Chapter 11: The Potted Plant in the Palm
At an altitude of one thousand four hundred meters, Joshua strode forward through the air. As he walked, patches of the surrounding earth rose into the sky one after another, flipping upside down before pressing back down again.
The forests that had been rooted in this land for thousands of years were instantly crushed flat along with countless magical beasts. The Chaos Domain that had plagued humanity for centuries was likewise shattered into fragments by the wild dance of distorted gravity, then reduced to nothingness.
As Joshua advanced, two figures suddenly flew out from the black-red airship emblazoned with the crest of a hand gripping a sword.
One of the figures was a black-haired girl with sharp dragon horns. She calmly surveyed the land below. Beneath the spreading dark red bloodstains, countless patches of soil were still writhing, as if something was struggling to break free—perhaps tenacious magical beasts that hadn't yet died, or perhaps the squirming roots of plants themselves.
But none of this concerned the black-haired girl. With a long, resonant dragon roar and intense fluctuations of energy, the girl vanished, replaced by a colossal black dragon as tall as a twenty-story building. A golden solar crystal blazed with scorching heat at its chest. It plummeted from midair toward the ground, and simultaneously, streams of dragon breath and golden rays plowed across the earth, igniting the moist roots of the Black Forest along with the blood of magical beasts.
The other 'figure'—more accurately, a round metal core—plunged directly toward the ground. Mid-fall, it began rapidly proliferating and transforming. By the time the metal core landed, it had already grown into a metal giant over forty meters tall.
The giant silently surveyed the Black Forest, now a sea of flames ignited by dragon fire. It raised both hands and 'stroked' the pitted soil and rock around it. Yet this simple action silently flattened all the uneven terrain within several kilometers into smooth mud. As for the trees and magical beast carcasses too difficult to bury, the giant lifted them from beneath the ground and offered them to the dragon fire for cremation.
Joshua overturned the Black Forest, while the black dragon and metal giant cleaned up after him. In less than ten minutes, everyone in Fort Ares could see that everything within their field of vision was blazing. The world was turned upside down; mountains and rivers were reversed. The original rivers and hills vanished, replaced by flat land covered in ash.
At this moment, no one complained about why no Legendary expert had taken the initiative to clear the Black Forest earlier. Because an involuntary fear arose in the hearts of all onlookers... If this destructive power had been directed not at the Black Forest but at humanity itself—what would become of prosperous cities, sturdy fortresses, and even the entire world?
They would rather these experts not act at all.
Though fear rose from the depths of people's hearts, a small number were not intimidated by this power.
"Is this... the true power that Legends possess?"
In Fort Ares, a young patrol soldier gripped his weapon tightly, gazing at the distant, barely perceptible figure in the high sky. He murmured to himself, "This is what's worth pursuing with everything!"
Nearby, Priest, who was preparing to board the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department's airship to return to the Imperial Capital headquarters with the group, also clenched his fist and his information terminal.
"Our aspirations should be just like this!"
Inside the black-red airship, behind a wide observation window, a lavishly dressed black-haired young man watched the land below with a somewhat pale face. His features were somewhat effeminate, possessing an elven-like neutral beauty. On his shoulders and head, four glowing, tiny humanoid figures were covering their mouths, letting out silent exclamations in the psychic realm.
"The contaminated Chaos elements are being purified!"
"Within a hundred li, all life signs have vanished. Even microbes have been burned to nothing!"
"Good heavens... all the forests have lost their vitality. And this is the Black Forest, where you could cut a branch, stick it in sand, and it would sprout in a few years!"
"Beep, but the soil has also been purified from the inside out—even the deepest rock layers are the same!"
The four fairies bickered in the psychic realm, vying to express their opinions. But the black-haired young man, the Empire's Sixth Prince Adrian, wasn't listening to these little beings' views. Watching Joshua's retreating figure, he finally understood from the depths of his heart why all Legends were so restrained with each other. Even the Elemental Master Barbarossa and the Fishman High Priest Godar, who bore a blood feud, rarely clashed within the Mycroft World.
Because, for these experts who possessed such immense power, civilization and order were nothing more than a potted plant carefully nurtured in the palm of their hands. And everything they did was merely to make this plant grow larger and stronger, until one day, they too could live normally within it.
Among the bickering little fairies, a cyan-colored one, while chattering, widened her eyes and used her magic to sense the enormous changes coming from afar. The fairy named Long Wind watched Joshua overturn heaven and earth, then nodded thoughtfully. She pulled out a small notebook condensed from magic, flipped through a few pages, stopped at one, and made a magical annotation.
Soon, Joshua crossed the boundary between civilization and the Black Forest, officially entering the forest's outer layer.
He had promised Nostradamus to avoid causing any major disturbances, like tearing apart the continental crust, as much as possible. So before acting, the warrior had already made corresponding plans and preparations.
First, he flipped the surface layer of the Black Forest upside down, pressing all the giant trees and magical beasts into the soil, leaving only the roots on the surface. Then, Black would use solar rays at a minimum of six thousand seven hundred degrees to ignite the chaotic magic in the atmosphere along with all the Black Forest's roots, turning the chaotic soil—almost transformed into another world—into clean ashes.
Chu Hao's role was to turn the pitted, burned ground into flat land suitable for farming and construction. This was an easy task for a Steel Element with the power to control earth and stone.
In essence, it was just a simple slash-and-burn method, like the human ancestors who pioneered new lands at the dawn of civilization. Joshua turned the soil, Black turned the forest to ash, and Chu Hao finely plowed—all that was left was for a Nature Mentor to come scatter seeds... But even if it was slash-and-burn, it was the largest-scale operation in this world's history.
As Joshua delved deeper, the magical beasts inhabiting the Black Forest grew stronger. Unlike the outer areas, which mostly had Black Iron-rank and early Silver-rank ordinary magical beasts, the inner outer layer already had Gold-rank Beast Kings roaming. These were the culprits that had hunted countless reckless adventurers in the past... But now, these Gold-rank Beast Kings were fleeing in panic. Awakened from their winter slumber, before they could even get angry, they sensed the rapidly approaching terror not far away.
Instantly, with howls and roars, dozens of powerful magical beasts emerged from their lairs and sprinted toward the forest's interior—the Black Forest's center, which they had never dared to enter before. But their sprinting speed couldn't surpass Joshua's, so these powerful magical beasts were lifted one by one by distorted gravity, slammed heavily to the ground, and then met dragon fire while unconscious with broken bones.
"Lord Radcliffe, how is the situation?"
While clearing the Black Forest's outer perimeter, Joshua received a telepathic message from Israel. His Majesty the Emperor asked calmly, "According to the fort's report, you've already begun operations."
"Very smoothly. But the outer perimeter is the easiest to handle. Once we get a bit further inside, the speed will slow down because we need to purify the chaotic magic."
After communicating for a while, Joshua ended the transmission. From Israel, he learned that at the same time, in other directions of the continent, other Legendary experts had also begun purifying this land.
The power sufficient to level the entire Mycroft Continent was being used to cleanse the Chaos.
Naturally, it was invincible.
Clank, clank. The sound of steel mechanisms locking together rang out.
At the rear of Fort Ares, the newly built airship docking area roared with the hum of mana engines. And this roar wasn't confined to just one fort—it echoed behind the entire southeastern fortress chain of the Empire.
Twenty minutes after Joshua entered the Black Forest, a fleet of thousands of airships soared majestically toward the burning land. They sprayed blessed holy water, cooling the red-hot soil and ash. Then, the airships formed a single-line formation and began dropping green cylinders toward the cooled ground below.
These cylinders, one point five meters long and fifteen centimeters in radius, were 'Dissemination Woods' treated with Druidic nature magic. They were now inserted into the cooled lava, in a dormant state. But after a dozen days, when the environment stabilized, these Dissemination Woods would burst open like bombs, scattering countless normal plant seeds.
These Dissemination Woods also left open spaces—blank areas reserved for future town construction and farmland. From this, it was clear that the operation against the Central Black Forest wasn't a momentary impulse by the major powers, but a long-term plan meticulously prepared.
But none of this had anything to do with Joshua, who was already nearing the Black Forest's inner region.
By now, he had penetrated hundreds of kilometers into the Black Forest. The weak Black Iron and Silver-rank magical beasts around him had become numerous ancient alien species, even powerful magical beasts with the bloodlines of Ancient Dragons and Legendary magical beasts.
But no matter how powerful the magical beast, it couldn't muster the slightest resistance in front of Joshua. Even the most irritable 'Flame-Eating Tyrannosaurus,' which would ram volcanoes and devour high-temperature lava when hungry, dared not roar, only whimpering softly as it fled into the distance. However, at this level, the powerful magical beasts were faster than Joshua, who had to turn over the land. As long as they didn't attack him, Joshua couldn't be bothered to specifically eliminate them.
After all, he had to ensure the biodiversity of the Mycroft World. He had already caused enough extinctions and really didn't want another title like 'Exterminator of All Life.'
At this moment, Joshua could faintly sense energy fluctuations coming from other directions in the Black Forest—the fluctuations of other Legendary experts handling the forest. In the warrior's Steel Vision, the dim aura that once covered heaven and earth like dark clouds was rapidly dissipating. The miasma and toxic fog that had accumulated in the Black Forest for a thousand years had completely vanished. Even the remnants of Chaos were being cleaned away by the purest Transcendent power.
Joshua could even sense that the gods, now incarnated as Saints walking the mortal world, had turned their gazes here. A few had even personally acted, silently suppressing several areas where Chaos power was about to erupt, easily neutralizing what would have been a natural counterattack.
Moreover, amid this overly intense natural upheaval, many ancient beings that had long slumbered awakened from the depths of the earth.
Crack, crack. At the deepest part of the Black Forest, atop a white rocky mountain, a massive piece of white-gold 'rock' gradually crumbled. Countless stones of peculiar texture peeled away, vaguely revealing the enormous dragon shape beneath. Then, with a high-pitched dragon roar, a white-gold dragon shadow shot into the sky, reaching an altitude of several kilometers. A heterogeneous Steel Force emanated from its body—a power only Ancient Dragons possessed.
The young white-gold Ancient Dragon looked around in confusion. It sensed the drastic changes in the surrounding natural environment—changes that had swept away the long-settled Chaos aura of this land, granting the world new vitality.
This didn't match the information in the Ancient Dragon's inherited memories. According to its memories, this land had been eroded by Chaos and would soon become a dead, lifeless world. Its mission was to recreate primordial life when all things perished, allowing countless microbes and single-celled organisms to thrive. Then, it could leave this world and travel to other lifeless realms, spreading the seeds of life again.
But now, the destined destruction had been dispelled. This land had a new future... Although this meant its long wait had been in vain, the white-gold Ancient Dragon didn't mind. Its life wasn't long, but that was only because its unique life form—composed of countless microbes—constantly changed, causing its body to renew frequently. Its will and memory were eternal, as enduring as the world itself.
After confirming that the Chaos power had been suppressed, the white-gold Ancient Dragon let out a farewell roar. Then, without hesitation, it flew into the high sky, pierced the spatial barrier, and entered the void, once again embarking on a journey through the Multiverse.
At the bottom of the West Sea Milan Abyss, the seabed crust shook violently. Countless ancient sediments and seafloor dust churned in the deep sea, rising like mushroom clouds. From the cracks in the split crust, narrow red lights shone. Amid the dark dust and the glow of seafloor lava, an enormous dragon shape rose rapidly from the depths of the abyss—an ancient black dragon. Its body was as rugged as a newborn continent, with a golden core flashing at the center of its chest.
A heterogeneous Steel Force emanated from it. This, too, was a true Ancient Dragon.
The deep-sea Ancient Dragon, slumbering at the ocean's depths, also sensed the drastic environmental changes at the continent's center. It shook its head in confusion. According to its knowledge from the distant past, this continent—formed from countless continental fragments and Chaos power—would collapse in the near future. This once vibrant and prosperous world would completely lose its last continent. Its mission was to then uplift the world's crust, causing seafloor volcanoes to erupt and gradually form a new continent.
It would turn the entire ocean into primordial soup, allowing life to begin anew.
But now, all hidden dangers had completely disappeared. The flame was rekindled, Chaos was expelled. This world now had a bright future. The shrouding gloom had been broken... It was no longer needed.
So it was time to leave.
Another black-red light point rose from the ocean's depths, pierced the sky, and became a falling star flying in reverse, leaving the Mycroft World.
No one stopped them. Even Baniel and William, who most longed to see Ancient Dragons, bowed their heads slightly in the high sky at the edge of the Black Forest, paying respect to these great beings. They had slumbered in the Mycroft World because they foresaw its impending destruction. They were powerless—and unwilling—to reverse this natural cycle of destruction, but they could grant new life after the end.
Joshua looked up at the stars flying in reverse across the sky. The warrior knew that the last guarantee of this world's rebirth had left. If the Mycroft World were destroyed, no other Ancient Dragon would come to reshape it in the distant future, just like the countless lifeless worlds in the void.
But did this matter?
Joshua lowered his head and looked ahead. In the far distance lay the center of the Black Forest. There stood a white-gold mountain, along with Chaos magic so dense it was nearly condensing into droplets. Beside the white-gold mountain was a huge depression filled with energy that had already materialized into a Chaos water pool.
Joshua could sense two presences ahead—different from all other magical beasts, powerful beyond belief—approaching. At first sensing, they were one hundred percent magical beasts. But upon closer perception, they were different from ordinary magical beasts. They had completely transcended their own races, sublimated into another form of life.
"Legendary magical beasts."
Joshua stopped his work of turning over the land. He no longer distorted gravity but instinctively clenched his fists. However, upon sensing that the other party harbored no hostility, he regretfully loosened them. The warrior stared at the space before him, where obvious spatial fluctuations indicated that the other party was about to arrive before him.
And in other parts of the continent—before the Nature Mentor, before the Sage of the Eastern Sea, before the Holy Sword Bearer—identical presences of Legendary magical beasts appeared.