Chapter 46: Stepping Through the Door
Without a doubt, buried at the foot of Mount Modess was not a relic left by predecessors from the Era of Radiance, but a seal used to suppress the Greater Demons or minions of evil gods that had invaded the Mycroft World back then.
Starting from the Ural Mountains all the way to the Sea of Bewilderment at the end, the entire Northern Lands were the battlefield where the gods once fought against enemies from other worlds. Whether it was the sealed land guarded by the Radcliffe Family or the teleportation array deep beneath the Great Aias Volcano leading to the Ilgena World, all of this proved that point. The space-time in the Northern Lands was so thin that even the magical fluctuations before the Great Magic Tide descended were extremely obvious and unshielded. If there were other places here sealing creations of Chaos or disorder, Joshua would certainly believe it.
Thus, without further ado, he brought Ying, Lin, and Verdani, rushing at several times the speed of sound to the site of the relic in Mount Modess.
The Divine Mechanism siblings were long accustomed to their master's swift and decisive nature, but Verdani was somewhat uncomfortable. She was clearly uneasy in the wind, but regardless, they had now arrived before the relic in the mountain.
Night had deepened. A blizzard mixed with the cold wind howled mournfully in the darkness. Standing within the massive mountain body of Mount Modess, Joshua looked around and saw many traces of artificial carving. Although over a thousand years or even longer had passed, these marks were still clear, as if they had been carved just yesterday.
What kind of decisive personality did this warrior have? Without any hesitation or sentiment, Joshua strode straight along the narrow mountain path deeper inside. His pace was neither fast nor slow, maintaining a steady and vigilant speed, as if ready to burst forth with full force at any moment to face an unknown enemy. The deeper he went, the more obvious the artificial traces became. On the smooth marble walls were engraved lifelike reliefs, depicting a powerful being battling endless tentacles from the depths of the void, cutting off a part of their body and sealing it within the mountain.
Through darkvision, Joshua could clearly see every detail of the reliefs. He could even tell from the carving marks the heavy mood and strength with which the craftsman had created these fine artworks.
The purple-haired female mage and the Divine Mechanism siblings followed Joshua, heading deeper into the mountain's core. By now, they were hundreds of meters below the surface—no longer just the mountain's interior but truly underground. Yet the passage remained narrow and winding, as if it had no end.
A few minutes later, they finally arrived before a massive door.
This door seemed to be carved from obsidian, incredibly heavy. The magical runes on its surface shimmered with light, releasing an imposing aura from ancient times—but it had already been opened, revealing behind it the relic's main body, entirely forged from steel.
"Is this the relic in Mount Modess... the seal?"
Verdani couldn't help but remark. As a Gold Peak mage, she could naturally see the terrifying magical runes inscribed on the obsidian door. If not for the fact that whoever had come here had broken it open with pure brute force at the cost of injury, the purple-haired mage would have had to spend at least several hours deciphering the power of the sealing runes above.
"Correct, this is the relic."
Joshua nodded slightly, looking very certain. He turned to scan his surroundings, and a powerful radiation of life energy spread out, instantly revealing much information: "This sealed place, buried deep underground, uses steel as its shell, forming a perfect circular array shape. There are many ancient runes on it, highly lethal to demons and chaotic forces."
As he spoke, Joshua decisively stepped over the door and entered the relic.
He had nothing to worry about. Joshua possessed the Azure Orb and the power of Order, and his power was purely composed of battle qi and life force. The runic power in the relic, designed to target monsters and evil beings, posed no harm to the warrior; it could only help him comprehend its essence and enhance his strength.
The already opened door naturally couldn't stop the warrior and his group. After entering, they found a long corridor, at the end of which was a vast hall.
In the corridor lay the corpses of several Plague Evil Cult cultists, naked, with traces of defiling spider demons still on them. Many professionals from other factions had also died here, their bodies sliced by streams of pure energy into pieces thinner than sashimi.
"Be careful, Joshua, there are traps here!"
Seeing this, Verdani was startled. She recognized the professionals from the eight major factions who had died here. Most were at the Silver realm, but there was even a Gold-rank expert who had perished without any sign of resistance. This meant the trap defenses in the relic were beyond everyone's imagination, enough to kill Gold-rank and severely wound Ultimate-rank.
But Joshua was busy ensuring the integrity of the seal in Mount Modess and paid no attention to these matters. Too lazy to waste words, he simply reached out a hand.
"Break!"
With a low shout, his immensely powerful life energy, capable of sweeping away mountains, condensed into a scorching deep-red ray that surged forward. Pure life force coalesced, instantly dispelling all magic and elements within the array. The high heat baked the obsidian walls, completely destroying the ancient traps embedded with trap formations.
"These are evocation spell traps."
Only then did Joshua begin to explain, pointing at the pit that had turned into dripping magma. He spoke naturally: "If one steps into them, it's equivalent to enduring attacks from multiple Gold-rank, even Ultimate-rank experts. The remnants of the cultists and Brandon and his group saw through the movement patterns of the runes, which is how they managed to penetrate deep into the mountain unscathed."
The warrior then blew out a breath. A fierce gale swept through, instantly solidifying the magma into a smooth stone path. Joshua walked forward expressionlessly along the path, while Verdani, Ying, and Lin exchanged glances behind him, shook their heads, and quickly followed.
Next, in the main hall, more corpses were scattered. Their flesh had melted away, leaving only pale white bones, making it impossible to tell whether they were cultists or members of the eight major factions.
Seeing this, Joshua's eyes flickered. He shook his head, then released a powerful heat from his entire body, enough to melt ice and steel. The warrior controlled this life energy, like solar radiation, spreading it toward all four sides of the hall. Instantly, four completely different runic arrays appeared on the walls, surging with immense life fluctuations. They even transformed into bolts of lightning and thunder, accumulating incredible power and striking toward Joshua like crashing waves.
"These are traps related to life force, set by an Ultimate-rank expert. They can directly dissolve any being whose life force doesn't meet the standard, turning them into pure life essence."
Seeing this, the warrior explained calmly, as if the lightning before him was nothing serious: "Such traps require mastering their rise and fall cycles, just like a heart's contraction and relaxation. The energy peaks of the traps vary. These dead people had bad luck, encountering the peak at its highest, so they were completely dissolved into scattered bones."
"To break such traps, one must invade them with their own life force, halting them one by one, to safely advance further."
As he spoke, Joshua raised his fist and punched out decisively. His immense life force split into four streams, hurtling toward the runic arrays on the walls. Along the way, lightning dissolved, and everything fell silent. The originally powerful arrays, after taking Joshua's heavy blow, flickered with multicolored arcs of electricity, even emitting crackling sounds of current crossing. In an instant, the four arrays vanished, as if they had completely disappeared.
"Of course, I don't need to be so troublesome."
Having cleanly dealt with another trap, Joshua continued striding forward toward the depths of the relic, leaving Verdani and the Divine Mechanism siblings standing there, dumbfounded.
"Another punch..."
The purple-haired mage looked somewhat dazed. Although she had long known of the warrior's strength, she hadn't expected Joshua to be this powerful. After all, every opening of an ancient relic was fraught with danger and calamity. Even an explorer master who had spent a lifetime traversing desolate mountains might not be able to handle the traps along the way so easily.
But Joshua used brute force to overcome finesse, relying on pure and powerful life energy to break through all dangers—utterly unreasonable. If the ancient expert who set these sealing traps knew, he would probably spit out a mouthful of blood.
From then on, Joshua pressed forward all the way to the deepest part of the relic. All the traps along the way were no match for him, leaving many experts from the eight major factions, who had dared not cross the traps and could only linger midway, utterly astonished. In their eyes, the profound and exquisite ancient runes were erased by the warrior with the most brutal means, leaving no trace.
Many mages among them beat their chests and stamped their feet, silently complaining about Joshua's recklessness. If they had carefully studied the energy circuit operations in the relic, they could have explored part of the strength and power of the ancient expert who had set this seal. But now, everything had turned into dripping lava, with no trace of the past left.
Yet even so, no one dared to blame Joshua. Everyone understood that without the warrior, most people would be stuck before the traps, futilely pondering the next step, rather than learning part of the truth about this world.
As Joshua advanced, the crowd following him grew larger and larger. Finally, they arrived before a second obsidian door.
This second obsidian door showed signs of being opened. Through precise footprint analysis and aura identification, the warrior could determine that among those who had entered this door was Brandon.
And the other familiar yet unfamiliar aura naturally belonged to another Plague Evil Cult priest.
These two had been locked in combat, simultaneously dealing with various powerful and insidious traps while fighting each other, and had entered the obsidian door almost simultaneously.
"This cult priest isn't weak."
Joshua couldn't help but be somewhat surprised. He knew Brandon's strength well. The blonde swordsman could advance to Ultimate-rank at any time; his power had already surpassed the Gold boundary and entered a further realm, just not fully stepped over. All the traps along the way, Joshua could break with force, and Brandon could do the same, just not as cleanly.
For this unknown cult priest to hold out so long under Brandon's attacks was truly extraordinary.
Just as the warrior was marveling, suddenly, the entire relic in Mount Modess began to tremble.
Clear cracks appeared on the sturdy stone walls, with rocks and gravel pouring down from the gaps. A violent earthquake shook the mountain, as if trying to bury everything deep underground.
The source of the tremors was undoubtedly behind the obsidian door. The terrifying vibrations were erupting from within. With his power and realm, Joshua could foresee that something extremely dangerous and powerful was awakening behind it.
So, the warrior took a step forward, directly tearing the obsidian door from its frame.
And the next step was to step through the door.