Radiation
“Now, the ruins seem to be nearby, but in fact…” Seeing the indistinct space in front of him, Leylin shook his head. He’d just found the entrance. It wouldn’t be easy for him to achieve his goals and enter the place without using the right way.
The others that had come afterwards were in the same situation.
After all, it wasn’t likely that they’d find the successors of Scarlet Crescent, so Leylin and the other Magi didn’t bother to deduce the proper way to go in.
With them being Morning Stars, as long as they found the entrance it would only be a matter of time before they broke in.
However, the rules of space were powerful and mysterious. Leylin could only manage to survive in here for now, and he needed to deduce a plan to break through this spatial defence. The other Morning Stars who came after him were also stuck in the same dilemma.
Thus, time was one of Leylin’s advantages against the rest of the Magi.
This was why he’d used Siebel and made the ruins appear in advance. Although they had an agreement about the distribution of the spoils, that was only on the whole. As for who got what, it was largely dependant on who found it first.
Wandering in the spatial passage was like taking a walk in outer space, nebulae of different shapes everywhere. There was even a silver spatial storm every now and then and spatial turbulence whizzed by on occasion.
Threads of a dubious black material were even coagulating around the passage, forming mysterious black buds and gave off a dangerous vibe.
After walking for who knows how long, Leylin suddenly missed his footing and felt like he was falling down from up high. Even more strangely, he felt like he was rising up afterwards.
After the strong sense of weightlessness passed, Leylin found himself standing in a little garden. The black buds he saw before covered the flowerbed, some even making it onto the hedges. A wooden board covered in tentacles was posted in a corner, the words on it faded.
“Flowers full of malice and danger…” Leylin muttered to himself. The A.I Chip searched the database but found no such ancient plant.
Suddenly, the black flower buds trembled and bloomed, showing a crimson pistil.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!* Like a chain reaction, masses of black buds bloomed, and the garden was instantly full of black petals flying in the air, red pistils emanating a threat like the tongues of snakes.
The faint sense of an ancient curse made Leylin frown.
“This! Is it a final defence against intruders? Or… is it a warning?” Leylin smiled, and his pupils turned into vertical slits that glowed red.
The next moment, a strong and violent radiation was emitted from his body!
This was the radiation of a Morning Star Warlock’s body, containing the power of the bloodline of the ancient Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Leylin kept it repressed in his everyday life, but now he let it all out, and it caused a horrible change.
A layer of rainbow-like five-coloured light shone with green and orange fluorescence, filling the whole garden.
The air turned hazy, and the scene distorted. After the radiation passed through, the entire space seemed to become still, and the faint smell of rust permeated the air.
The original colours of the garden were also diminished with the radiation, leaving only black and white. It started to look like an old photograph.
A cracking sound rang out as a slight fracture appeared in a corner. It spread across the whole grayscale garden, leaving spatial cracks everywhere.
And then, like the falling of a glass bottle, a low and jarring sound rang out as the whole garden was shattered apart, exposing the dark void filled with spatial storms.
The storms roared, devouring all those fractures.
The silver storms continued to mince the garden for a few minutes before the ruins were visible once again.
The black buds in the middle had disappeared, leaving a few broken petals on the ground. It gave the environment a sense of gloom.
Leylin’s pupils returned to their original colour with a flash of strange light.
This burst of strength had taken a toll on him, but he had no choice but to employ it to maintain his time advantage.
The full strength of a Morning Star Magus was enough to affect the normal functioning of many formations! On top of that, Leylin was not any Magus, but a Warlock with the bloodline of an ancient organism! Combining his own power with that of his Kemoyin bloodline, the power of his radiation was much greater, to the extent of even attracting extradimensional creatures.
Leylin stared at a point in the void, silent. Over there, a conscient, or rather, a group of conscients, was coming through slowly! Although it was invisible, Leylin could sense the being through his soul force.
“Creatures from a higher dimension? Or a plot of Scarlet Crescent?” Leylin’s eyes showed surprise.
“Outsider! What have you come here for?” A conscient entered Leylin’s mind through the connection of soul force. The voice was that of an old woman, but it was interspersed with much more, the roars of multiple other creatures.
“To find the truth!” Leylin said with a low voice, providing an ambiguous answer.
“The truth? Even those of Scarlet Crescent were still pursuing it. You’ve come to the wrong place…” The voice sighed.
“I didn’t come to the wrong place. The ways of the ancient Warlocks will be a valuable reference and their experiences will save me time…” Leylin’s soul force countered the unknown creature sharply.
He could sense that this creature did not have a normal body. It was just a ball of light emitting a strange power, perhaps a creature hiding its true body in a higher plane.
Even so, after confronting Leylin’s soul force for a while, the will seemed to yield, ”Follow the Path of Quandary, it will lead you to your answer…”
As the voice faded, the sound of movements could be heard as a brand new aisle appeared in a corner of the garden. The floor was made of grey stone, and black specks spread out along the floor like numerous insects. They had the figures of twisting faces.
Scanning with his soul force, the outline of the Path of Quandary appeared in Leylin’s mind. After ensuring that there was no danger, Leylin bowed to the void and stepped directly onto the path.
The sound of footsteps could be heard as the black garden disappeared from sight the moment his feet hit the stone floor. All that remained was a long sigh.
……
“Soul Whip!!!”
Massive invisible waves of energy swept through the air as dozens of giant swamp monsters trembled. It was as if they were tortured by some invisible whips, and they hit the floor after a while, their unconscious eyes filled with fear.
“My lord! This seems to be the Maze Lock, we are in a defensive trap of Scarlet Crescent!” Paul reported to Cybel. Although both of them were Morning Star Magi, their powers were far apart, and thus they had widely varying statuses.
“This is the Naraku Type 2 maze, a kind of maze liked by those ancient Warlocks. There should be nine levels, each level having its own keys and riddles. We must break through them one by one, or we’ll never get to the end…”
Cybel nodded. He’d obviously studied up on these things. Beside him, other than Paul, the Warlocks from Spirit Circle and Wind Wolf Lair had all disappeared. And a few unfamiliar Morning Star Magi were just watching everything detachedly.
“Well, it’s our turn this time. According to our agreement, you are up next time!” Cybel took several green gems from the swamp monster as he spoke to those Morning Stars.
“Of course!” their leader replied, his eyes cold. This Magus with a golden headband had no sense of fear even when confronting Cybel.
Seeing this, Paul smiled bitterly in his mind.
The sudden appearance of the ruins of Scarlet Crescent rendered most of their plans useless. The entrance of the ruins contained some mysterious spells cast by ancient Warlocks, and those who entered through abnormal ways would encounter barriers. The dispersion made Paul feel depressed. Were it not for Cybel, he would have been killed here.
After all, they were mortal enemies before, and that was still true.
Paul sighed, even the tentacles on his head seemed dispirited.
He would be safe following Cybel, but there wouldn’t be any gains. Leave alone those Morning Star Magi, even Cybel would leave him with nothing.
Compared to his resignation, the Magi on the other side were hysterical.