"Now, I may appear to be close to the ruins, but in reality…"
Leilin gazed at the faintly shimmering spatial projection ahead and shook his head.
He had found the entrance, but he hadn't entered through any proper means. He had forced his way in on sheer power alone, so naturally reaching his goal wouldn't be that simple.
The other wizards who had entered after him were in the same predicament.
After all, finding a successor of the ancient
For a Morning Star, once the entrance appeared, breaking through by force was merely a matter of time.
The problem was that spatial laws were vast and mysterious. Leilin had only barely mastered enough to protect himself, and completely breaking through this layer of spatial defense still required continuous deduction and planning.
By the same token, the other Morning Stars who entered after him would have to go through this same layer.
Which meant Leilin still held a time advantage over those latecomers.
The reason he had leveraged Seibel's power to break the barrier together, forcing the ruins to appear ahead of schedule, was precisely for this! Although they had signed an agreement on dividing spoils beforehand, it only covered the overall distribution of the secret realm and subsequent profit-sharing. As for the Scarlet Crescent Moon's items—who got to claim what, and the specifics of item allocation—naturally it was first come, first served, with priority going to whoever got their hands on something first.
Strolling through the spatial corridor was like wandering through outer space. Nebulae of every conceivable shape surrounded him, and silver spatial storms and turbulence swept past from time to time.
Tiny traces of a strange black substance even condensed along the walls of the corridor, forming odd black buds. They were tightly closed, yet somehow radiated an overwhelming sense of danger toward Leilin.
After what felt like an eternity of walking, the ground vanished beneath his feet. It was as though he had plummeted from a tremendous height, only to be snatched up at the very last moment.
As the intense sensation of weightlessness faded, Leilin found himself standing in a small garden. The same black buds he had seen earlier carpeted every flowerbed here, and some had even crept up the garden fence.
In one corner, a wooden sign lay toppled over. The lettering on it had long since become illegible, but he could still make out black tendrils crawling不断 across its surface.
"A flower steeped in malice and danger…" Leilin murmured. The Chip rapidly pulled up its database for comparison but found no ancient plant that matched.
Then, at that very moment, the black petals trembled slightly before bursting open all at once, revealing blood-red pistils within!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As if triggered by a chain reaction, countless black buds exploded. In an instant, the entire garden was filled with black petals dancing through the air, and the vivid crimson pistils within swayed like the tongues of venomous serpines, brimming with menace.
A faint aura of ancient curses and memetic corruption made Leilin's brow furrow slightly.
"So that's what this is—a final defense against intruders, and… a warning?"
Leilin smiled. His pupils suddenly shifted into vertical slits, with a thin red line tracing through their centers.
Next, a fearsome and violent radiation erupted from his body!
This was the body radiation of a Morning Star warlock, infused with the ancestral bloodline power of the ancient Komoin Giant Serpent! Leilin had been suppressing most of it until now. But now, deliberately releasing everything at once, he triggered a terrifying transformation!
A rainbow-like prismatic glow, flickering with green and orange luminescence, began flooding the entire garden.
The surrounding air grew hazy, accompanied by a subtle visual distortion.
After the wave of radiation passed, the space seemed to freeze. The air was filled with the faint smell of corroding iron.
The garden's original colors appeared to have been drained away by the radiation, leaving only black and white—as if it were the most ancient of photographs.
Crack! Crack!
A hairline fracture first appeared in one corner, then rapidly spread, covering the entire black-and-white garden. Craggy, crack-like patterns filled every surface.
Crash! Like a glass rod shattering or a water bottle bursting, the entire garden fragmented into pieces like an oil painting after a deafening boom that was both muffled and piercing. Beyond it lay dark, empty space and silver storms.
Whoosh! Howling tornadoes swallowed the countless fragments whole.
The area was left pockmarked and ravaged by the spatial storms. After several minutes, the silver tempest gradually subsided, revealing the tattered remains of the garden.
The black buds that had once filled the center were all gone. Occasionally, a few torn petals drifted feebly to the ground, suffused with an air of melancholy.
Leilin's pupils returned to normal, a strange gleam flickering within them.
That full-powered outburst had been no small burden on him, but maintaining his time advantage left him no choice.
A Morning Star's full-body radiation was more than enough to disrupt the normal operation of many magical arrays! Even though this was the stronghold of an ancient organization, Leilin was no ordinary Morning Star! Combined with the bloodline power of the Komoin Giant Serpent, his radiation carried a hereditary contamination potent enough to cause far more profound effects—and perhaps… even draw the attention of other beings.
Leilin's gaze settled on a patch of empty space, and he stared in silence.
There, a will—or perhaps a collective consciousness—was slowly descending! Though invisible to the naked eye, Leilin's spiritual power had already sensed its existence.
"A high-dimensional being? Or a mechanism of the Scarlet Crescent Moon?" A flash of surprise crossed Leilin's eyes.
"Outsider! What have you come here seeking?" A voice transmitted through the contact of spiritual powers, resonating deep within Leilin's heart. It was the voice of an ancient woman, yet layered with something else—seemingly interwoven with the roars of other creatures.
"Truth!" Leilin's voice was low as he offered an answer that was neither here nor there.
"Truth? Even the wizards of the Scarlet Crescent Moon are still on the path of pursuing it. You have come to the wrong place…"
The ancient woman's voice sighed.
"I have not come to the wrong place. The path of the ancient wizards is worth studying for reference, and their experiences can save me from many detours…" Leilin's spiritual power pressed forward without hesitation, locking horns with the unknown being.
In his perception, the creature had no normal form whatsoever—seemingly just a formless sphere radiating strange energy fluctuations, or perhaps a being whose true body was hidden in a higher dimension or the cosmos itself.
Even so, after a brief standoff with Leilin's spiritual power, the will seemed to yield: "Walk the Path of Confusion. It will lead you to the answer…"
Whoosh!
The moment those words fell, a brand-new passageway opened up from one corner of the garden. The floor was made of gray stone speckled with tiny black spots—countless small dots that, together, formed eerie patterns resembling twisted human faces.
Leilin's spiritual power swept across it. The Path of Confusion materialized in his mind's sea, and after confirming there was no immediate danger, he gave a slight bow toward the empty space before stepping forward.
Thud! Thud!
The instant his boots touched the gray stone tiles, the entire black garden vanished without a trace. Only a long, lingering sigh seemed to remain behind.
…
"Psychic Lash!"
Innumerable invisible waves of psychic force tore through the air. The dozen or so colossal mud-bog creatures opposite them shuddered as though struck by invisible whips, their bodies convulsing. Even their mindless eyes filled with raw terror, and before long they collapsed limply to the ground.
"My lord! This appears to be the Maze Lock—we've triggered an ancient Scarlet Crescent Moon defensive trap!"
Though both were Morning Stars, the gulf in their combat power was enormous, and a natural hierarchy had formed between them.
"This is a Naraka Type-2 Maze! One of the ancient wizards' favorite labyrinth structures. It should have nine layers in total, each with a different key and cipher that must be unlocked in sequence. Skip a layer and you'll never reach the end…"
Herbert nodded, clearly well-versed in such things. Beside him, apart from Paul, the other warlocks from the
"Enough. We've done our part this time. Per our agreement, it'll be your turn next!" Herbert collected several green gemstones retrieved from the bog creatures' bodies and turned to address the group of Morning Stars.
"Naturally!" The leader of that group, a wizard wearing a golden circlet, replied coldly. Even facing Herbert, he showed not the slightest fear—bearing the air of an equal.
Paul watched the scene and inwardly bitter laugh.
The sudden appearance of the Scarlet Crescent Moon ruins had thrown their prior battle plan into chaos almost immediately. The ruins' entrance, in particular, had clearly been fitted with some arcane formula by the ancient wizards. Any wizard confirmed to have entered through improper channels would face obstruction. The scattered, isolated processing pattern had caused Paul no small amount of grief. If he hadn't happened to run into Lord Herbert, those other Morning Star wizards would likely have devoured him whole!
After all, before—or even now—they were still mortal enemies!
Paul sighed mournfully, even the tentacles atop his head drooping listlessly.
Following Herbert might guarantee his safety, but forget about any significant spoils. Setting aside the crowd of hostile Morning Stars watching from the sidelines, even Herbert himself wouldn't leave him much of anything good.
Compared to Paul's quiet lament, the wizard on the other side was already on the verge of erupting with rage.