# Chapter 25: An Alien World Full of Secrets 7200
Damn it!
The moment they heard that mental voice penetrating directly into their minds, even though none of the five present could clearly make out what it had said, a sense of dread immediately arose in their hearts.
The five extremely dangerous abnormal signs of alien exploration — eerie and sinister broken ruins, conspicuous and magnificent ancient relics, frequently fluctuating energy waves, abruptly appearing and disappearing scenery, and finally, the heart-voice of unknown origin.
Setting aside the first four — any existence capable of forcibly breaking through the self-protective will of intelligent life and directly transmitting information into another's mind either possessed extremely profound research in the psychic arts or had strength at least several realms higher than the explorer. Explorers who heard the heart-voice, if lacking any countermeasures, would most likely meet with disaster, with even their souls beyond salvation.
"Be careful, this should be an automatic defense measure of the ancient civilization ruins!"
When that unknown existence chanted "Activating automatic defense measures," Priest, who had reacted, immediately let out a loud roar and decisively turned around to sprint away.
But now, the violent energy flow was gathering like a whirlpool, with the peak of this unknown mountain as its source point. The free energy in the air was plundered clean, even forming an energy vacuum zone. Priest immediately sensed that the mana armor on his body had lost all power — engines stalled, energy pool completely empty. It could no longer provide him with additional strength enhancement but had instead become a heavy burden.
So in the next instant, he directly activated the ejection device, using the purely mechanical force built into the armor to violently launch himself out, then fled the metal area at the fastest possible speed.
Click, click, click, click! Four consecutive sounds of ejection devices activating rang out. The other four members of the elite squad also unhesitatingly ejected. Without any need for communication, the five immediately turned and ran — or even flew — in five completely different directions, minimizing the chance of being caught in one net.
But could they escape so easily?
"—Beginning implementation of comprehensive purification protocol."
As the words fell, the unknown existence calling itself "Aklafa Hub" unhurriedly launched its attack.
In the next instant, accompanied by an imperceptible fluctuation in space-time, the group who had already run several kilometers away in those few short seconds were instantly returned to their starting point — five humans who had shed their mana armor were piled together like randomly discarded garbage, forming a heap. Confusion filled everyone's eyes.
How... how did we come back?
Just as Priest was quickly realizing that this was probably some extremely profound and exquisite teleportation spell, the Aklafa Hub's attack had already been prepared.
Atop the mountain peak, surging energy condensed into physical form. Between breaths, a deep blue pulse point emerged in midair like a newborn star, surrounded by tens of thousands of different colored energy radiations, forming a brilliant radiance far more dazzling than any gemstone facet. But beneath this beautiful light lay a high-energy mana stream capable of reducing all material existence to nothingness.
"Damn, my shield isn't here... but I have to try anyway"
At this moment, Priest still had no intention of giving up resistance. He was at the top of the human pile, so with a single roll he could immediately rise. The young warrior stood before his teammates, forcibly mobilizing the battle qi within him, constructing a battle qi shield before him at the fastest possible speed — but Priest himself knew that without a physical shield as the main body, no matter how powerful his battle qi was, it could never block that attack which had gathered all the free energy within several kilometers around.
"It's over, my life..." Behind Priest, the mage's vision seemed to be flashing before his eyes. He had originally wanted to cast a few spells to support their captain, but in this energy vacuum zone, as soon as his mana appeared, it was immediately shattered and absorbed by the surging energy flow. No spell could be released.
"Damn it, I had already thought of a very cool epitaph, but now I won't get to use it!" The alchemist, crushed at the very bottom of the pile, couldn't exert any strength from the magical beast organs all over his body due to the lack of mana. He complained bitterly: "I wanted to be buried on a cliff surrounded by sea on three sides—"
"Am I going to be burned to ashes together with this jinx and this modification freak?!" The clergy member, pinned beneath the knight, had already given up all hope, but upon realizing his fate was so miserable, he suddenly flew into a rage: "Never!" With that, he erupted with power far exceeding ordinary Gold Low-rank, having achieved a breakthrough on the spot, temporarily advancing! Surging holy light mixed with Priest's battle qi, condensing into a dazzling light golden giant shield.
The knight, sent flying by the clergy member's sudden burst of holy light, mumbled indistinctly midair: "I think we might still be salvageable..."
Just as everything was in chaos and the five-man squad seemed about to face off head-on against that terrifying-looking pulse nova—
The condensed magic light cluster suddenly dimmed.
The destructive energy flow about to be emitted dissipated completely.
The energy-draining tide that had forcibly seized all surrounding energy also ended at the same moment.
The elite squad members, who had prepared themselves for certain death and were ready to burn the last spark of their lives, stared blankly up at the mountain peak, but never saw the attack arrive nor death come.
However, they heard a voice devoid of any emotion, as cold and rigid as machinery.
"Energy gathering complete, target locked, beginning purificationnnnnnn—a; Error! a;, a; Indexing central main processor... This is not a valid address! a; — Forcing skip of attack confirmation process — Cannot skip — a;. Target is not a chaos monster, cannot initiate purification attack."
"Aklafa Hub restarting observation system, beginning second scan and positioning work."
Very quickly — so fast that if one didn't listen carefully, they couldn't clearly make out what was being said — after the heart-voice ended, an invisible wave rapidly swept toward the five present. Everyone tried to block it, but no method was effective. Battle qi, magic, holy light — none could stop this seemingly gentle wave, and it swept over their entire bodies.
"Detected target as 'Mixed-blood Human'... Main bloodline foundation compatibility 99.7%, within normal error range, not a chaos entity. Removing 'Hostile Identification', granting Level 4 Authority, temporarily suspending 'Elimination Program', initiating 'Inquiry Program'."
"Detected target as 'Magical Beast Chimera'... Human 27.15%, Elf 18.85%, Hydra 12.45%, Terror Claw 14.6%, Unknown High-rank Magical Beast Dragonfly 10.25%... Confirmed as Mycroft native organism. Removing 'Hostile Identification', granting 'Pet' authority, temporarily suspending 'Elimination Program'."
Instantly, each person present heard a completely different cold voice. After this, the cold voice seemed to fall into some strange logical error again, beginning another infinite loop.
"...What's going on?"
Even someone with Priest's mental fortitude was confused and at a loss — he had been prepared for certain death just moments ago, which was why he had stood before everyone.
One had to understand that the world they were in possessed a very peculiar energy wave, or perhaps some extremely special isolation barrier, capable of blocking all communication signals. Neither the Empire's official communication devices nor the restorative pillar granted by Lord Radcliffe could connect to the outside world... This meant that if the group encountered danger this time, there would be no legendary expert passing by to save them from their predicament. Priest's most optimistic thought was that the Soul Abyss Orb might save their souls, allowing them to wait for the Empire's rescue team that would arrive later to reconstruct their bodies.
After all, no matter how slow the Imperial officials were, they couldn't have failed to notice that this group had lost contact.
"I'm guessing... could it be a malfunction?"
The mage leaned on his staff, straightened his body, and replied with lingering fear: "After all, it's an ancient creation, buried under earth to form a mountain. After such a long time, a few errors shouldn't be surprising..."
The five exploration team members had considered taking this opportunity to escape, but aside from the fact that they were still magically locked and would likely be teleported back if they tried to flee, more importantly, everyone feared that their actions might provoke this clearly malfunctioning ancient civilization creation — if it fired a death ray at them without a second thought next time, the five of them would turn into five piles of ash.
So one could see a very bizarre scene on the mountainside of this nameless peak — five humans stood frozen, not daring to move, while mental communications composed mostly of "a; Target does not exist a;" swept across tens of kilometers in all directions.
Only the alchemist still hadn't fully processed the situation, still fixated on the words he had heard earlier.
"Hey, what's this about 'Magical Beast Chimera' and 'Pet' authority?!" He said indignantly: "I'm clearly a half-human, half-elf hybrid! At most, I've swapped a bit of bloodline and organs!"
Just as everyone was anxious and uncertain — whether to cautiously stay put and not provoke the ruin's intelligence, or to seize the chance to escape — the ruin's intelligence seemed to finally end its prolonged error loop and resume normal communication ability.
"Announcement: All dear citizens of the Radiant Union, the Aklafa Space-Time Hub has suffered chaos erosion. Citizens with authority below Level 5 are prohibited from entering. From a;, the Aklafa Space-Time Hub will enter emergency lockdown phase, suspending all teleportation, transit, transport, and courier services. Lockdown duration will continue until a;. Thank you all for your cooperation."
At first, the voice sounded somewhat stiff and rigid, completely a cold mechanical tone. But soon, the voice became smooth, sweet, and very gentle — a young woman's voice. The unknown heart-voice transformed so rapidly that none of the elite squad members present immediately understood what it had said.
And in the second moment — a few seconds later — when they finally understood, Priest's eyes suddenly widened. He drew in a cold breath and whispered: "I understand!"
Listening to the familiar and cordial Mycroft Common Language appearing in the depths of his mind, at most with a slight accent issue, and connecting it to the environment around him that was completely identical to the Mycroft World, Priest recalled some things his teacher had casually mentioned to him — information about the black mist, about the final battle of the previous era. He finally understood what was really going on!
But before Priest could excitedly turn around to explain the truth of all this to his teammates, and why they had failed in their teleportation, the Aklafa Space-Time Hub's sweet and gentle broadcast voice appeared again.
"Hello, dear Radiant Union citizen. Your authority level does not permit entry to the a; area. If you cannot leave before a;, we will be forced to take some unpleasant measures."
"a;."
Boom!
In the next instant, without any waiting or preparation time, accompanied by a violent burst of invisible repulsive force, the five members of the elite squad, along with their mana armor placed to the side and the wreckage of their flying vehicle, were all sent flying like rubber balls — far, far away. Since the five were standing close together, in the emergency they weren't scattered in different directions but were carried as a single mass, blasted at least several kilometers away into a dense forest.
And during the mid-flight, in midair.
Priest forced his eyes open against the powerful gale. He saw a strong light burst forth from within the mountain peak. It pierced through the clouds, transforming into a straight, holy white pillar of light, standing between heaven and earth.
With the appearance of the light pillar, the originally majestic mountain shell began to crack inch by inch — layers of rock several meters, even tens of meters thick, split open with dense cracks. Dazzling mana light flowed out from these fissures, filling all the cracks like water.
Then came the collapse.
Tens of millions of tons of thick rock layers, condensed over thousands of years, were shed like loose clothing by the huge metal building at the mountain's center. One could see the entire earth violently shaking, because this wasn't happening in just one place.
One could see, in distant other directions, holy pillar after holy pillar stood upright, supporting heaven and earth. Countless towering mountains collapsed, revealing their true forms hidden for who knows how long.
Crash — thud!
Priest didn't see the end, because the five who had been sent flying had already fallen into the forest. They passed through the dense branches like stones, then landed solidly on the soft humus soil, crashing a huge pit amid clouds of dust.
If the five elite squad members weren't all Gold-rank experts, this fall would have killed or at least severely injured them.
In reality, Priest and the others weren't injured at all. Amid a mess of groans and complaints, they quickly got up and checked each other's condition.
"What, what the hell are these things?"
After checking the surroundings — no beasts or enemies — and confirming that aside from being thoroughly frightened, none of them were injured, the clergy member who had been scared into a breakthrough didn't know whether to be happy, angry, or sad. He gripped his crystal ball tightly, his expression a mix of joy and worry, squeezing it so hard one feared he might crush it: "Since we teleported into this world, we haven't encountered a single normal thing! That bizarre forest, those primitive elf natives, those terrifying moons in the sky, and this crazy 'Hub'... What kind of place is this?!"
The others also began to complain, venting their dissatisfaction and fear — although all five were professional exploration team members with solid mental fortitude, after experiencing so many shocks in such a short time, even an iron man would feel the need to grumble a bit.
"I think I roughly understand where we are now."
Just as everyone finished complaining and venting, Priest, who had remained silent all along as if organizing his thoughts, spoke up: "I think we should be inside some hidden 'Radiant Legacy'."
Radiant Legacy — a concept proposed by many scholars after information about the Radiant Era became more widely known. It refers to all ruins, remains, and wonder buildings left from the Radiant Era. Even semi-plane-level small worlds like the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground count as Radiant Legacies, not to mention typical examples like the Unified Grand Database.
Hearing this term, everyone immediately understood what Priest meant. The mage stroked the magic crystal embedded in his staff, calmed down a bit, and then coolly agreed: "Yes, now that I think about it, there are indeed many clues proving this... We should have realized when we noticed the surrounding forest was identical to back home."
"Indeed, this is the edge of the World Star River. Aside from the Radiant Era, no one could create an identical forest like this." The alchemist stopped dwelling on his 'Pet' authority and nodded: "But what about those elves?"
"Those elves might be people who accidentally ended up here."
Priest said calmly, turning to look in the direction where the Aklafa Hub had been, frowning deeply: "Earlier, when that ruin intelligence was announcing, it mentioned being a 'Space-Time Hub' that could be used for teleportation, transit, transport, and courier services... The last two terms are harder to understand, but the first — teleportation — perfectly explains why we didn't return to the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground after activating the 'Return Beacon', but came here instead."
Hearing this, everyone immediately understood — during the Radiant Era, before the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground was completed, there was undoubtedly its own teleportation network. And after the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground was finished, it would undoubtedly incorporate all previous space-time hubs into its jurisdiction.
One could even say that the true body of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground wasn't the semi-plane located near the Mycroft World, but the entire highly developed space-time system of the Radiant Civilization!
"So, we actually did return to the 'Mycroft World territory' under the jurisdiction of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground. The Return Beacon didn't malfunction — our teleportation was successful!"
Even the knight, who wasn't usually very sensitive to such matters, understood what was going on. He said with a wry smile: "Because this place might have been a colony of the Radiant Civilization! It's just half a World Star River away from our homeland."
"Not necessarily."
Hearing this, Priest shook his head. He sighed, pointed at the still very conspicuous nine 'moons' in the sky, and said helplessly: "Would you put a colony here? Only a madman would do that! I suspect those elves, like us, ended up here by accident!"
Before the clergy member could ask 'What's the deal with those elves?', Priest directly analyzed: "I once heard from my teacher — Lord Radcliffe — that in the late Radiant Era, numerous private adventurers, after reporting to the Union government, set out for other places in the World Star River to begin adventures or colonization. Among them, elves were the most numerous. They sailed solar ships powered by the sun's energy, drifting through the void."
"Countless elf colonists had already taken root in many worlds, but after the final battle, no one could contact them anymore. Honestly, I suspect these elves are the descendants of those colonists. Their arrival here was probably just an accident — similar to the Grand Database drifting through the void, or like our failed teleportation... But this is pure speculation. Still, only this speculation can explain why these elves dress so... primitively."
Although after Priest's explanation, everyone more or less understood why they had ended up in this place, many things remained unexplained — for example, what was that strange barrier blocking all signals? Why did it exist, isolating inside from outside? Why were those nine colossal beasts hanging in the sky, and how had they died?
Why did this mysterious world at the edge of the World Star River exist? What purpose did the Radiant Era have for placing a space-time hub — judging by the light pillars in the sky, there might be more than one — here?
Too many questions, but answers were hard to find. Priest and his group pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out.
"Speaking of which, we've encountered two 'dangerous anomalies' this time."
The clergy member found silver lining in the misery: "Magnificent ancient ruins, and mysterious heart-voice — living up to their reputation, truly exceptionally dangerous!"
The so-called five dangerous abnormal conditions of the External Exploration Department — eerie and sinister broken ruins, conspicuous and magnificent ancient relics, frequently fluctuating energy waves, abruptly appearing and disappearing scenery, and heart-voice of unknown origin — actually corresponded to 'areas with obvious massive threats', 'conspicuous but long-standing ruins with absolutely dangerous interiors', 'environmental changes of unpredictable danger level', 'abnormal space-time', and 'unknown existences that are absolutely powerful and can threaten explorers' lives'. Encountering these abnormal conditions almost always resulted in death or injury — lessons summarized from the blood and tears of generations of adventurers.
"At least none of us have died yet — that's a blessing."
Priest stood up, called everyone to stand in formation, and decisively ordered: "Although our mana armor had a lot of energy drained by that Hub earlier, we still carry plenty of backup energy... Plus, almost all our supplies are in the armor's storage compartments. So our first priority now is to find—"
Whoosh—!!
Priest shut his mouth and immediately hid behind a nearby tree, going on alert.
Because just now, an arrow had flown past him and embedded itself in a tree trunk.
The other four also quickly found cover, guarding against possible hidden arrows... But soon, everyone realized these efforts were useless.
Because primitive elf war cries were rising from all directions, rapidly approaching.
Rustle, rustle—
Since hiding behind trees wasn't safe either, the five formed a circular defensive formation back-to-back. They watched countless black shadows leaping between branches in the forest. They could clearly sense that at least eight hundred elves had surrounded their position, including over two hundred Silver-rank and four Gold-rank.
"...Did they send everyone?!"
The mage, sensing a scale comparable to the beast tide they had encountered before, exclaimed in shock: "Just to deal with the few of us? Why bother — we haven't done anything! Are these elves crazy?!"
"I didn't say anything!" The knight quickly emphasized: "I've been quiet this whole time!"
But no matter how shocked or incredulous, the facts were what they were — they had just escaped from the jaws of the Aklafa Hub, only to fall into the encirclement of a group of elves still in a primitive era.
"Fight our way out?" The alchemist pulled out bottles of alchemical potions from his robes. He said solemnly: "Although it's a bit late, it's not too late yet."
"Wait a moment." Priest narrowed his eyes. He keenly noticed that the surrounding elves didn't seem to have strong hostility. He clenched his fists and said quietly: "If we want to, they can't stop us — let's see how things develop first."
But what surprised Priest and the others was that the front-line elves didn't attack them immediately... They just silently aimed their bows at the group, seemingly waiting for something to arrive.
Soon, someone came.
In Priest's perception, four Gold-rank elves were approaching their position together. Their footsteps were heavy and powerful, drawing nearer step by step.
Just as the dense branches were pushed aside, and the leading Gold-rank elf with a deer-horn crown appeared before them, the two sides locked eyes.
This middle-aged elf with a somewhat tired expression showed surprise on his face.
"...Humans?"
He stared at the elite squad members, who had shed their mana armor and were now all wearing simple leather armor. Frowning deeply, the deer-horn elf muttered in confusion, in a not very standard — one could even say heavily accented with an elf lilt: "You... are not chaos monsters?"
The deer-horn elf's voice was weary and carried a hint of bewilderment.
But no one answered him.
In an instant, the eyes of the five elite squad members shifted from relatively relaxed vigilance to extremely serious solemnity. Priest, at the forefront, instinctively clenched his fists, as if ready to charge at any moment.
Everyone's gaze was focused on one spot — the elf's left arm.
There, there was a black, writhing scar, like a shadow. If one didn't pay attention, it would be easy to overlook or mistake it for some natural birthmark — perhaps even a magic pattern, since elf druids loved nothing more than covering their bodies with all kinds of strange magic patterns, right?
But the members of the External Exploration Team would not overlook it. Those who had trained under a certain Chaos-fighting lord would never overlook it.
This aura — sticky, evil, as if alive, eroding the surrounding atmosphere and the deer-horn elf's flesh like a plague... But it was not alive, not a germ. It had no vitality whatsoever, instead ruthlessly destroying everything around it.
This was the whisper of nothingness, the prelude to destruction.
—This was the aura of Chaos.