Chapter 63: Step Aside, Let Me Handle This
This was a world of scorched earth.
The sky was obscured by gray smoke and dust, the sun's light visible only as a dim yellow dot. Upon the land, forests were burning, hills and grasslands charred black. Countless corpses of humans and beasts lay scattered among them. Through the gray haze, one could only see seven enormous teleportation gates standing atop the distant peaks, crimson light projecting from them like seven dim suns.
Looking through the teleportation gates, one could see a blood-red sky and lakes of molten lava, along with an unbroken chain of ferocious fortresses built from bone and black iron. Countless winged monsters roared within them.
This was precisely the layer of the [Abyss] closest to the Mycroft Continent—the scene of the Molten Sea Fire Hell. Those ferocious fortresses were the camps of the Demon Lord's army.
Joshua's consciousness floated in midair. He gazed at this scene, his crimson pupils reflecting the burning flames. The warrior remained silent. Aside from the crackling sounds of the burning forest, all around was utter stillness.
This stillness persisted until another fluctuation of consciousness appeared beside him.
"Unexpectedly, you too have witnessed the opening of the Abyss Gate…"
A voice materialized out of thin air. It was ethereal and holy, carrying echoes as if spoken by many people simultaneously. Its tone was full of surprise: "Did you also live through that era? Or can you see the future?"
"Who are you?"
Without answering the other's question, Joshua did not turn around. He stared at the seven colossal teleportation gates in the distance and asked in a calm tone: "Showing me this illusion—what do you want?"
"This is not an illusion, inheritor of the Sage's power."
The voice spoke slowly: "This is a scene you have either experienced or witnessed. All I did was provide a 'blank' setting, and you recalled it."
"...Regardless, whatever your purpose, just say it quickly."
The other party bore no ill will—that was why Joshua could patiently communicate with this voice. But patience had its limits. The warrior turned sideways, looking toward the direction of the voice, and said impatiently: "My companions are waiting for me to wake up. Now is not the time to dawdle."
Through his own will, Joshua could perceive the outside world. A black dragon was galloping across the land, leaping over hills and canyons, forests and ruins. Countless rock giants and flying stone demons chased closely behind it. On the dragon's back, the paladin frowned, using various methods to try and wake him. Ying and Lin also attempted to communicate through their contracts with him, but to no effect.
His body had already fully healed under the effect of the Azure Orb. The feedback from destroying the Thunder Mountain was so immense that even a near-fatal injury was now completely fine. The reason he could not wake was entirely because his soul was trapped in this illusion.
In the direction from which the ethereal voice came, there was only a cluster of green light. Unlike Joshua's humanoid form, which was identical to reality, this green light flickered with countless faces—some majestic, some benevolent. Facing this light cluster, the warrior narrowed his eyes and said flatly: "Moreover, if you hadn't suddenly transmitted a message while I was retreating, I might not have been injured."
"That was an unfortunate accident, warrior. I did not know you were at a critical moment… You will wake up, of course, but not now."
This voice seemed not to have heard the hidden threat in Joshua's tone. As before, it spoke slowly: "The place your companions are heading to is perfectly safe. There are no Chaos Monsters in that direction. It is also the only place that can salvage the current situation… As for now, warrior, do you not wish to know what is really going on in this world?"
"...It seems you are quite familiar with the current situation."
After a moment of silence, Joshua raised an eyebrow. A smile of interest appeared on his face: "Speak."
"I happen to be completely in the dark about this."
Ilgna World, on the great plains.
To avoid attacks from the stone demons, Black led the group in a swift advance. But it seemed the enemy could sense their presence. The half-dragon could not shake off the pursuit of the rock giants. More and more soldiers followed behind them, and even many other types of stone demons had joined the chase.
For instance, flying stone demons—dense enough to blot out the sky.
Black's speed far surpassed ordinary stone demons, let alone the slow-moving rock giants. But the flying stone demons were exceptionally fast. Coupled with the half-dragon occasionally needing to detour around complex terrain, the distance between them kept shrinking.
"Black, can you go any faster?"
On the dragon's back, Lin stared at the flying stone demons, which looked like a dark cloud behind them, and urged the half-dragon urgently: "The stone demons are about to catch up!"
Black let out a long roar, and the golden core on its chest flickered. It wasn't that it didn't want to go faster—but any faster, and it couldn't guarantee stability on its back. Everyone might be thrown off.
With things as they were, there was no good solution. As time passed, the flying stone demons in the sky were nearly upon the half-dragon, who was running at full speed. Several massive figures burst out from the churning clouds. They resembled gargoyles, with bat-like wings. These stone demons seemed to be evolved forms of ordinary flying stone demons. They screeched as they charged at the half-dragon, spewing beams of lightning-wreathed energy from their mouths, bombarding the group.
"Dodge right!"
"Speed up!"
Since Black couldn't see the direction of the beams coming from behind, Ying and Lin had to observe and tell it where to dodge. The two and the dragon worked in perfect tacit understanding, coordinating well. As a result, most of the beams missed, striking the ground and kicking up shockwaves and dust.
But one beam arced in a strange angle. By the time Ying and Lin sensed this beam was different from the others, it was too late to warn. It buzzed with a humming vibration and struck the half-dragon's flank. Lightning flashed, and Black let out a pained roar.
That strike was like lightning, bringing intense heat and a numbing, stabbing pain. Even though Black's carapace had strong magic resistance, it still felt immense agony. But to avoid affecting the paladin and others on its back, it endured the pain and kept running forward. However, its speed slowed considerably. More flying stone demons closed in. The situation was critical.
"No time left. We can only rely on luck and hope this guy wakes up soon!"
Facing such a dangerous situation, Loranda, who was still trying to wake Joshua, had to temporarily abandon the attempt. He chanted a holy word and summoned his great shield and warhammer from the void.
The divine art [Soul Armament] could turn weapons or armor of a certain mass into intangible forms, stored in a divine art space. This allowed paladins to use their weapons to fight no matter how harsh the conditions. Facing the rain of lightning beams, he leaped into the air, wielding his giant shield and cross-shaped warhammer to swiftly block and shatter the dense beams into scattered arcs of electricity.
"You protect Joshua. Leave this to me for now!"
Flying back onto Black's back, Loranda briefly instructed Ying and Lin. Then he took off again, fending off the stone demons' relentless attacks.
Against these Chaos Monsters, the paladin displayed astonishing combat skills. Using holy light and battle qi, he flew and blocked every attack aimed at Black. Occasionally, a stone demon got close to him, only to be shattered by his warhammer, which blazed with sacred light.
If Loranda were not currently without armor, forcing him to avoid certain powerful magical attacks, his performance would have been even more outstanding.
But no matter how strong the paladin was, he was only one person. More and more flying stone demons closed in from the air, gradually pushing him, who had been handling things with ease, into a tough fight.
Moreover, as the mana in the atmosphere grew denser, these stone demons, which originally had only basic abilities, gradually developed various special powers. Some even possessed abilities that could threaten the paladin. An eagle-shaped stone demon flapped its wings, suddenly vanished, and then appeared behind Loranda. It pecked viciously at the paladin's back, the tip of its sharp stone beak gleaming with a metallic sheen.
That strike could tear even steel apart, let alone a human body. Sensing the danger instinctively, Loranda roared and used a burst of battle qi to forcibly shift his position in midair, dodging the attack. Then, enraged, he swung his giant hammer, smashing the teleporting stone demon into two pieces.
Though the immediate crisis was averted, the situation took a turn for the worse. The rock giants in the distance had disappeared, left behind by Black's speed beyond the horizon. But in the midair, the clouds churned incessantly, as if some massive entity was about to descend.
After blocking several lightning beams, Loranda couldn't help but look up at the sky.
Then, to his shocked eyes, the clouds were torn apart.
An enormous stone demon, like a flying whale, revealed its form.
Unlike the creature-like stone demons around it, this massive flying stone demon was more like an aerial fortress. It had no wings, only a hexagonal, geometric body. The bottom of its body shimmered with bluish mana runes, as if that were the power source for its ability to float in the sky.
Loranda forgot to defend. It wasn't until a bolt of lightning shot straight at his head that he snapped back to reality, raising his shield hastily to block the attack.
Ying stood frozen in place. The silver-haired girl opened her mouth slightly, letting out a cry of surprise. Lin shivered, frowned, and gave a bitter laugh: "What kind of monster is this now?"
He had once gone with Joshua to a famine world full of wild gods, where there were countless enormous monsters. He had even fought alongside the warrior against an Ultimate Wild God as big as a mountain, so he had some resistance to scenes like this.
But even so, it changed nothing.
From the massive aerial fortress came a burst of noise—the same piercing but comprehensible psychic noise as the silver humanoid earlier.
"Coordination Terminal 4 executing purge mission. Targets: five. Estimated number of attacks required for destruction: incalculable."
The voice was stiff and cold, as if it were a pre-recorded announcement from a machine: "Commencing attack—"
As it spoke, the bottom of the fortress began to manifest complex magic circles. They rotated like gears, and then an endless stream of spells rained down from the sky, hurtling toward the half-dragon and its riders.
Fireballs, frost, lightning, and explosions. Invisible shockwaves and blinding white beams. All kinds of attacks poured down like rain. Loranda unleashed his full power, blending holy light with battle qi, concentrating it on his great shield. He even put away his cross-shaped warhammer to focus entirely on using the giant shield to block the various magical assaults.
But for every hundred spells he blocked, the aerial fortress could unleash two hundred. Under the nearly endless magical barrage, the paladin finally reached his limit and was blasted into the ground by a flame impact.
Against such a volume of magical attacks, Black's massive body was a perfect target. No matter how the half-dragon dodged, a few spells always hit. Though the carapace derived from ancient dragon blood had excellent magic resistance, the relentless attacks left Black's body covered in wounds.
Ying and Lin shielded Joshua with their own bodies. As divine mechanisms, they had some power, but they could never withstand spells of this level. Aside from doing this, they had no other choice.
—Was this the end?
—Would they really be purged here, as that aerial fortress had declared?
"Alright, move aside."
A voice came from beneath the divine mechanisms.
Ying and Lin looked down in surprise at the warrior beneath them. Then, with joyful expressions, they quickly moved aside and stood to the side.
Joshua, his face slightly pale, slowly sat up. He stood, looked up at the massive aerial fortress in the sky that was preparing to fire a terrifying beam of light, and took a deep breath.
His voice was a little weak, but firm.
"Let me handle this."
Yintian Yinshen says: Happy New Year, everyone! Year of the Rooster, great fortune! I hope that in the new year, I won't get stuck writing and can produce more and better plotlines for you all!