ultimate Wild God on the Great Plains had appeared in the Moldavia space-time gate. Now, all they had to do was find the location of that Ultimate Wild God, and they would naturally find the space-time gate leading to Mycroft.
Whether it was sealed or not, at least the possibility was much greater than searching blindly.
"Good. If you have any other information, please be sure to tell me."
Joshua knew there was no need for pleasantries when talking to an artificial intelligence. Even if No. 3 had intelligence, it was different from a normal human's. Their logic was abnormal. If he had any questions or needs, he should just state them directly. They didn't understand politeness or subtlety.
The reason he had been so urgent earlier was that there was no water or food on the desolate plains, so he needed to find a suitable source of supplies as quickly as possible. Now that they had arrived at the ecological circulation zone within the great pyramid, Joshua felt somewhat relieved. With water and food—plant bark and roots counted as food—time was no longer so pressing. Based on his knowledge from his previous life, with a little more time, and with the help of Claire, a spellcaster, and No. 3, creating a small space-time gate wouldn't be too difficult.
But now, according to Claire, the world was on the verge of destruction. That meant it was no longer the time to calmly tinker with space-time gates. Safe methods always required ample time.
"Tens of thousands of Wild Gods... at the very least."
After hearing Lin's relay, Moria turned his head to glance at Joshua, his brow deeply furrowed. "If it's a small nest, the three of us at Gold-rank might be able to try it. Joshua, you're a Chaos Warden, which gives you an advantage over Wild Gods. With my and Claire's help, defeating them wouldn't be too hard. But any more than that, and it becomes dangerous."
"Can we go around them? Or sneak past and avoid them?"
Claire offered a suggestion. "Avoid direct combat. I can cast Deep Invisibility and Natural Camouflage. We could give it a try."
"Impossible."
Joshua shook his head. Looking at the detailed terrain map provided by No. 3, he said, "Look, most of the space-time gates are in the center of the nests. Try to go around them? Even though Wild Gods have no brains, they won't have much trouble detecting us. As for invisibility spells, they're useless against Wild Gods, which have no eyes and rely solely on sensing the power of order."
As the three were discussing, No. 3 suddenly interjected, "You want to go to a Wild God nest?"
The artificial intelligence seemed somewhat interested. "There's actually no need. If you want to see Wild Gods, you'll get your chance soon enough. Every time a gravitational imbalance occurs, many Wild Gods come to attack the fortress. Based on my estimates, it won't be long now."
"...You should have mentioned that information earlier, No. 3."
Pausing for a moment, then sighing, Joshua turned back to look at the unarmed Moria and Claire, and could only say helplessly, "Do you have any weapons?"
"Yes."
Joshua's question was direct and blunt, and No. 3 was even more straightforward than the warrior. She directly mobilized the fortress's mana, pulled out a white spear and a brown staff from somewhere, suspended them with mana, and handed them to Joshua. "Since the descent of the Evil Gods, all weapons designed for use against Wild Gods have been sealed. Only a few can still be used. These two are among the few good weapons that remain."
Joshua took them, then promptly handed the sharp spear to Moria and the brown staff to Claire. The old dwarf swung the spear and shook his head. "Not a hammer or a battle axe... Oh well, it'll do."
The elf was less talkative. She simply flicked the staff in her hand. The green light that emerged from its tip formed the shape of a pitcher plant, then transformed into the image of a man-eating tree. Claire nodded in satisfaction. "Surprisingly decent."
Beside Joshua, Lin stood on tiptoe and whispered softly to the warrior, "These weapons have a similar aura to my kind, but there's a much stronger presence of Divine Mechanisms nearby..."
He trailed off, then shrugged and fell silent. According to No. 3, the surrounding area was a storage zone, so it was perfectly normal for there to be many Divine Mechanisms. After a thousand years had passed, it was already quite impressive that they could still produce two functional weapons. It showed that this artificial intelligence had been diligently maintaining them.
"Unlike you, these prototype Divine Mechanisms can't withstand the erosion of the Evil God's aura, so it's not good to take them out for use. These anomalies that can ignore the Evil God's erosion must be very rare."
Following Lin's words, Joshua stretched his limbs.
"It looks like you want to help me?"
No. 3 still appeared expressionless and very calm. She shook her head. "There's no need. Ordinary Wild Gods can't breach the automatic defense facilities. And those that can..."
"Don't get the wrong idea, artificial intelligence."
Cutting off No. 3's words, Joshua let out a scoff. "I just have an itch to fight. Helping you is just a side benefit."
Having said that, he looked at Lin again. "Are you in good shape? This will be your first battle."
"Looking forward to it, Master."
With a soft laugh, Lin also revealed a smile similar to his master's. "I can't wait."
"..."
After being interrupted, No. 3 was silent for a moment before continuing, "Warrior of order, your weapon's structure is very similar to the anti-Wild God weapons forged by the Carlis people. However, the runes and mana circuits are slightly different. Both are made from crystals left behind by Wild Gods."
The flow of mana around this artificial intelligence twisted slightly, as if she were observing in detail. "Giving the weapon an artificial soul to resist the Evil God's erosion... this surpasses the Carlis people. But there are still a few imperfections. After we repel the Wild Gods, I will give you the relevant data to perfect this weapon."
"Thank you... You can call me Joshua."
After thanking her, Joshua realized he hadn't told No. 3 his name. He then introduced everyone.
"...The pronunciation of your names is truly peculiar."
After repeating the full names of Moria, Claire, and the others, No. 3 shook her head in a human-like manner. After a moment of silence, she said, "The Wild Gods' attack is about to begin. Do you really want to go outside and watch? I must warn you, Wild Gods are extremely dangerous."
"Of course."
This time, it wasn't Joshua who spoke, but Moria, who said in a deep voice. The old dwarf's face was stern. "How can we raid a Wild God nest without knowing their combat capabilities in another world? We must gather some information during this battle."
Since Joshua and the others had made up their minds, No. 3 no longer tried to dissuade them. She gave a slight bow, and her projection gradually faded, but her calm voice still echoed before them. "Then I will not stop you. There is an emergency passage on the left that leads directly to the outside of the fortress. I have granted you the corresponding permissions."
No. 3's projection disappeared completely. Joshua and the others exchanged glances, then, without another word, a machine hummed, gears turned, and an upward passage opened on the left side of the nearby ecological circulation zone.
"Let's go up."
Joshua took the lead into the passage, and the others followed closely behind.
Through the spacious and silent steel corridor, feeling the mana concentration gradually decrease, no one spoke. They advanced in silence.
Soon, the exit appeared.
Stepping out of the exit and into the outside world beyond the fortress's protection, a gust of wind carrying black mist swept past. Joshua erected a crimson battle qi barrier, isolating himself from the outside.
He stood on the steel base and looked into the distance.
A rumbling gale swept across the land. At the edge of the warrior's vision, an inexplicable light rose from the ground, turning into a pillar of light that illuminated the sky. But the chaotic clouds surged, churning the sky into a black vortex, plunging everything into gloom and shadow.
An inexplicable sound echoed through heaven and earth, and a strange tremor began to shake all things. Accompanied by a fierce wind that sounded like a sigh, endless dust was kicked up into waves on the vast, desolate wilderness. As darkness and shadow churned, black-red patterns eroded the earth. They invaded, spread, leaped, and formed vein-like networks.
As if they were the flesh and blood of an Evil God.
Seeing this, Joshua grasped Lin's hand. Claire clutched the ring and the brown staff Joshua had given her. Flames of battle qi ignited in the old dwarf's hands, coating the white spear in a layer of gold.
Lin looked nervously at the black patterns in the distance and whispered a reminder, "Master, they're coming!"
The earth, covered in black patterns, began to tremble violently, splitting open with countless cracks. Black mist surged out from within, and countless Wild Gods condensed from the mist. They gathered into groups, then began to charge, rushing directly towards the colossal fortress before them, which was as tall as a mountain, like a black tide that could destroy everything.
Joshua swept his gaze over the gathering Wild God army, rushing in like a tidal wave, as if recalling something.
"It's been a long time since I've seen such a grand scene."
The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing gleaming white teeth, and he smiled.
(To be continued.)
...