Chapter 4602: Not Only Arrays Have Layers

Roan looked at Rean, who looked genuinely surprised by what had just happened. Rean pointed toward Doluno’s group with an angry expression on his face. "Hey! That’s not fair! I put a lot of work into this, you know?!"

Aurundi almost fainted after hearing that. Did Rean really think those three would care about fairness? First of all, they were the ones who had lured the Natak Region Experts into a trap, so who was Rean to complain about whether their methods were fair?

The concealment array wasn’t the only one being affected, either. Those strange runes seemed capable of passing through Rean’s array layers and interfering with the layers behind them as well.

There wasn’t much Rean could do about that since Thery had never told him about this particular ability of the Thousand-Script Race. If he had known about it beforehand, perhaps he could have made some preparations, but there was no point regretting it now.

*Rawr!*

Luxa barked as she jumped forward, and a giant sphere of golden and red flames rapidly took shape in front of her before shooting toward Doluno’s group.

Lukay, Kentucky, Roan, and everyone else launched their own attacks at almost the same time, while Aurundi could only follow with his own attempt. The concealment effect was failing, but it hadn’t disappeared yet. From the looks of it, it would take at least two or three more seconds before the twins’ group became completely visible, and they had to make good use of that brief opportunity.

*Bang, bang, kaboom, bram...!*

Several explosions of energy and chaotic elemental power spread throughout the area, turning the surroundings into a storm of different colors and forces. However, very few of the attacks even reached Doluno’s group.

This time, the three Thousand-Script Race experts didn’t try to block them. With the concealment effect already failing, they immediately moved away as the attacks arrived, avoiding the majority of them rather than wasting energy on defense.

They didn’t look the least bit happy, though. Krava and Tapoqi glanced at Doluno with grim expressions, knowing exactly what he had done and, more importantly, understanding the price he was paying for it.

Doluno, however, didn’t show his concerns on his face. "Stop thinking about it! As long as we get the Eternal Day Fox and Eternal Night Raven, I can definitely recover from this. Just make sure you don’t lose this chance."

"Yes!" Krava and Tapoqi nodded, their expressions showing determination. They knew that there was no turning back now.

—

Say whatever you wanted about this assault against the twins’ group, but one thing remained true: the Thousand-Script Race was extremely united. Neither Krava nor Tapoqi felt happy that it was Doluno who had been forced to use that ability. If anything, they would have preferred to shoulder the burden themselves. Unfortunately, even if they wanted to, neither of them could do what Doluno had just done.

What Doluno had pulled out of his Spatial Ring earlier was the essence blood of a Thousand-Script Race expert who had reached the Region God Realm of cultivation.

As mentioned before, it was possible to surpass the Law God Realm in the Grasslands, but doing so was anything but easy. Nonetheless, the Natak Region was fairly strong in this area, so unlike Besgol, it had possessed Region Gods in the past.

The problem was that Region Gods never stayed for long. They would eventually discover that their cultivation became stuck at the Initial Stage of the Region God Realm, leaving them unable to advance any further. Because of that, they were eventually forced to leave their regions in search of another opportunity. Before leaving, however, they would leave some of their essence blood behind.

The Thousand-Script Race was a humanoid race, but they still possessed a bloodline just like Demon Beasts did. That bloodline could be passed down through generations, and under special circumstances, its power could be drawn out in ways that ordinary cultivation could not replicate.

What Doluno had done was burn that bloodline.

It wasn’t really his bloodline, either. The essence blood belonged to previous Region God Experts from Natak. Because it came from a higher-level expert and didn’t truly belong to Doluno, using it directly came with enormous drawbacks. The first was cultivation backlash. Doluno would absolutely lose a huge chunk of his cultivation after the effect ended, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he fell all the way back to the Zone God Realm.

The second drawback was the weakening of his own bloodline as a Thousand-Script Race member. The burst of runes he had unleashed earlier was a bloodline ability of his race that forcefully interfered with other runes in the surrounding area. It was extremely difficult to stop once activated, and its effects were powerful enough to disrupt even Rean’s carefully prepared arrays.

However, the price was equally severe. Once the ability ended, Doluno’s own bloodline would be greatly weakened. In fact, after paying such a price, he might look more like a normal human than a member of the Thousand-Script Race. Recovering his bloodline would require an extremely long time, assuming he could even recover it completely.

Of course, Doluno had no choice.

As things stood, he would simply be drained dry alongside Krava and Tapoqi, eventually dying at the twins’ group’s hands. Between suffering a massive backlash and dying outright, the choice was pretty obvious.

—

Doluno’s group finally emerged from the explosions caused by the various attacks, and this time, the haze had almost completely disappeared. Even the many layers of arrays locking them into this place seemed to be suffering from Doluno’s ability, with some of the barriers flickering and becoming visibly unstable.

However, as they moved out of the attack area, they soon noticed something strange. Everything was becoming clear, yet they still couldn’t see anyone.

Doluno narrowed his eyes. There was no way the twins’ group could continue concealing themselves in this place with an array now that his bloodline ability was in effect. The haze had already been destroyed, and his runes were interfering with the array structures themselves. No matter how clever Rean’s concealment method was, it shouldn’t have been able to survive this.

Doluno, Krava, and Tapoqi immediately spread their senses, searching the surrounding forest. Yet all they could see was the scenery around them.

Then they noticed something even stranger.

The barrier array layers were suffering from Doluno’s ability, and breaking several of them shouldn’t be a problem if they simply attacked normally. That was expected.

The concealment array that had hidden the twins’ group was also gone. That was expected as well. Both were array effects, after all.

However...

The energy-draining effect hadn’t disappeared!

The three experts continued to try their best to stop the leakage of their Godly Energy, but even with Doluno’s ability, the situation didn’t change. Their energy was still being drained at a steady rate.

Wasn’t it an array that was draining them of their energy?

Doluno’s expression suddenly changed as he remembered something.

The answer to that question was actually outside the imprisoning dome.

Just to the north, a gigantic World Swallowing Tree had its roots spread throughout the final layer of the barrier. Its roots had already merged with the surrounding structure, silently drawing in the Godly Energy that escaped from the three trapped experts.

Who else could it be if not Celis?

From the beginning, Celis had never participated in the ranged attacks. In fact, he hadn’t even been enveloped by the array in the first place. It was only because the concealment effect had hidden everything that Doluno’s group hadn’t noticed Celis was being kept outside.

While everyone else had been attacking from within the dome, Celis had remained outside and quietly performed his own task. The draining effect was never an array. It was always Celis, and Doluno’s ability couldn’t stop it.

—

A gap suddenly opened in the array, and Rean walked out together with Roan and everyone else. He looked toward Celis with a smile. "So, how are things going, Celis?"

Celis wasn’t in the mood to talk. "Shut up and let me work. Draining Law Gods is easier said than done at my cultivation level, alright?"

Rean shrugged and turned his attention back toward the dome. The array had a very convenient transparency that allowed his group to see everything happening inside. "Well, seems like they fell for it."

Aurundi could only feel helpless.

Just a few seconds ago, he had steeled his resolve... for the thousandth time. Once again, he had prepared himself for things to fall into a dangerous life-or-death situation, only for that resolve to become completely meaningless almost immediately. How many times had that happened already?

As the haze disappeared, Luxa had attacked with a very eye-catching sphere of flames, and everyone else had followed her move. Her intention had never been to actually hit Doluno and the others. The attack was simply meant to create chaos and distract them while the concealment effect disappeared.

In the middle of the explosions of energy and elements, Roan suddenly grabbed Aurundi’s core, frightening the Voltari for a moment. He truly hadn’t expected to be grabbed by Roan and almost attacked him back on instinct. However, he quickly noticed that Roan wasn’t attacking him. Instead, he was flying toward a specific part of the array; everyone was.

Just as they reached that location, an opening appeared. Roan immediately pulled Aurundi through it, and everyone else passed through as well before the Natak Region Experts had even emerged from the area where the attacks had landed.

How could Aurundi not understand?

Rean hadn’t merely prepared a trap. He had also prepared a way out in case they needed one.

Even worse, Aurundi hadn’t noticed that Celis had disappeared at all. One moment, the World Swallowing Cedar had been among them, and the next, Aurundi had no idea where he had gone. So when he finally saw Celis standing outside the imprisoning array, he couldn’t help but stare in disbelief as the gap in the array slowly closed behind them.

Aurundi was silent for several seconds before finally thinking helplessly: ’Just what has more layers? The array... or their plans?’