Chapter 71: Fragments of the Continent
Under the influence of the Chaos Runes, the Abyss of Anos was undergoing a cataclysmic transformation.
These so-called runes were the embodiment of concepts; their very existence signified a certain power. Now, as more and more chaotic forces gathered in the sky, merging with the abyssal aura seeping from the rift, the entire Great Maelstrom seemed to transform into another world.
It was the chaotic nothingness that existed at the dawn of creation, intertwined with the chaotic destruction that followed the end of all things. The two entangled, giving rise to all sorts of terrifying mutations.
If one looked from the sky toward the sea, they would see a black, transparent film enveloping the entire central Great Maelstrom. The turbulent waves stirred by the vortex were tightly bound within the maelstrom by the runes' power. The storms and dark clouds in the entire Abyss of Anos dissipated at a visible rate, and sunlight once again shone upon this sea.
But in contrast, the central Great Maelstrom was completely shrouded by the black film, isolated from the outside world.
This earth-shattering change was felt far more acutely by the *Time Vessel*, which was at the edge of the Great Maelstrom, than by any other entity. Just as Joshua issued the order to charge into the center of the maelstrom, the ninth Chaos Rune coalesced in the sky. The bizarre ritual was already more than a third complete, beginning to exert a fraction of its power to influence this world.
Within the film, the material world composed of the four elements—wind, fire, water, and earth—began to fade. All colors gradually vanished, and the sky, earth, and sea turned into shades of black and white. At the same time, heat was drained from the air, the surging waves froze, and massive, unyielding icebergs began to form within the rapidly churning vortex. These icebergs, moving at nearly two hundred meters per second, hurtled toward the "tiny" ark, as if intent on grinding it to dust.
"It's starting to target us."
Paying no heed to those hundreds-of-meters-tall icebergs, Robzek snorted coldly. He first looked up at the indescribable runes slowly rotating in the sky, then lowered his gaze, staring into the pitch-black center of the Great Maelstrom.
"Is that all? How laughable."
So spoke the paladin.
At the edge of the vortex, a glimmer of light suddenly burst forth, flickering like a silver star in the sky. The next instant, this seemingly illusory silver light surged violently. A magnificent holy light transformed into a massive cross-shaped warhammer, as if grasped by an invisible giant hand, and then smashed fiercely toward the surrounding icebergs.
The hundreds-of-meters-tall icebergs shattered into countless fragments. However, the flying ice shards still contained terrifying chaotic power. If an ordinary person were to come into contact with them, they would at least fall seriously ill, leaving some lingering aftereffects. But then, two different kinds of holy light rose from the ark, blocking all the remaining ice debris.
Thus, the pure white ark, enveloped by crimson battle qi and lightning mana, broke through all the ice layers under the protection of holy light, advancing from the outer edge of the vortex all the way down to its middle section.
If it were an ordinary ship, even if it could withstand the terrifying vortex of the central Great Maelstrom in the Abyss of Anos, it would never have enough power to travel forward. It would helplessly spin with the vortex, only to be swallowed by the central funnel after dozens of minutes. But the *Time Vessel* was different. Aboard it were two Ultimate-rank, three Gold-rank, and the ark's Mana Core and Fusion Core Heart output rivaled that of an Ultimate-rank. With everyone holding nothing back, even a dozens-of-kilometers-wide maelstrom could not stop them. The entire ark almost skimmed across the sea surface like it was flying, barely resisting the vortex's force.
However, amidst the surging waves, countless solid ice blocks and deep-sea reef fragments continuously battered the holy light barrier. The three church members could only shatter the threatening ones and ignore the less dangerous ones. Layers of giant waves, under immense force, slammed into the hexagonal white shield like steel plates, causing ripples but failing to breach it.
Seeming to realize that such minor problems wouldn't trouble them, the tenth Chaos Rune completed its condensation in the sky.
Instantly, the eerie power enveloping this sea area intensified significantly. The holy light barrier around the *Time Vessel* shrank by a full circle, and the ark's hull groaned under the pressure.
"Damn it! The ritual is accelerating! We have to break through the vortex's center before the eleventh rune forms!"
Loranda shouted, her expression solemn. "If we wait until the twelfth rune appears, the entire space will be completely sealed off. Even the church's teleportation array won't be able to pull us back!"
"Then speed up! Joshua, you're in charge of the direction! Faina, maintain the barrier! Everyone else, brace yourselves—this is going to get rough!"
Robzek roared, his holy light blazing as he reinforced the ark's defenses.
Joshua gritted his teeth, his hands gripping the steering mechanism tightly. The *Time Vessel* was now almost vertically "flying" into the center of the Great Maelstrom. The surrounding seawater, due to the rapid rotation, was tilted at nearly ninety degrees. The ark slid down along the inner wall of the vortex, which was already generating endless shockwaves, rapidly approaching the pitch-black abyssal rift.
The *Time Vessel*'s barrier could no longer withstand this level of impact. The once pristine, scratchless hull now bore numerous terrifying dents. Some outer deck plates even broke off, falling into the sea, where they were torn into countless fragments.
The spatial rift connecting two worlds, containing deep, dark emptiness, appeared to be just a thin line, but in reality, it was nearly a kilometer long and over a hundred meters wide. It was the center of the central Great Maelstrom in the Abyss of Anos, and also the cause of its existence. Countless corrupted seawater poured from it into another world, forming this massive vortex.
At this moment, above the Great Maelstrom, the eleventh rune condensed in the clouds. This was close to half of the total runes in the ritual. After this rune formed, the elemental forces that composed all things began to become chaotic. The world's outer shell twisted, and as layers of black clouds dissipated, a moon hung in the center of the sky.
But this moon was not the silver twin moons of the Mycroft Continent. Its color was gloomy, like blood beginning to coagulate but not yet fully forming into a scab—a dark red. Its light shone upon the seawater of the Great Maelstrom, instantly transforming it into layers of towering blood-red waves.
Space-time was displaced. The world inside the black film had completely sunk into a certain layer of the Abyss. The gloomy moon of that Abyssal plane projected part of its power, causing all things to decay and fall.
Under the guidance of the Chaos Runes, this black moon cast down a beam of light like blood, shooting straight toward the *Time Vessel*. At this moment, unlike before, Joshua had no spare energy to change the ark's direction. He could only grit his teeth and channel his battle qi, making the speed even faster.
"Use core dissolution! Full power ahead!"
Inside the captain's cabin, the red-haired old man roared orders. Beside him, many weaker crew members had fainted from the violent shaking and the surrounding abyssal aura. Only the Silver mid-to-high-rank first mate and elite crew could barely hold on.
"Yes! Mana engine overload! Detonate core particles! Full speed ahead!"
The surviving technical personnel immediately followed the captain's orders to adjust. Instantly, the ark's engine roared to life. At the heart of the *Time Vessel*, the massive Mana Core began to operate under overload. The core magic particles maintaining its energy transport were completely detonated. Within a few minutes, the giant ship's power system would, at the cost of self-destruction, burst forth with several times its normal energy.
"Boom! Crack! Boom——————"
At the bottom of the *Time Vessel*, the now-useless watertight compartments were instantly shattered by this immense force. Next came the lower cabins where Hei and Faina had originally lived. The violent mana released by the core dissolution forcefully propelled the ark forward, at the cost of the entire hull gradually collapsing.
The Church of the Seven Gods had long anticipated a similar scenario. They had made all plans. As long as the core array at the ark's center wasn't destroyed, they could pull everyone back. The hull's integrity was completely unimportant.
With this power boost, in just an instant, the white ark, which was about to be caught by the blood-colored light, shattered as it turned into a blur, hurtling toward the abyssal rift.
In Joshua's view, the pitch-black rift ahead grew larger and larger, and the dark aura within became more solid. At this moment, his heart was filled with excitement. This charge was far more thrilling than any of his previous assaults—in his past life, there hadn't been such a large ship for a warrior to ride!
Just as the *Time Vessel* entered the space-time rift, at the very center of the battered hull, the best-preserved area, a warm, holy force suddenly lit up. It enveloped the entire ark like water, forming a peculiar oval shield.
The next moment, the *Time Vessel* completely vanished into the space-time rift, and the blood-colored moonlight that had been chasing them slowly dissipated due to the loss of its target.
In the sky, the twelfth Chaos Rune slowly condensed.
Mixed with immeasurable surging tides, the ark completely entered the space-time rift. Standing at the bow, Joshua could only see everything flashing by around the *Time Vessel*, appearing and disappearing. Through the transparent holy light membrane, he saw the scenery on the other side of the rift. It was a crimson world. A blood moon hung in the sky. Countless floating peaks suspended in the air, while below was an endless void.
Between the massive floating peaks, there was nothing connecting them. Many of the peaks had already shattered into countless dust particles floating in the sky. The space-time rift opened above them, and pitch-black seawater gushed out from the rift, forming a huge waterfall cascading toward the bottom of this Abyssal plane.
And a battered pure white ark passed through the rift, appearing in midair. Unlike the seawater, it used the acceleration from the previous core dissolution and the power of Joshua and Faina to arc through the air, flying toward a rocky peak composed of black stone.
"We're going to crash!"
Loranda's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the black stone mountain growing larger before her eyes—in reality, this thing was as massive as a medium-sized island; calling it a mountain was an understatement—but no matter what, it was terrifying. Although the *Time Vessel* was sturdy, if it crashed into a peak made of pure stone at this speed, it would definitely shatter.
"Stop talking, Loranda! Focus!"
Robzek roared. He immediately raised his hand, and countless holy light runes surged around him. The golden paladin also snapped to attention, simultaneously channeling holy light and battle qi, beginning to gather frantically.
Just as the battered ark was about to crash into the stone island, two massive wheels of light formed by holy light appeared on either side of the *Time Vessel*. These wheels struck the black hard rock first, smashing countless rock fragments, and then rapidly spun using this force, carrying the ark forward at high speed.
Thus, the *Time Vessel* became like a bizarre ship-shaped two-wheeled vehicle, rolling rapidly into the interior of this floating island like an emergency landing. Dozens of seconds later, the terrifying impact force from the sky was eliminated through this strange method, and the ark thus fully entered the depths of this floating island.
Along the way, the ground shattered piece by piece under the crushing impact of the wheels. Rock surged outward like waves, and the entire black stone ground was plowed into a long, deep trench, extending in a straight line.
At the bottom of a long, vast canyon, the *Time Vessel* slowly came to a stop. The people on the deck, who had been tossed around terribly and nearly thrown off, all breathed a sigh of relief. Hill was quietly held in Faina's arms, while the Sea Dragon lady had both feet embedded in the deck, resisting the terrifying shaking.
The three church members had all used holy light to fix themselves in place, embedded like iron nails into the hull, so they weren't thrown off. Joshua was about the same, except he had a nearly fainted black dragon girl hanging on him. Hei hadn't let go even during that violent shaking; instead, she held on even tighter.
Inside the cabin, almost all the crew had fainted. Some had even been seriously injured by the shaking. But no one could take care of them now; they could only leave it to fate.
Shaking his head to clear it a bit, Joshua looked around. This was a massive canyon with no end in sight, and the ark was at its bottom, about a kilometer deep. Both sides of the canyon and the ground were composed of eerie black rock.
Since everyone was still catching their breath, the warrior took the lead in carefully observing the surrounding terrain. But as he looked, he couldn't help but feel something was off—the bottom of this canyon was too smooth, as if polished by something. Except for the trench plowed by the ark, there were no depressions or protrusions at all. This was a phenomenon impossible to form naturally.
Recalling the fleeting glimpse he had in midair when the *Time Vessel* landed, Joshua suddenly realized that these floating islands in the sky seemed to be fragments of a complete continent. And this huge canyon on the stone island looked more like a massive scar—a scar left by some weapon's strike!
Taking a slight breath, the warrior followed his imagination and thought deeper, unable to help but feel shocked. If everything was as he thought, then how brutal must the battle that took place in this Abyssal plane have been? To the point where the continent shattered, and the remaining scar turned into a canyon a kilometer deep?!