The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 856

Chapter 856: Lemendusa

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

When you suddenly get to know that you have been thrown in a timeflux and the world that you have known is now ten thousand years behind. Everything that you have went through was now history, surely such a revelation would throw anyone into a huge state of contradiction and confusion. The guardians were no expection.

Muru told whatever he knew to the temple guardian and the latter clearly found it difficult to digest this shocking turn of events. But he knew that the guardians, Mother’s proud creations will not lie to his own kin, and there was some degree of believability to that. The giant took much effort to sit up straight as his sight lay on Hao Ren. “So… these are the treacherous children’s descendents ten thousand years since?”

Hao Ren shrugged. “Truth be told, I’ve explained this to Muru many times over. I’m a born and bred Earthling, and I have nothing to do with whatever those traitors, by blood or not. I also have no idea what went wrong that the people of Earth is the same as those treacherous children in your eyes.”

Muru nodded. “Hmm, he is right. His birth itself is innocent, but his aura has the residue of treachery. The planet that he have lived on is host to many other foreign beings who sought refuge there after some galatical catastrophe. That’s probably the cause of the bloodline contamination.”

“Galactical catastrophe?” The temple guardian suddenly found himself with terminologies that were foreign to him, and that he had no idea that the world outside had turned upside down.

“The collapse of the Wall of Reality, the death of countless of Mother’s creation, part of the guardian giants and the lifeblood protectors have gone mad, and many other bizzare things have happened on many planets.” Muru said as he got up, while lending support to his wounded kin. “There’s a seismic change in the worlds beyond. You have missed ten thousand years, and I’m afraid you will need time to understand all these. Can you move?”

“Yes.” the temple guardian grunted a succint reply as he turn towards Hao Ren and Lily. The guardian frowned, and he did not bother to hide his suspicion towards the two. “I cannot fully trust you strangers, but I do trust my kin, so I shall not show any hostility to you.”

Lily rumbled a low growl as Hao Ren smiled. “That’ll be enough. Muru took a long time to change his opinion of us.”

The guardian nodded before bowing. “The timing of your help was most fruitous, you have my thanks.”

Hao Ren was surprised by the guardian’s actions. “Uh.. that’s fine. Say, weren’t you still suspicious of us? Why the sudden show of gratitude?”

“Those are two different things.” the temple guardian grunted, his face serious.

Hao Ren scratched his head, thinking to himself that the guardian was a very stern and serious type. The type that can easily distinguish between professional and personal matters as if they were simply items to be balanced on a scale. He then clambered up to Lily’s head before looking at the guardian. “Are there anyone else here?”

The temple guardian frowned, seemingly hesitating to disclose what was going on here to the stranger, but a quick ponder later, he realised that the secret that he was protecting was already ten milleniums old. Pointing towards the great gate nearby, “I have another comrade guarding the Sacred Vault, another was at the plaza before the temple, she’s probably by the anti-air installations. I heard gunfire earlier.”

“The warrior at the anti-air base has perished.” Muru said sombrely. “A valiant end. She had taken out one of enemy before dying on the turret. Not long later, this human, Hao Ren used his own ship to destroy the remaining enemies, and avenged her.”

The temple guardian bowed silently before drawing a circle before his chest. “She was a brave new recruit. She knew no fear, and she was worthy of the life Mother had given here. That leaves only me and Heve.”

Muru looked towards the shut gate. “Can you let us in?”

“Of course.” the guardian nodded as he raised his staff before unleashing a lightning bolt from the tip towards an orb on the top of the gate. As the lightning struck, the floating crimson runes on the gate dissapted and the black golden gate opened without a sound, revealing a long pathway behind it.

The temple guardian led the group as they walked into the great temple hall. Hoa Ren noticed the interior design of the hall was similar to the one in Muru’s ship. Even when most of the construction materials were black in colour, the place did not feel forboding. A very unique optical and translucent technique allowed the monolithic sculptures and linings to look present a very solemn grandeur, and had the side effect of reducing the forboding atmosphere of the area. All along the corridor were neatly lined lightings and a very high skylight. Between the bright ray of lights in set distances, a draping banner hung from the ceiling. Eacho f the banners had a very intricate and complex motive to it, and it was similar to the religious arts of the Disciples of Glory back in Holetta.

These motives signified one thing, and that was the sanctity and uniqueness of this place.

Y’zaks walked alongside the temple guardian and asked on a whim. “What are you called?”

“Lemendusa.” the guardian replied, curiosity in his voice. “Where are you from? I have never seen a being like you in this universe before… You look like a demon living on a volcanic planet, but your aura is completely foreign to me. Mother probably had not made a creature like you before.”

“I am indeed a demon, but I’m from another world.” Y’zaks said with a smile. “And we have even more friends from other universes.”

This was not the first time Lemendusa heard that term, but he was not particularly interested in it. What was important to him now was the god-slaying war, and even though this war was ten thousand years ago, to him, the war was his present. “Muru… the war….how…”

“You probably know very well how it ended.” Muru slowed his pace as he looked down. “There were no victors, the Star of Creation vanished, and the treacherous children were eradicated. There are no longer any gods in this universe, and there are no more guardians… that was ten thousand years ago.”

Hao Ren turned to Lemendusa nervously, fearing that this guardian would descent into madness like those brain monsters after learning that his mother got blown to kingdom come. But seems like with the psychic link broken and that they never saw it happened before their eyes, the guardians seemed to be able to hold on to their wits. Lemendusa did not went berserk. But of course, there was a bigger reason to that, and the guardian already knew that the kingdom of the Goddess had fallen over the course of the battle, and was not surprised when Muru broke the news to him.

Noticing that the atmosphere was getting strained, Hao Ren immediately brought up the very thing that could lighten the mood. “Oh yea, the Goddess of Creation could very well still be alive!”

Lemendusa immediately lowered his gaze towards Hao Ren. “What is the meaning of this?”

“There are still Second Borns that are believing in Mother, and they seemingly could hear her whispers.” Muru explained. “Besides, Hao Ren too had performed a few tests, and he thins that Mother’s divinity is still present, and could respond to prayers unconciously. So she could still be sleeping in another dimension. And our main course of action now is to look for any clues that She may have left, and to look for surviving guardians like you.”

These words have an immediately impact in raising Lemendusa’s morale. “Is this for real?”

“I’m not lying.” Hao Ren said smugly. “Have you noted noticied the divinity in me as well? I have a great god standing behind me as well. So I’m a professional, and finding the Solenne Gateway system was a big leap on our search. This system was thrown together with the Star of Creation into the Umbral Realm. Finding this place means that we are already at the gates of the Umbral Realm.”

Hao Ren explained briefly on his work on Tannagost to the guardian. After being locked in time for ten thousand years, to say Lemendusa’s concept of the world at large was outdated was a massive understatement, and the latter was utter out of his depth. But regardless, the temple guardian was still cheered by the words of Hao Ren and Muru. He knew that the Star of Creation had fallen, and when the psychic link with Mother broke, he too had fallen into despair. If not for his duty as a temple guardian, his end would probably be that of his insane kin. But now, a glimmer of hope have wrenched from back from the brink.

Lemendusa kept quiet for a moment before clenching his fist. “You said that the treacherous children had been eradicated, how did that happen?”

“The treacherous children attacked their own creator, this was not accepted by the will of the universe.” Muru’s tone sounded like a grudge was settled. “The moment the Star of Creation exploded, their entire race was wiped out by the laws of the universe.”

“Then what about this planet?” Y’zaks queried. “They were still alive here.”

“Probably due to the Umbral Realm’s effects.” Muru theorised. “The Solenne Gateway and the Star of Creation was pulled into the Umbral Realm at the same time, the Curse of Exctinction was blocked, and the remaining traitors survived… for a few more hours.”

Lemendusa stood by as he heard, confusion was apparent in his face.

Because he did not know what the ‘Umbral Realm” was. Only the guardians who did not get blown to kingdom come when the heavens exploded called the extraordinary phenomenon as such.

---

Chapter 857: Sacred Artifact

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The massive great temple complex had an equally massive interior, endless corridors, and halls which you cannot see the end of. If Hao Ren was not riding on Lily’s back he reckoned that he would need to be on a steady jog to keep up with the two giants’ footsteps. As someone who had just showcased his prowess, that would be rather unsightly.

The group went about the inside of the templex complex for a long while, going through hidden passengeways and door before reaching its inner sanctum. Lemendusa pushed with some effort a very sturdy holdgate and pointed towards the hall behind in, it is still safe here, head in.”

Hao Ren and Lily followed behind Muru into the hall, and found themselves in a hexagonal hall. The hall was well lit, and was dotted with simple, yet grand sculptures. A circle of draping red banners hang from the ceiling, and between each banner was a ray of light, seemingly circling the black stone dais in the centre of the hall. Beside the dais sat a long robed female giant. These was probably the ‘Heve’ that Lemendusa was talking about. She seemed to be seriously injured, and beside her was a trail of dried build, and her face pale. As the great door opened, the guardian broke out of her stupor and immediately placed her hands on a piece of green crystal on the dais. Only when she heard Lemendusa’s voice did she calm down. “Heve, it’s me.”

Her eyes widen as Hao Ren and Y’zaks stepped into the hall.

“They are friends.” Lemendusa knew that Heve would have the same misunderstanding that he had, and quickly interjected before she could ask anything. “The foes outside are all dead. It is safe now. I need to tell you something…”

“Where are these people from?” Heve frowned, and her hand never left the green crystal.

Thankfully there was Muru and Lemendusa, the two guardians to explain and Hao Ren and his crew’s origins were quickly made clear. Lemendusa then told his companion that he had found out, including the time flux.

Heve’s reaction was no different than Lemendusa’s initial response. As she slowly digested her new reality, Hao Ren led Lily to a corner of the hall and summoned a few droids from his Dimensional Pocket. He then motioned for the giant husky to open her mouth, “Open up, dental care time.”

Lily gave out an obedient woof before opening up her razor sharp jaws. Hao Ren immediately saw the remnants of what the husky had gnawed on earlier between her teeth. That included a boot, a piece of belt, a shred of a mantle, and the twisted frame of a pauldron. All these were dangling on her teeth with a shiny glow. Lily awkwardly tried to use her tongue to lick the remains out, it was clear that the solid remains had left her rather uncomfortable.

The droids got their orders and immediately flew into Lily’s mouth and started cleaning up. The golden alloys were very sturdy and the droids had to resort to use laser cutters and power drills to dislodge them from Lily’s teeth. Sparks flew about within the husky’s mouth and it looked more like a constructin site with the amount of work that is going on. Hao Ren crossed his arms over his chest as he sniggered. “Rather than dental job, this looks more like a renovation.”

Lily had no way to retaliate now and could only rolled her eyes the hardest she could as she let out a series of protesting growls. Y’zaks patted Hao Ren on the shoulder with the tip of his finger. “Don’t go poke the dog. When she really bites you’d be nursing more than a bite mark.”

As Lily was busy having her teeth cleaned, the three giants too had done explaining what happened outside the temple complex. Noticing that, Hao Ren ran over. “So, all done?”

“As much as we can.” Muru nodded. “Where’s your ship?”

Hao Ren pointed towards the top. “Standing by just above the temple compex. Not sure if or when any enemies would pop out so I have Nolan on overwatch. I also have sent out probes and low-orbit sats out as well, not sure if there are any survivors…”

Before Hao Ren could finish, Heve interrupted him, “There’s no one left. We are probably the last of the guardians on this planet… Khhhhh..khhhh”

The female giant spoke very slowly, Hao Ren was not sure if it was due to her injury or that was her normal way of speech. Her voice had a certain gentleness that is not present in Muru and Lemendusa’s. That proclaimation caught Hao Ren by suprise and he turned towards Lemendusa. “You sure?”

“After the traitors broke through the Solenne Gateway’s galactic shield, almost all of the guardians headed towards the Star of Creation as reinforcements.” Lemendusa explained. “The last message I heard was them departing. After that, all that was left on the planet was a company defending this temple complex. And Thulenne at the plaza was the last of the temple guards.”

Muru had mentioned this before, that all of the guardians in the system had fought to the very last, but what he knew stopped at there. It seemed like when the traitor army broke through one of the barriers, the guardians immediately decided to withdraw from this meaningless battlefront and headed towards the Star of Origin to man the second line of defense. By the time Hao Ren got to Solenne, the war was already ending; the planet had already completely fallen, and the last of the guardians were almost wiped out with only Lemendusa and Heve the remaining survivors.

A twist of fate? A due course of history? These two seemingly contradictory phrases suddenly came into Hao Ren’s mind. But he knew, his timing was impeccable.

“Arriving at the very last moment, into the very last battle, and meeting the very last survivors…” even Y’zaks couldn’t help himself. “There seems to be a greater force behind all these…”

“This planet was stuck in time for ten thousand years, just to let us crash the party late, is there any better ‘arrangements’ than this?” Hao Ren quipped before looking curiously at Lemendusa. “For you guys to be defending this place, what’s valuable here?”

As they fought with the traitors earlier, Hao Ren heard the commander demanding Lemendusa to hand over something, and that guardian’s company had stayed behind after the rest had withdrawn. He knew there was something here, and the temple was probably some place of great importance, so he just went ahead and ask.

A shred of hesitation appeared before Lemendusa’s face and Muru, upon seeing so placed his hand on his brethren’s shoulder. “The thing that you are protecting is a ten thousand year old historical artifact now. If there is someone to entrust it to, they would be the best choice.”

The traitors did not need to embroil themselvbes in a protracted war here. Hao Ren already knew that they had weapons capable of tearing the planet apart from space, so after destroying the planetary defence shields of Solenne, the traitors could have just blasted the planet to bits using their graviton weapons, but yet they have sent multitudes of regiments to sweep the planet and the reason for that lay within the temple that Lemendusa was guarding!

Muru’s expression immediately changed. “What is the artifcat?”

“A component of the Creation Engine.”

Looking at the sudden change in seriousness of the three guardians, Hao Ren felt that he had nothing but question marks all over his head. “What are you talking about? What’s a Creation Engine?”

“That was Mother’s most secret of creations in the last thousand of years.” Heve explained slowly. “And truth be told, we have no idea what it is for. We only know that it had something to do with her plan to ‘change the entire universe’. Mother took the creation of this secret construct very seriously and have expended many hours to personally design the item and to have multitudes of planets around the Star of Creation to produce each of its parts before bringing them back to the Star of Creation to personally assemble it. The Solenne Gateway was one of the manufactoriums of the Creation Engine, and before the war, both me and Lemendusa would be seeing these components slowly coming out of the Star Forge. After the outbreak of the war, one of the components that could not be evacuated was placed within this sanctum.”

Hao Ren scratched his head. “Sounds like a whole load of goobledygook to me… So can you let me inspect the thing?”

Lemendusa and Heve looked at each other, and after a brief contemplation, they nodded.

---

Chapter 858: The Gilded Disc

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Because of the strong vitality of the guardian, Heve had slightly recovered her strength after resting for some time. She stood up with the help of Lemendusa and carried out a series of complex operations beside the stone platform of about thirty meters in diameter. The stone platform looked nothing special. It was just a huge work surface, made of obsidian material. There was a ring of obscure patterns and green crystals around the stone platform, and a tall crystal pillar of several meters high beside the stone platform. Heve knocked on the top of the crystal pillar briskly and made a series of clear and melodious sounds, and then the stone platform suddenly trembled.

Lemendusa came to the other side of the stone platform and tapped on another crystal pillar, releasing a string of complicated musical notes. When the second instruction was entered, all the patterns on the surface of the stone platform were lit at the same time, followed by the sound of come mechanical movement. The stone platform slowly sank down and opened in all directions. A series of extremely complex and sophisticated locking devices were exposed, as well as several layers of glowing red protective light films. This kind of setup made them feel that there must be some kind of extremely important treasure keeping in it.

Layers of security devices were lifted automatically, and then a huge glittering Gilded Disc emerged from the treasury.

Hao Ren and Lily were attracted by the Gilded Disc instantly. It was something totally different from the surrounding. It was about ten meters in diameter and was round in shape, showing a curved surface slightly. In the center of the disc, there was a hole in the size of a human head, and the hole was surrounded by a number of intricate patterns and symbols. The edge of the disc was inlaid with crystals that seemed to be arranged according to some rule. When it rose from the treasury, these pale green crystals were almost glimmering at the same time that seemed to be sensing the surroundings.

For a moment, all of Hao Ren’s attention was drawn to the disc. He felt as if his brain had been completely immersed in the brilliance of the golden disc uncontrollably. He seemed to have seen all the truth of the universe since its birth and the future of the universe after a certain point in time. Some sort of grand message was conveyed to his mind through the Gilded Disc. After a moment, however, these illusions vanished.

“It’s a divine creation.” The voice of the data terminal awakened Hao Ren from the trance state. “And it’s a highly correlated one. You’ll be affected by it if looking directly at this thing. The more divinity one has, the greater the impact. You must have been hallucinating, because you’re a demigod, enough to read part of God’s thoughts.”

Hao Ren put his hand on his chest and muttered in surprise while calming his pounding heart, “A demigod? How can I be so powerful?”

The data terminal slapped him on the head and yelled, “Why is your mind always on the wrong track?”

Hao Ren dragged the data terminal aside, looked up at the Gilded Disc floating in the air and asked, “So this is the Creation’s Engine you’re talking about?”

“Just a part,” Lemendusa corrected, “a very small part. I have seen a half-assembled Creation’s Engine. It was… something as big as a whole planet, and its structure was so complex that it’s difficult to understand. It contained the truth of the universe, and just looking straight at it was enough to make mortals crazy. But it was only 3/4 completed. Mother said it would take her at least 1000 years to finish building that thing. The Gilded Disc in front of you is supposed to be placed near the core of the Creation’s Engine, and I have seen several discs similar to it in the middle of the engine.”

“My intuition is warning me… I’m afraid it’s a powerful thing…” Hao Ren muttered. “The Goddess never said what the Engine of Creation was for? Not even mentioned once?” he asked.

“We will not ask what the mother does not tell us. The truth of the universe is a powerful and dangerous existence. Sometimes just ‘listening’ to it can lead to unintended consequences. So the mother only told us the necessary things. She built the Creation’s Engine and did not let us involve in it, then she must have her reason. The only time she mentioned the Creation’s Engine was when that thing was half assembled. She said… It’s a device that can regain the balance. It will change the orbit of the entire universe,” answered Muru.

“Regain the balance…” Y’zaks rubbed his chin and pondered, creating some sparks under his chin. “If the Goddess wants to regain the balance, it means something has broken the balance. What happened before the Goddess built the Creation’s Engine?”

The three guardians looked at each other, did not know what Y’zaks meant. They just shook their heads together and said, “No.”

Lemendusa asked, somewhat doubtfully, “Why do you care so much about the Creation’s Engine? This should have nothing to do with you.”

“You don’t know much about the nature of my work,” Hao Ren said and shook his head with a smile. “Anything that has a lot of background stories was basically related my job. The war of killing Gods occurred at the critical moment when the Creation’s Engine was almost completed, and those rebels seemed to know the existence of these sacred things… Were their actions related to this? They just want to be God, but will they also want to take over the Engine of Creation? Does this engine have a greater role? How much does it appeal to the rebels? I want to know all of this. ”

In other words, Hao Ren was interested in anything related to the Goddess of Creation. Even if the Goddess sneezed before she ‘fell’, he wanted to measure the wind speed as well—not to mention the Creation’s Engine that the Goddess had spent thousands of years to assemble but failed to complete before the war. But there was too little information about the Creation’s Engine, even the closest guardians of the Goddess had little idea of the principles and functions of this thing. Hao Ren could only guess blindly.

Lily was circling around the Gilded Disc. The glittering thing totally aroused the husky girl’s curiosity. She stopped circling around the Gilded Disc and sniffed it but the cold disc made her sneeze loudly.

Hao Ren rolled his eyes and asked, “What do you think?”

He thought that, even though Lily was quite unreliable, sometimes she could make some deep judgments. And Lily did have something to say. She pointed to the disc with her nose and began to express her opinion, “Whoo hoo, Awwwwoo…”

Hao Ren kicked Lily’s paw and then pulled her clothes out of his dimensional pocket and threw it at her. “All right, you might as well go and find a place to transform back. Who can understand what you’re saying?”

Lily took her clothes and trotted off the hall, and a moment later she turned into a human and ran back. “I mean, let’s not talk about the disc. We can take it back to the station and study it. The priority now is to find the clues of the Umbral Realm.”

Hao Ren agreed. He pointed to the Gilded Disc and asked Lemendusa, “Can I take it back?”

The expression of Lemendusa and Heve suddenly turned complicated because they instinctively felt that something was wrong. The Gilded Disc was the holy thing created by the Goddess of Creation, and the reason they stayed on the planet was to keep it from falling into someone else’s hands. When they entered the hall, Heve was putting her hand on a crystal beside the stone platform. The crystal was the self-destruct device of the entire temple. If Lemendusa failed to destroy the rebels, Heve would reverse the energy well of the temple and turn the whole city into molten lava. They risked their lives to protect this holy object, but they were not ready to give it to anyone.

He certainly knew that 10000 years had passed and the world had changed. He also knew that it would be meaningless to continue guarding this temple. However, knowing it was one thing and whether it could be accepted was another.

In the end, Muru talked to Lemendusa. The temple guard sighed heavily and said, “Well, you can take it. After all, it’s useless here. But I have a condition.”

Hao Ren nodded and said, “Okay.”

“I must know what you are going to do with this disc,” Lemendusa said and looked at Hao Ren with glowing eyes, “I have to protect it all the time before I fully understand your background.”

Hao Ren laughed and said, “Of course, no problem. In fact, even if you don’t say anything, I’ll have to take you away. Tannagost is short of manpower. ”

Then he waved to the Gilded Disc in the air, and the holy object was in his dimensional pocket.

“Now let’s talk about the Umbral Realm.”

Chapter 859: Speculations about the Current State of the Star of Creation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Lemendusa and Heve were the last guardians on Solenne, but the enemy they had destroyed was not necessarily the last enemy on the planet. Given that there might still be a small group of rebels who had not been evacuated from here, Hao Ren let Petrachelys drop a group of surveillance satellites on the planet’s orbit to search for all the energy responses on the surface of the planet. At the same time, he ordered some armed UAVs to go to Solenne.

But so far, no other response of the rebel forces had been found in any of the search channels. Maybe they really had left this place.

“This place has been abandoned,” said Lemendusa. He was not surprised after hearing the search results. “After the interstellar barrier was broken, almost all the troops were flocking to the Star of Creation—including the guardians and the rebels. And I heard that the guardians of other planets had launched the self-destruct explosion or solar eruption device on the planet before leaving. So it’s impossible to have more living survivors. In fact, if you came a little later, this planet could not escape the explosion too.”

“You don’t seem to know anything about the Umbral Realm?” Hao Ren asked.

Lemendusa shook his head and said, “According to Muru, we were the one who was involved in the explosion. And for me, the big explosion just happened ten hours ago. So I don’t know how those who stayed outside call the battlefield ruins.”

Lily sat on the stone platform (now it had risen to the surface), dangling her legs while looking up at Muru and asked, “You’ve talked about the Umbral Realm several times. What kind of place is that?”

“In fact, we also don’t know.” Muru sighed. “When the last big explosion happened, the other guardians and I had left the divine kingdom. We could only see some strong lights coming from the direction of the Star of Creation. The background radiation of the entire universe was shaking, and then the stars around the divine kingdom begin to wobble, and the galaxy distorted and swirled into a whirlpool and then collapsed in the direction of the divine kingdom. It lasted only a short time, and then all the lights went away. The starlight of the divine kingdom and the starlight of millions of light years around it disappeared as well. The space was so clean as if a piece of it had been dug out. I did return to the battlefield trying to find clues but there was nothing, not even a speck of dust. There’s only boundless darkness. No wreckage, no remains, not even a little bit of temperature and magnetic field was left as if the divine kingdom had never existed. So we call this phenomenon ‘The Umbral Realm’.”

Lemendusa was getting more and more surprised as he was listening to Muru. Though he was on the battlefield, he did not see the unusual phenomenon that Muru had seen. Y’zaks then asked Muru curiously, “What did you see when the Star of Creation exploded?”

“Nothing special. There is only one strong light, and an energy shock that shook the entire galaxy,” Heve said slowly before Lemendusa answered. “I saw the Star of Creation expanded countless times in an instant. Its light occupied almost one-third of the sky, and then in a few seconds, the light began to fade away. I found that the stars in the sky were getting less, and the stars in the distance were gone. That’s probably the time it fell into the ‘Umbral Realm’?”

“I’m afraid so. You could not see the stars in the distance, which meant that you had fallen into a different space,” Muru frowned and said, “but you felt nothing while falling into the Umbral Realm? I thought it would turn this planet… upside down.”

“In fact, we don’t even know what’s going on,” Lemendusa said with a strange expression. “In my time, I just fought for less than a day after the explosion, and then you guys popped up and told me it’s been 10000 years and Solenne just came out of a place called the Umbral Realm.”

Lemendusa thought that it was only ten hours after the explosion of the Star of Creation but Hao Ren did not let go of any details as if he was a professional detective. “Did you see any unusual phenomena or scenes in these ten hours?”

Lemendusa pressed his forehead with his hand, trying to recall what he had seen. “There’s not much change, except for the mass disappearance of starlight and the loss of mental connection with other guardians. Oh, one moment before you came, I saw a flash of light in the east of the sky, which seemed to split the entire universe into two, and then the stars suddenly appeared. If that’s true, that should be the moment when we return to the main universe.”

“A flash of light in the east of the sky?” Hao Ren immediately jumped down from the platform and said, “Show us!”

Except for Heve who still needed some rest, everyone hurriedly ran out of the temple. They came to a platform outside the temple. It was still in the middle of the night, and the sky was still dark. The smoke and clouds brought by the war covered most of the sky, but there were still a lot of stars and some lavender stripes behind the clouds, which was the color of the clouds of Solenne. Lemendusa pointed to the side of the sky and said, “That’s the one.”

Hao Ren looked up and saw that there was a rift across the sky. The color of the night sky was divided into two distinct parts on both sides of the rift as if it were cut off by a knife. It took him a few seconds to realize what it was: it was the fault zone at the edge of the oblique nebula, where all the matter of the nebula was abruptly interrupted. Because Solenne was just on the edge of the oblique nebula, they could see the fault zone from here.

“Only a part of the gate of Solenne returned to the main universe,” Muru told Lemendusa what he knew, “and the flash you saw cut down a piece of the galaxy like a knife. Are you sure you really saw a flash of light?”

“It’s true.” Lemendusa nodded. “It ran through the sky. It’s magnificent. And it just happened just now. It couldn’t be wrong.”

“Then where is the source of the flash?” Lily asked quickly.

“I didn’t see that,” answered Lemendusa, shaking his head with a little regret. “It’s too grand, and it’s likely to be a phenomenon that set out from tens of thousands of light years away and is enough to affect a galaxy. It’s impossible to see the whole picture of the flash from the surface of Solenne, but according to the form the moment it emerged… I guess it’s probably coming from the direction of the Star of Creation.”

Everyone looked at each other at once and there was a long pause before Hao Ren broke the silence. “The Star of Creation had blown up, but it sent a flash of light that cut down a piece of the Gate of Solenne and threw it into the main universe.”

Lily’s eyes were sparkling. “In other words, there must be something in the Star of Creation, right? A particularly powerful one!”

“Is it the Creation’s Engine?” Y’zaks and Hao Ren asked in unison.

In the vicinity of the Star of Creation, there was—or maybe—an unprecedented powerful force that is strong enough to change the rules of the universe or throw a galaxy out of space. It seemed that the only thing that has these attributes is the mysterious Creation’s Engine. Although Hao Ren and Y’zaks did not know what the engine was for, at this point, they still associated the two things together. Lemendusa apparently did not have time to think about it, and he had a different view. “I don’t think so. The Creation’s Engine hasn’t been fully assembled, just completed ¾ of it.”

“But maybe it works,” Hao Ren said.

“Is it possible?” Lemendusa asked with a strange look on his face.

“Anyway, let’s just assume there’s something left around the Star of Creation,” Hao Ren said, rubbing his hands a little excitedly. “And with that flash of light, we can say that the possibility that the Goddess of Creation still survives is even higher. I even suspect that the flash was actually coming from her.”

Everyone nodded. The unexpected progress made them all extremely excited. But now the biggest problem was:

What was the current situation in the Umbral Realm?

Lemendusa only knew the situation of Solenne. The space around the planet was skewed and time was chaotic. However, according to Nolan’s observation, the degree of skewing was not uniform and was diminishing from the center of Solenne. Therefore, they could speculate that other places in the dark realm would not be in the state of stagnation like this the planet, so no one knew what kind of serious changes had taken place around the Star of Creation.

The only thing that could be ascertained was: Something was still active there.

---

Chapter 860: An Abandoned Spaceship?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

It was a long dead night in Solenne. The planet had an unusually slow speed of rotation which led to 60 hours of day and night. After ending the long and difficult discussion and deliberation, Hao Ren came to the square in front of the temple alone. He sat down beside those huge trident weapons, gazing into the murky and gloomy night sky. All around him were the lonely winds and some sparks that flew up from the ruins in the distance. On this completely destroyed planet, he was acutely aware of the shocking devastation that a war could bring.

He had seen the planet going through the rebuilding of the biosphere, he had seen the wandering planet after all life was gone, and he had also seen Tannagost going through the end of the world, however, the ecological extermination operations carried out by the Firstborn could not be compared with the present state of the planet. The rebels destroyed this place precisely, thoroughly and mercilessly. All the land was burnt, and all water was evaporated or severely polluted. The earth’s crust was torn apart and the planet itself was almost split into two. Standing in between such ruins, the only thing that anyone could experience was the boundless desolation and loneliness. Hao Ren turned to look at the magnificent black temple and the huge buildings around the temple. Looking at those tall silhouettes, he could still imagine the glorious past of this place. It must be a mysterious sacred place standing here beneath the stars before Solenne was destroyed. But now everything was gone. Only flames and ruins, and the thick smoke billowing in the distance accompanied the starlight.

But Hao Ren still felt lucky. He found the place before the last clue was dissipated. No matter what caused the nebula around Solenne to skew, he should be thankful for the phenomenon. He even had a feeling that some supernatural force was consciously freezing the planet, making it stagnant like an amber for 10000 years until he came here to open the magic box.

Hao Ren gazed into the distance and saw a huge black obelisk standing alone under the stars. The green crystals on the obelisk were sparkling in the night sky, and then the obelisk collapsed, falling into flames and smoke. It took some time before he heard the collapse of the building. At this time, Hao Ren heard a light cracking noise coming from behind. He turned to look, found that Lily was walking up to him on tiptoes.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Lily bumped her head on Hao Ren’s arm (sometimes she greeted Hao Ren in strange ways) and said, “Heve’s injury has stabilized. The medical equipment you left behind works.”

“I don’t know if they can adapt to the life in Tannagost. I just inform Zorm what happened here and it’s looking forward to the new friends. But Lemendusa and Heve have just come back from the war. They probably need some time to adapt.”

“Anyway, it’ll get better,” Lily said while her ears were trembling, which meant that she was in a good mood, “I know how it feels, but I’ll get better after having some good meals!”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes and thought that the husky’s situation could not be used as a reference. Her mentality is simply too difficult to copy.

“I suddenly think of something. I have been curious about it for a long time.” A question popped up in Hao Ren’s mind. “Why can’t you speak after you transform into a giant husky? You’re just turning into an animal, how come you lose the ability to speak?”

“It’s obvious. You see, after I transform into a husky, the physiological structure has changed, how do I speak like a human? I want to speak too, but when I open my mouth, all I can say is awwwooooooo…”

Hao Ren paused for a few seconds and found it seemed to make sense, but still a little confused. “No, how about those black wolves in Holletta? Why can they communicate with me?”

“Oh, you’re right. How do they do it?” Lily wondered while touching her chin, “or maybe I should try to practice more? Maybe it’s a matter of proficiency.”

“Erm, it’s ok, you don’t have to. It’s too much trouble.”

While Hao Ren and Lily were seriously discussing ‘how difficult it was for a husky to learn to speak human language’, a blue light suddenly dropped from the sky. Petrachelys emerged from behind the thick clouds and quickly came to them. It was surrounded by dozens of UAVs and probes. Apparently, it had just completed a major scan of the entire planet. Hao Ren was standing there, not just watching the stars, he was waiting for Nolan too.

As soon as the communication was connected, Nolan’s holographic images appeared in the air not far ahead. “I have completed the exploration of the entire planet,” she said.

“Are there any traces of other rebels or guardians?” asked Hao Ren hurriedly.

“I’m sorry,” Nolan shook her head and said, “I only found a lot of wreckage that was completely destroyed. I’ve never seen such a brutal battle, not even a complete body can be found. Almost all the battlefields have been damaged by the powerful explosion. Many cities are even left with only huge deep pits. According to the result of the analysis, it’s caused by self-explosion. No matter who gets into a disadvantage, they would not hesitate to choose self-explosion… I can’t find anything I can bring back.”

It reminded Hao Ren of the rebel commander who had blown up in front of him and Heve’s plan to detonate the bomb in the temple, so he was not surprised.

“Judging from the tenacity in the battle, both of the parties are brave and strong warriors, but what is the point of fighting? Especially the rebels. Why are they doing this, isn’t it a waste of their courage?”

Nolan was noncommittal about Lily’s feeling because she had been through countless wars. Pointless killing and battle were common to her. She just shook her head and said, “There’s nothing here. The UAVs are looking around to see if there’s any wreckage, but… Wait a minute, there’s something!”

“What did you find?” Hao Ren and Lily asked in unison.

“It looks like a spaceship, wandering between Solenne and the sun, and is intact,” said Nolan. She was not looking at Hao Ren because she was watching the vast universe through a probe in space.

Without hesitation, Hao Ren immediately went back to find Y’zaks, who was playing with Obsidian, and the three guardians, including Muru, and returned to Petrachelys together.

Because of the huge size of the three giants, they still had to stay in the garage. Fortunately, even if it was a garage, it was clean, tidy and comfortable, and there was ample room for special equipment to treat the injuries of Heve and Lemendusa.

The three guardians were not dissatisfied with the arrangement of the ‘diamond garage’. After looking at Hao Ren’s advanced spacecraft up and down curiously, Lemendusa urged Hao Ren to check where the battleship came from.

Hao Ren came to the bridge, said hello to Lil Pea and Y’lisabet, and then opened Nolan’s holographic interface and asked, “Is that spacecraft responding to our detectors?”

“No, I’ve released several exploratory beacons, but there’s no response no matter how intensive the communication test was,” Nolan said as she piloted the spacecraft to the spot, “there is no trace of life inside it. It seems that everyone is evacuated.”

Petrachelys sailed through the universe briskly, and soon a golden battleship appeared on the screen of the external monitor.

The golden battleship was wandering in the universe like the Ark of the Gods, and even though Hao Ren had never seen a spaceship like this, he knew that it should be something been built by the rebel.

Because it was too ostentatious…