The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 307

Chapter 307: Foe from the Past

 

Meanwhile, in another corner of the City of Shadows…

On the hill where the Lucas Family was based, three silhouettes stood and looked down upon the burning city—two tall men and one petite woman, all draped in black wind coats. The guy had short, grey hair, a face with scars, an eye mask on one eye and a huge, sophisticated crossbow hanging over his shoulder as he stared coldly at the ferocious fire.

Standing next to him was a dark-skinned man who tall and bald. He looked like someone of South American ancestry. His eyes were shut as though he was listening to news from afar. When he opened his eyes, looked at his leader. “Elder Hasse, our attack in the west has been thwarted.”

“The west… the vampires from the Hessianite Family?” Hasse, the one-eyed elder nodded. “It seems like these vampires are different from the rest. They’re a little difficult to deal with.”

“They have machine guns, bunkers, tanks, cannons, mines, howitzers and biochemical weapons that are all blessed with magic,” said the black man, looking confused. “It’s like battling humans, not vampires. They have a large number of light and heavy arms. Intel from the frontline indicates that those vampires are resistant to holy power. The use of holy water and exorcisms are not effective against them.”

Hasse was surprised. “They’re resistant to holy power? That reminds me of an ancient one… I hope she has nothing to do with this…”

“Who are your referring to?”

“Nothing. Never mind”—Hasse shook his head—”maybe it’s not her. She’s not a real vampire. She can’t pass the power in her blood to so many people. Just scale up the attack in the west; those vampires may have figured something out after spending thousands of years in the sanctuary. We can’t just sit by and let them spread their influence to other otherworldlings.”

“But, do we really have to burn down the entire city?” After remaining silent the entire time, the female demon hunter suddenly spoke. She looked 19 at most, but she had eye-catching, long white hair and a matching pair of white eyebrows. She gazed at the burning city below as her quirky face was mixed with a slight hint of sympathy. “They haven’t been a threat to others for thousands of years.”

“Keep your sympathy to yourself, White Flame,” said Hasse indifferently. His face was solemn as he glanced at the white-haired maiden. “They’ve killed more people than all the people you’ve known in your entire life. They’ve quieted down for the last couple thousands of years simply because they haven’t found a chance to kill again.”

“It’s a pity that the whole city is paying the price,” White Flame, the young demon hunter tried to explain herself, “as there must be some civilians in there.”

“When Mohenjo-daro was destroyed, no one came forward to plead for the civilians; it was the same for Knossos. They were condemned just because their sacrifices were not fresh enough or one of them didn’t make it to worship in the temple on time.” Hasse’ arms were crossed over his chest as he continued to stare indifferently at the burning city. “The creatures and races in this city deserve no mercy. My only regret is that their death has come 3,000 years late.”

White Flame lowered her head in silence while she listened to Hasse. The black guy beside her glanced at her and said, “White Flame, you’re the most talented demon hunter in history, but you have a weakness—sympathy. Perhaps, it’s the law of balance; but your sympathy is your Achilles’ heel. Be mindful and don’t let this strange thought ruin your life.”

White Flame bowed and said, “Yes, your teaching is duly noted, Master Teuton.”

Hasse looked on and frowned as his right-hand man, who had been working with him for years taught the talented yet problematic prodigy. He knew White Flame had a curiosity for the otherworldlings. He also knew that many new generation demon hunters had doubts about their missions. But, this girl was just too brilliant that she stood out. The sages had observed this anomaly and covertly conducted a survery 100 years ago. They found that in certain generations, about 50 % of the demon hunters would have an anomaly in their faith; it usually happened in the seventh or eighth generation. The fact that this phenomenon occurred in the last two generations on a global scale could not be explained away by educational or environmental reasoning; the cause was more of internal than external.

Perhaps, there was an anomaly in their bloodline.

Or perhaps, it was just as the heretic, who was sentenced to death last month said: “the anomaly in their bloodline was being corrected.”

Hasse shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought, which sent chills down his spine. He had been alive for too long and something was deeply rooted in him—kind of like a truth. However, he chose not to believe it, even ignoring the possibility that this truth may just collapse on himself one day. Nonetheless, he wanted to test out his theory. With his authority as an elder, he took a tremendous risk and entered into a deal with the evil otherworldlings of the city. He wanted to know if the new generation of otherworldlings had also experienced the same phenomenon. He was disappointed, but he took comfort in knowing that at least the shadelings had not changed: like their ancestors, the new generation of shadelings were just as greedy and cunning, extremely cruel to other beings outside of their own kind.

Sure enough, the demon hunters and otherworldlings were fundamentally different. Although the new generation of demon hunters had the anomaly, it proved the purity of their bloodline.

As one of the oldest demon hunters, Hasse chose to believe in this explanation. Once the city of sin burned down and the sacred item was retrieved, the absurd farce and ridiculous “test” of his would be put to rest.

“Elder”—all of a sudden, the guy known as Master Teuton interrupted Hasse’ train of thought— “do you think the shadelings are sincere?”

“No”—Hasse shook his head indifferently—”they’re not sincere. But, they’re useful. We should make use of those who are useful—I speak from experience after going through the toughest time of my life. Sometimes—”

Suddenly, the coarse voice of a woman interrupted Hesse. “Useful? You will be useless soon…”

Before her voice trailed off, a searing light flashed in the air. A big mace appeared out from the light and headed straight for Hasse’ head.

Boom

The impact left the hill covered in scorching light and billowing smoke. Rock, even soil and sand had turned into smoldering lava as the hill’s vegetation were vaporised. The silhouette of the three demon hunters in the air were covered in a bright light-shield, which had insulated them from the scorching heat. White Flame appeared shocked. Hasse frowned when he spotted the silhouette of a woman emerging from the smoke. “Hesperides, I knew you were still alive.

“But you’ll be dead today!”

An earth-shattering battle erupted. White Flame and Teuton came up to them, trying to help their elder against the crazy woman, who had popped out of nowhere. However, they were quickly stopped by the ancient ones who had also seemingly appeared from nowhere.

The battle between the ancient goddesses and demon hunters was ignited for the first time since the Mythological Era.

Meanwhile, Hao Ren and Hessiana had arrived in a strange place.

In theory, they should have arrived in the same ruins in the other dimension. The energy storm had subsided but the structure and scene in the dimension looked totally different.

It seemed that Bethanos may have triggered something when he fled into the ruins. Perhaps the tunnel beneath the Fortress of the Shadows, which led to the ruins was also a passage to some deeper part of the dimension. What appeared in front of them was not a sea of clouds and the cloud temple, instead…

It was a desert.

Lily squatted on a sand dune and howled. “Awooo—which way next?”

Chapter 308: A Familiar Place

 

Ten minutes earlier, the fortress of the Bethanos Family was bombarded into oblivion by Hessiana using a massive stockpile of weaponry she had accumulated since World War II. The shadelings who stubbornly resisted had mostly been finished off as well. Their defeat proved that the strength of the Hessianite Family, who had been staying relatively low-profile for the last 100 hundred years had actually surpassed that of the shadelings. When the pyschopathic vampires showed up with their high-tech weaponry, the half-demon luddites were crushed to the ground like bugs.

However, their leader had escaped.

By the time they arrived in the basement of the castle, the altar and magic formation had all been destroyed; the key slabs had been smashed into pieces. Bethanos found another warp point, which he had blown up after escaping through it into the ruins.

But this did not hold Hao Ren and his team back; the entry method which the MDT had recorded earlier worked like a charm in the Fortress of Shadows. They summoned up another portal to the ruins. Hessiana ordered her men to stay back and guard the portal before they entered the other dimension, which they had nearly died in.

However, when they stepped through the portal, what lay before them was just a desert.

Lily squatted on a sand dune not far away, feeling ecstatic. Hao Ren stared at the strange scene, dumbfounded. Under the gloomy, ember sky, endless yellow sand dunes stretched to the end of the horizon. He looked into the distance and aside from some sporadic withered plants as well as weathered rocks of various odd shapes, it was basically a desolute place without any landmarks or ruins—of course, Bethanos was nowhere to be seen too.

“Shouldn’t it be a sea of clouds?” Becky gazed around nervously with sword in her hand. The strange changes in the environment had triggered her sixth sense as a mercenary—she did not forget the time she was almost toasted to death in the very same place. In fact, she was still wary of the energy storm, which could still be brewing. She did not want to set her foot there again but, she went in anyway.

“It seems like a different entrance to the ruins leads to a different scene.” Hessiana scratched her chin, trying to figure it out. “The key is only valid at a certain spatial warp point. I found a warp point at the entrance of the Parthenon but it appears that there’s now more than one. Of course, it’s possible that it’s got nothing to do with the coordinates; Bethanos must have changed the settings in the ruins. He knows the ruins more than I do.”

For safety, Nangong Wuyue shapeshifted into a sea-serpent before she entered the ruins. She was flabbergasted at what she saw. She curled up like a mosquito coil, lying listlessly.

It must have been a very horrible experience for a marine creature to come to the desert.

“Do you want to go back out?” Hao Ren took out a pail, which was originally meant for Lil Pea from his Dimensional Pocket. He sprinkled water on Nangong Wuyue’s tail and said, “This place isn’t for you…”

“I’m fine. I can get used to it.” The water did wonders and Nangong Wuyue regained her vitality. Then she focused her mind, drawing out moisture from the air and sand to form a thin layer of damp air around everyone. “At least, this is better than nothing.”

“MDT, scan.” Hao Ren thrusted the MDT—the only one not affected by the harsh environment—up into the air.

The MDT rose up to a high altitude. It used its long-range radar, which was more powerful than a person’s normal perception to scan the area. Soon after, it descended and projected a large holograhic arrow, pointing towards a specific direction. “Go in that direction. There’s a moutain range there. There seems to be something fun just over the hill.”

Hao Ren thought for a while and decided to take a shortcut. “You can fly. But before that, teleport us over there.”

“Lazy bugger!” The MDT ceremoniously sputtered a protest. Nonetheless, it never disregarded its responsibility when it came to business; the MDT faded into a beam of blue light and disappeared into the horizon before everyone was teleported to a rocky mountaintop. The MDT landed on Hao Ren’s shoulder. “I’ve brought you to the mountaintop. Now, do you see what’s down at the bottom?”

They just recovered from their dizziness after the teleportation, and they began to scan their surroundings. Hao Ren first saw a boundless stretch of yellow sand on the side they had come from. On the other side, a vast expanse of barren plains. There were also wastelands covered in gravel and a large basin. Looking farther ahead, there was another equally desolute mountain range.

Two mountain ranges, plains and a basin in between; it seemed nothing was out of the ordinary. Yet, Hao Ren felt an inexplicable sense of strange sight in his mind’s eye.

He searched his memory as he looked at the terrain: he did not know how far the moutain range under his feet stretched. The curved belt of the mountain range near the desert in the far end was amazing; its peaks and gaps looked just like a giant spine.

“Whoa!” Suddenly Lily came out of her daze. “It looks like Dragonspine Ridge!”

“That basin below must be the Beinz Blood Lake.” Vivian nodded. “The plains must be the Gnarled Grove. What’s going on?”

The MDT hovered mid air, presenting the precise topograhy of the desert via holographic projection, then rendering vegetation and blood-red water over it. The finished image was almost shockingly familiar—it was the Beinz Blood Lake.

Hao Ren’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“We’re obviously still in the other dimension, not in The Plane of Dreams.” The MDT turned off the projection. “Presumably, these recoded images are just scenes of The Plane of Dreams in the past—before the Beinz Blood Lake formed, the steppe was just a desert and the Beinz Blood Lake was just a basin. It looks like the legend of The Plane of Dreams has many variations. The one we’re seeing right now must be the scene before the goddess banished the world—a desolute place.”

Becky was in awe. “What do you guys think, if I turn this scene into a painting and sell it to the historians and the Church—”

“More likely than not, you’ll be tied to a pyre and burned for two hours as they sprinkle cumin on you.” Nangong Wuyue gave the mercenary a sideways glance. “Even if you don’t get burned alive, you’ll be treated as a psyhopath.”

Becky stuck her tongue out silently. Hessiana was standing behind Vivian and her curiosity was overflowing. She could not help but ask, “What are you guys rattling about? This isn’t the first time you’re talking about The Plane of Dreams!” Then, she pointed at the MDT. “And what is this talking, hologram-making brick all about? When did the human shaman come up with such a gadget?”

Cold sweat instantly dripped down from Hao Ren’s forehead. He had unknowingly treated Hessiana as his own member after just spending half a day with her. Only then did he realize that Hessiana was a pure-bred vampire, who knew nothing about him.

He hurriedly asked the MDT if it had some sort of gadget that could make people lose their memory with a click of a button. But Vivian had a better idea; she glared at Hessiana and said, “It’s a secret. Don’t ask.”

Hessiana nodded solemnly as though she had just signed a military order before going into the battlefield.

How great would it have been if she was this obedient all the time.

Lily was jumping with agility from one rock to another, exploring her surroundings. Suddenly, she stopped right on top of a rock and pointed at something. “Hey, see that? It’s the temple. The temple’s gone up to the mountainside!”

They finally found the Cloud Temple, which was presumably the heart of the ruins. However, this time, it was not floating in the sky. It was inlaid at the side of Dragonspine Ridge as if it was fused together with the mountain. Also, it was not in a collapsed state, it was almost shredded into pieces during the energy storm. Nonetheless, it still appeared intact at the moment.

“Bethanos must be in there!” Hessiana shouted excitedly before she spread her wings out and flew towards the mountainside. Nangong Wuyue followed closely behind but, instead of flying, she was rolling down the slope, screaming. “Help… I can’t stop!”

Y’zaks was shocked at the sight. “Why does she like to curl herself up into a ball?”

Nangong Wuyue answered as she rolled down towards the side of the mountain, “To prevent… moisture loss—”

Hao Ren was speechless.

Once again, it had to be a very horrible experience for a marine creature to come to the desert.

Chapter 309: Don’t Mess With Those of a Different Style

 

Inside, the temple was more dilapidated than the last saw time they it. Although the energy storm did not totally destroy the temple, it had apparently inflicted severe damage with its great force: a large number of decorative columns had collapsed in the vestibule, the crests over the corridor had fallen and cracks were all over the exquisite reliefs on the facades of the temple. Additionally, some of the glass-like areas ravaged by the energy storm had melted and solidified.

Hessiana found a large hole in front of the temple—the one they escaped through earlier. It proved that this was the cloud temple they had visited the last time. But, it was not in the sky this time. It was half-buried in the mountain they were standing on at the moment. Only the front portion of the temple protruded out while the rear portion was planted in the mountain; there were no signs of impact or cracks where the temple met the mountain. It looked like they both grew together in one body.

Hao Ren took the lead, walking in front of his team as he scanned their surroundings. “This is confusing; it was a sea of clouds but it’s turned into a desert… how is it possible?”

“Perhaps it’s just a big illusion. What we’re seeing is an illusion from a projection,” said Vivian. She sent out a swarm of bats to look for clues as she responded to the questions in Hao Ren’s mind. “Whether it’s a sea of clouds or a desert, the temple is the only constant; this must be the heart of the ruins.”

Lily looked at Nangong Wuyue with concern. “Are you okay?”

Nangong Wuyue was crawling on the ground, with several huge bumps on her head. “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

If this was the heart of the ruins, then Bethanos had to be hiding somewhere inside. But it was unknown if he had detected the intruders. Vivian had a hunch that Bethanos came for the temple’s “storage chamber”, which they did not manage to find the last time they scouted the gallery. They carefully manoeuvred across the corridor as they constantly watched over their shoulders: the shadelings were a cunning race and they were wary that Bethanos may have rigged the place with traps.

Hoever, Bethanos may also have thought that no one made it back in after the key was destroyed. There did not seem to be any traps laying about as they came to the end of the corridor.

Hao Ren triggered his shield. He was the first to enter the gallery. The gallery was empty, just like the last time he left it, but his eyes quickly landed where the mysterious sculpture of Vivian used stand. It disintegrated when the energy storm struck. All that was left was the base. On the base was a shimmering light of an undefined shape. There seemed to be something in the glow.

“That’s it!” Hessiana whispered as she saw the light. She began to run towards it. “This is the entrance!”

“Wait a second.” Vivian immediately stopped the reckless maiden, throwing a bat in their path before she nodded and said, “Now let’s go.”

As they entered into the glow, they felt like they had just walked through a layer of cold water membrane. The surroundings then changed. It was vast, but pitch dark.

The space seemed like a big stone chamber surrounded by darkness; visibility was poor but they managed to spot rows of stone columns in the distance. The air was damp with a rotten smell, probably because this place had remained sealed for God-knows-how-long. There was light about 100 metres ahead: there was a weird looking device about three to four metres tall in the centre of the chamber. It was a combination of several cylinders and ellipsoids, shimmering with light which barely kept the chamber from falling into absolute darkness. As soon as Hao Ren’s vision adapted to the environment, he immediately spotted a sneaky figure: Bethanos!

The others had also spotted the same. Everyone immediately geared up for battle. Meanwhile, Bethanos finally noticed the movement behind him. He was shocked to find familiar faces as he turned his head. “How did you guys come in?”

Hao Ren was surprised to find that Bethanos was like an ordinary old man; he was draped in grey robes, had sparse white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and was slightly hunched. He almost looked like a harmless human, like an extra in a movie set who got paid with a pack of lunch. No one would have imagined this old man to be the mastermind who had orchestrated the disaster in the sanctuary. When Hessiana saw the “old man”, she clenched the weapon in her hand: a black and red whip made of unknown material. She shouted, “Bethanos! What do you want?!”

“Oh, it seems I’ve underestimated you people.” Bethanos looked at them as they glared at him. He showed no signs of nervousness and spoke in a calm voice while he pointed his finger at the strange device shimmering behind him. “You probably haven’t understood, but I’m in the midst of studying the ultimate knowledge and answer to our world. So, please be quiet if you don’t mind.”

As Bethanos’ voice trailed off, a cold wave of movement emerged from the darkness—a group of huge shadelings appeared!

“I’m not alone here,” said Bethanos as he shrugged.

Hessiana clenched her whip. She counted her enemies first before looking at Bethanos. “These scouts are all you have? Don’t you know your men on the outside have all been terminated? Your fortress, your family and every single influence you’ve garnered for the last thousands of years!”

The shadelings were visibly shaken when they heard what Hessiana said, but Bethanos just stared intently at the device beside him. “It’s not a problem compared to what I’m studying. You have no idea. So just die!”

As the voice of Bethanos trailed off, the shadelings suddenly began to attack!

“Fire!” Hao Ren saw Bethanos’ hands on the device. The shimmer from the device became even stronger and Hao Ren knew he had to end this quickly. He ignored the injury on his right hand and yanked out his pistol, shouting and keeping a safe distance before beginning to snipe.

The situation quickly turned chaotic. The shadelings they were battling right now were no boy scouts. These were the best of the best from the Bethanos Family. As soon as the fight started, they began to feel an immense pressure. Bethanos watched in satisfaction as they were bogged down by his men. He mumbled a few words and continued to fiddle with the strange device.

Y’zaks had seen it all in his peripheral vision. The giant with a gentle temperament finally burst. “Everyone, get out of the way!”

A heat wave radiated out from Y’zaks. They did not need his advice to take cover. Huge flames and splashing lava began to burst out from under his feet as the six-metre lava demon stood up from the sea of fire with a roar that tear eardrums.

The shadelings were all stunned like vegetables. Even though Y’zaks looked like a demon, he was not exactly like any other demon in this world. The shadelings were rooted to the spot as if they had seen some little green men in space suits shooting laser guns at them. Y’zaks was not going to let this opportunity slip away. He swung his arm and the lava pool under his feet began to spread out like a runaway wild fire; a few shadelings nearby were nearly swallowed by it.

The other shadelings began to come their senses and focused their attack on Y’zaks. But the king of demons had his full battle mode switched on and he was unstoppable.

A few minutes into the battle, the last shadeling turned into a lump of carbohydrate in the hands of Y’zaks.

Bethanos’ jaw almost dropped to the ground. Hao Ren tucked his gun away and approached Bethanos as he said, “So, didn’t your mom tell you not to mess with those who of a different style from you?”

Bethanos’ eyes were locked on Y’zaks for a long moment. He stared lustfully at him—greedy for his power and strength. Y’zaks had goosebumps from being stared at like that… As if he could still have goosebumps with that body…

But just when the farce was about to be over, the device behind Bethanos suddenly rang.

A light beam popped out of thin air and Bethanos as well as the device were completely shrouded in it.

“Aha! Destiny has eventually favoured the decrepit!” Bethanos laughed loudly then stared deadly at Y’zaks. “Interesting, you people are interesting, especially that demon. I’ve never seen anything like him. I will be back. When I finally find stonger power in the land of the origins, I will come back and dissect you, my interesting samples… Hahaha!”

Chapter 310: Why You Should Read the User Manual

 

A beam of white light enveloped Bethanos and the strange device. Wielding a pair of Fire and Ice Blades, Lily charged towards it. Sparks emitted as she managed to scrape its surface. However, the light beam did not move an inch.

“Don’t waste your energy.” Bethanos sneered. “This artifact comes from the Land of Origins. It’s powerful enough to tear the barrier between two worlds into pieces! A mortal’s strength is just child’s play in front of this miracle.”

Hao Ren stared back at him angrily. He did not expect things to turn out this way. Bethanos, the cunning shadeling, was just a few feet away from him, engulfed in a strange film of light as unbreakable as his Steel Membrane Shield. Lily spent half a day trying to force her way in but her efforts were to no avail. Even Y’zaks summoned his Flameburst and blew a hole in the floor but, the light beam refused to budge.

“Bethanos!” Hessiana waved her whip as she stood outside, jumping with anger. “You coward! Bastard! Dang creature! What do you want? Don’t you realise you’ve destroyed the sanctuary?”

“Like I said, you guys are short-sighted.” Bethanos looked as if he pitied them. “That’s why I never wanted work with you lot right from the beginning. The sanctuary? For a mere thousand years of peace? I can’t believe there are people who would be content with that. But I’m different; I know better than all of you. I vie for eternal strength, which is powerful enough to set the world free from demon hunters and humans. In the pursuit of this goal, the sacrifice of a few idiots is totally reasonable.”

It appeared to take some time before the strange device behind Bethanos began to fire up. Hao Ren allowed the MDT to hack into the light membrane quietly as he tried to divert their attention. “What the hell is that?” he referred to the device behind Bethanos.

Bethanos did not give a hoot. He just looked at Vivian with a deep gaze. “Vivian Ancestor, the ancient one. I must say, I have to revere you as an elder. But, your memory is a mess. Otherwise, you could’ve become my best partner. I pity you, you know nothing.”

Vivian furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean? What should I know?”

Bethanos turned his eyes on the device behind him, seemingly finding that the thing was running slower than expected. He looked impatient, but he soon began to enjoy the process of waiting as he anticipated his victory. With his hands behind him and his body slightly stooped, he began speaking to Vivian outside the light beam like a kind old man. “Do you know that we… I mean, all of us, including humans, vampires, shadelings, demons, wraiths, sirens and other races who are known as Otherworldlings came from another world? We’re all creatures not of this planet, not even of this universe…”

Hessiana scratched her head. “Are you just out of your mind because you’ve become too old?”

However, Hao Ren and the others began to realise: this old shadeling knew something incredible!

“I know some won’t believe it.” Bethanos remained calm and glanced at Vivian indifferently. “Even those whimmy humans don’t believe in parallel universes and the Otherworld. How many Otherworldlings actually possess such foresight? In the first few thousand years, they immersed themselves in greed and lustful desires. Then, they became fugitives and have been living like cowards for the last couple thousands of years. The fool is a sad creature. Shadelings are the only ones in this world who care about all these ancient truths. You people on the other hand, treated the truth like it was a taboo. Tsk, tsk!”

“That thing behind you, it’s—” Hao Ren quietly said.

“It’s the door to the Land of Origins!” Bethanos felt like he had the situation under his control. His did not find the need to mince his words as he talked to a bunch of prisoners on death row. “The Shadeling Family have been accumulating various broken scrolls and mysterious relics for the past thousands of years. From them, we deduced that we were sent to this world by this amazing thing. It possesses the power to link the two worlds together. It’s even comparable to the sun and moon combined! We call it the Sacred Relic of Origins. The name suits it well, doesn’t it?”

Then he turned around and looked at the device’s bright, crystalised front panel. After that, he shook his head with a sense of regret. “It’s a pity that an error took place during the transmission 10,000 years ago. The memories of the ancient ones were erased and some of them even had memory—”

Bethanos paused for a second, glanced at Vivian then continued, “—defficiency.”

Vivian remained silent.

Bethanos did not care about their silence. He scratched his chin and kept mumbling in a frenzy. “What was the purpose of the transmission 10,000 years ago? For exploration or subjugation? What does the Land of Origins look like? How powerful is it? What kind of knowledge and power can I find there? Ah… these are good questions and some even make me feel a bit scared. I haven’t experienced the thrill of exploring new things for thousands of years. But no matter what lies behind this door, it’s not going to be worse than this. And all of you short-sighted wretches will live here in regret.”

Hao Ren frowned. He was surprised that as mad as Bethanos was, he had secretly uncovered such a revealing truth. His interpretation was rational and it closely matched the intel Hao Ren had, which made one wonder: was Bethanos telling the truth?

The strange device began to buzz in a low pitch. Bethanos heard it and was delighted. “Aha! Looks like it’s almost fully charged. Although I’d like to shed some light on the truth for ignorant fools like the lot of you, looks like it’s time to say goodbye. Maybe, I’ll come back to this world some time later. I hope all of you will live long enough to witness my return.”

After that, he turned around and his eager eyes stared unwaveringly at a series of panels on the device.

A short beep was emitted from the Sacred Relic of Origins as a succession of complicated, glowing symbols, which appeared to be the operation buttons materialised on the panel. Meanwhile, the light beam began to shrink gradually. Obviously, the door Bethanos had mentioned was about to open; he was going to tear open the dimension and go into The Plane of Dreams!

“Stop him!” The MDT rose up. “Don’t let that device go into The Plane of Dreams!”

Hao Ren aimed his pistol at the device behind Bethanos; not only was he going to stop Bethanos, he was also going to stop the door from opening. Mainly because, the door would likely become the final nail on the coffin for the shabby Wall of Reality. No doubt, the psionic gun could penetrate the protective light membrane but, it would also totally destroy the precious device.

He was hesitant, however he did not have any other choice. There was no way to stop the door from opening unless the whole system was destroyed.

Bethanos sneered at them and at their futile last attempt. Meanwhile, Hao Ren already had his finger on the trigger. In just a second, the psionic flame would consume possibly the very last sample of the Sacred Relic of Origins.

However, just a second before he pressed the trigger, the device stopped beeping and the light beam faded away.

Bethanos’ smiling face froze. Before he could say anything, a cold synthesised voice was heard from the device. “Dedusting operation completed. The dust shield has shut down.”

Everyone was speechless, including Bethanos.

“Wait-wait a second!” Bethanos pounced on the device, clearly livid. “Wait a second! It shouldn’t be like this! It shouldn’t be like this! Where’s the door? Where’s the Land of Origins? How can this be? You can’t just—”

A gigantic, flaming finger then gently tapped Bethanos on the shoulder. Bethanos turned around with his stiffened expression and saw the face of the flaming demon, who was taller than a normal man.

Y’zaks sat down with his legs crossed as smoldering lava flowed everywhere—he was of course careful not to let the lava flow to where his friends were. He picked Bethanos up with his fingers and placed him before his eyes. “Little creature, let’s talk about the dialectical opposition between your spirit of exploration and your methods of exploration…”

Chapter 311: Has the Dust Settled?

 

Once Y’zaks began his lecture, it was not going to end in a while. Not interested in the boring yet violent “education” program, Hao Ren quickly asked Bethanos a question before Y’zaks started his lecture. “Have you read the user manual?”

Bethanos was still mentally shocked. He looked like he had lost his soul. Then again, anyone who was intelligent enough would have reacted in the same way if they encountered a similar situation. Bethanos remained stunned for a moment before he could respond to the question. “User manual?”

“…It’s such a sophisticated piece of equiment. Did you actually think that you could just press a few buttons the same way you switch a lamp on?” Hao Ren glanced over his shoulder at the device, which had returned to its normal shimmer. “Even if it’s fool-proofed, you’ve got to be careful. Especially when this thing can link two worlds together.”

Bethanos felt humiliated. He struggled in Y’zaks’ grip. “It’s not fair! It shouldn’t be this way! I’ve studied the scrolls, I’ve studied them! It’s supposed to work! Not end just like that! I’ve spent thousands of years studying the thing not to make myself look like a fool! I—”

Y’zaks became a little annoyed and he clenched his fist a little tighter. The fingers of the great demon were enough to disable a resisting half-demon. “Okay, please be quiet. The world is an unfair place after all; only the weak would dream of absolute fairness. It’s an illusion of the lucky ones. Instead, you should feel lucky that the device didn’t open the door. Or else, my landlord and I would have blown you as well as the device up into the high heavens before it could open. Now, stay calm. Let’s start with the basic concept of honour and racial rights after which, I’ll give you a pep talk on the secrets to suppressing your impulses…”

Hao Ren knew Y’aks was on to it now. He turned around and began to study the device, which was emitting a buzzing sound. “What’s this thing?”

Lily was a curious bunny. She cautiously touched the device and walked around it as her eyes examined it. “The casing is metal. It’s hot but, I can’t see any wires or tubing… What’s its power source?”

“Is this the power source?” Vivian squatted down as she touched a ring of patterns all over the floor. It seemed like the device was at the centre of these concentric circles, but she could not feel any energy flow with her hand.

Hao Ren tapped the MDT with his finger and said, “Have a look at this thing.”

The MDT hovered over it and used a light beam to connect with the Sacred Relic of Origins. After a simple scan, it found that the device could not actually open the World Gate and did not have a single function that could open doors to any dimension like they thought it did.

“This isn’t a door.” The MDT dropped itself back onto Hao Ren’s shoulder. “It looks like some sort of… synthesizer or a training device or an analyser. It’s not a dimensional door. I’ve found an empty vessel inside and some magic-based catalytic devices. But, the components aren’t complete. Something’s missing…”

The MDT activated a light beam and shone it on the top of the equipment. A hatch the size of a soccer ball opened on top. It looked like it could store stuff inside. “This is it. This should be the core plug-in or something like that. The plug-in decides the logic between the vessel and the catalytic devices.”

“Whatever it is, Bethanos wasted his time.” Hao Ren turned his head, glancing at Y’zaks’ little comprehensive class in moral, mental, physical, aesthetic and handicraft developments but, he quickly turned away because of the excessively violent scenes.

All in all, he found the incident very ironic; after all the hoo-ha, they were only after a crazy old man, who failed to read the user manual…

Becky followed Lily, moving around the device. Hao Ren asked curiously, “Does this thing exist in your world? I’m not talking about the present, I mean in the recorded history of your world. Are there any records of this thing or something like it?”

“No.” Becky shook her head. “Records of the Ancient Magic Civilisation have long been lost. What’s left are just mythical tales without solid information and religious paintings drawn out of people’s imagination. Nonetheless, this thing does look like one of our alchemical products. For example, that triangular symbol over here.”

Becky pointed at the crystal panel, which displayed a series of characters. “This triangular symbol with two corners means ‘Reaction on Hold’ in the alchemical formula. It means that the formula is established but it won’t produce any reaction because some conditions have not been met.”

Hao Ren also studied the symbols on the panel of the Sacred Relic of Origins but, they were not standard characters or runes (those hard-to-decipher, ritualistic characters were not suitable for use in devices requiring high-speed processing). The symbols were connected with one another by various strange lines and signs like a formula. Translation would take some time and there was no dictionary for it. Hao Ren kept his eyes on the rolling symbols and put the translation system in his mind to work, combining the symbols into useful meaning. A moment later, he was finally able to understand some of them. They read, “Lack of Start-Up Core”, “Administrator ID Suspended”, “Reaction Formula XX/XX/XX Lacks Necessary Elements” and etc.

Nangong Wuyue tried to coil the equipment up with her tail, but she failed. She jabbed Hao Ren on the shoulder using her tail and said, “I’m sure this thing’s a relic from the ancient times. Although it’s not a door, let’s just bring it back and study it slowly.”

Suddenly, Hao Ren realised a fight was still on going outside their dimension. He smacked his thigh and said, “F*ck! I almost screwed up! Let’s pack…”

He placed his hand on the Sacred Relic of Origins and stored it in his Dimensional Pocket. Then, he turned to Y’zaks and said, “Big guy! Leave the crazy old man alone and hurry up, there’s still a war outside!”

As Hao Ren’s voice trailed off, a sudden burst of loud noise reveberated throughout the dimension!

“What the f*ck is going on again?” Hao Ren started to become paranoid when he heard loud noises in the dimension. The last time he heard such a thing, it was a deadly energy storm.

Lily was even more paranoid. She went, “Arf, arf” and hid behind Hao Ren. She held her tail tightly and shivered. “Not again. Don’t burn my tail again!!!”

They left the strange dimension, which stored the Sacred Relic of Origins in a hurry. But outside, they found another “collapse” was unfolding.

It was not the temple collapsing but, the whole dimension itself. Everything was beginning to fade away. Things that faded to black and white were shattered into pieces like a broken mirror; the sky began to disappear while the desert and the mountains changed shape like phantoms. Sometimes, they were a sea of cloud, sometimes a grassland, sometimes the bottom of the sea; the only unchanging elements were the thunder and lightning in the as well as the constant burst of gorgeous light. It seemed like the dimension was coming to an end!

Bethanos was clasped under Y’zaks’ armpit, his face fully soaked in lava (actually, it was just Y’zaks sweating). Although he was half-dead and suffocating, he managed to shout, “Haha! You moved the Sacred Relic of Origins. It’s the heart of the dimension! The dimension is crumbling down, the spatial warp point has been misaligned. You’re not going to make it out! You and I are going to die here!”

“You’re spewing nonsense!” Hao Ren glared at Bethanos before he held the MDT up in the air. “Open sesame!”

What happened next proved that spatial misalignment was nothing compared to what the gadget could do, especially when data conversion was its specialty. The MDT started to glow brightly before a dimensional door opened. Everyone managed to escape outside before the ruins collapsed completely.

Bethanos was still under Y’zaks’ armpit. However, his mouth was wide open and he shouted like a mad man. “It shouldn’t be this way! I’ve never made a mistake, I’ve never made mistake! How can this be?”

Y’zaks slapped the noisy fellow and he fainted. “Because, I do things differently.”

Hessiana was the first to lunge out but, it seemed like the battle in the city had stopped.