Chapter 362: I Will Never Let You Die!

Inside the laboratory, Ansu gathered all the core members.

The bright glow of the magitech lamps fell upon everyone's faces as Ansu informed them, one by one, of the deaths he had seen in his "foresight."

Once he finished speaking, everyone's expressions turned solemn, and a heavy silence settled over the room for a long time.

“So that means...” Professor Duncan's eyes filled with a deeply complex mix of emotions, “I will die suddenly in five days, exploding into a pile of flesh and blood?”

His face grew increasingly pale. This was indeed a truly horrifying way to die...

Looking at the professor and the elders who were still perfectly "intact" for now, Ansu picked up his communicator. “I need to recall Elder Barnes from the front lines first.”

In the simulation, Elder Barnes would fall ill and be sent back on the fourth day. Recalling him early would allow them to prepare and have someone look after him.

After sending the notification, Ansu continued, “What we can confirm now is that none of the directions we previously discussed will work. Feign Death is useless, and Soul Separation is even more useless. We can't beat around the bush with this entity, nor can we play any word games.”

Death was pure, unadulterated death. This curse was more like a brand seared onto their souls, allowing the God of Clamor and Filth to track down and lock onto every single target with absolute precision.

Ansu had never personally experienced that sense of being watched, but Celia's shock and despair before her death in the simulation were more than enough to prove just how terrifying the pressure from such a high-ranking existence truly was.

The meeting quickly moved into a free discussion phase, with everyone pitching a wide variety of ideas—some practical, others wildly imaginative.

Ansu let them continue their discussion while he walked over to Celia's side.

She had already prepared pen and paper. Ansu's eyes darkened slightly, and he immediately activated his 【Mind Palace】.

Deep within his consciousness, the magnificent library stood in quiet majesty. Inside, all his memories were neatly organized, categorized, and displayed on the bookshelves.

He reached out, pulled down a manuscript from the top shelf, and read it carefully.

In reality, his pen glided across the parchment in perfect synchronization, rapidly transcribing the magic formula that Celia had spent a full four days researching in the simulation.

“Alright, this is it.”

Ansu finally stopped writing, pointing at the page covered in complex runes. “This is the new magic you wanted to create, inspired by teleportation magic.”

Celia's eyes grew wider and brighter, her voice filled with wonder:

“It's only missing a few core runes to be complete. The level of completion is far higher than I expected... It will take just a few more rounds of testing to finalize it.”

“Interesting... As expected of me.”

Ansu also smiled and chimed in, “As expected of Miss Witch.”

Celia stared at the semi-finished formula on the paper and murmured, “It must have been that ancient book you mentioned that gave me a direction...”

Ansu nodded. The War of Gods Lost to History recorded that after the gods defeated the God of Magic, they sealed him right where he was in the material world—which was the material plane beneath their feet.

It shared the same natural laws as reality and was the source of all elements and mana. It was precisely this decision that prevented his influence on the world from ever being completely severed.

When it came to sealing the God of Slaughter, Ersos, the gods learned from their past mistakes and sealed him in the crack between the spiritual and material worlds to avoid repeating history.

And this "crack between the spiritual and material worlds" referred to the Etheric Realm.

“The Etheric Realm is a pure spiritual domain, a transitional zone between the material plane and the outer planes.” The moment they began discussing this brand-new magical concept, Celia became visibly excited.

“The principle of teleportation spells is to use the Etheric Realm as a transit station. At the exact moment of casting, the caster is positioned right in the crack between planes, allowing for rapid transit...”

Ansu nodded in agreement.

Teleportation magic used the Etheric Realm as a bridge, linking two incredibly distant points in reality through coordinates. This principle was almost identical to the logic of using wormholes for spatial jumps in science fiction works.

Celia was currently creating this new spell, which she had named 【Etheric Blink】.

“Once I finish the magical design, I will engrave it onto magic scrolls so that everyone can use it, including Professor Duncan, who has the weakest strength...”

If you can't beat them, hide from them... This was the core logic of this plan.

According to the valuable experience recorded in the ancient texts, there was a high probability that the false god's perception would be blocked by the Etheric Realm. Although this meant abandoning everything in reality and hiding in the blurry crack between laws to wait for the crisis to blow over...

And the crisis might not blow over until a very long time in the future.

But with only four days left, this was already the safest path to survival.

After finishing up with Celia, Ansu immediately called Professor Duncan and took him to the archives section deep within the laboratory.

The research on the amulet couldn't stop either. Although they hadn't fully figured out its utility yet, Ansu always felt that Altina's amulet might turn out to be of great use.

Over the next few hours.

Under Professor Duncan's dumbfounded gaze, Ansu relied on his memory from the Mind Palace to replicate the entire rune system of the amulet.

Given the massive amount of transcription required, writing by hand would have quickly made his arm sore and numb, so he maintained the 【Mage's Hand】 to do the writing for him throughout the entire process.

Time passed slowly, and the runic diagrams gradually covered an entire ten-square-meter section of the archive shelves. Even with magical assistance, it was already night by the time everything was completed.

Looking at the packed shelves, Ansu took a deep breath. “All done. Take your time researching, Professor. I have other things to attend to first.”

By the time Ansu returned to Celia's laboratory, the meeting had already dispersed.

The elders had returned to their respective quarters with heavy hearts, and Elder Barnes had already been teleported back from the front lines and settled in.

All the preliminary preparations had been finalized as quickly as possible.

Ansu took a deep breath and initiated another one-hundred-hour future simulation.

Based on the timeline, when he next opened his eyes, it would be right after the original death node of the four elders...

【Future】

【100 Hours Later (October 19, 22:23), Cost: 100 Points】

【Remaining Points: 141】

【Beginning Simulation...】

Upon opening his eyes.

Ansu immediately sensed that the atmosphere in the laboratory... was highly unusual.

The pale glow of the magitech lamps fell over a messy pile of manuscripts scattered all over the floor. Celia sat behind the workbench, sporting heavy dark circles under her eyes, her entire demeanor oozing a listless exhaustion that verged on collapse.

Yet she still gripped her pen, frantically scribbling on the paper like a madwoman, muttering incoherently.

“No... that shouldn't be... Is the rune here wrong?”

“No, no, no! Is the problem here? Damn it... where on earth did it go wrong?!”

Ansu's heart sank, and he instinctively pulled out his Future Diary.

Unlike the previous simulation where the pages were densely filled, this time the records were pitifully sparse, mostly consisting of cold, blunt outcomes.

【Day 2: Celia completed the new spell, 'Etheric Blink.' Verified by multiple experiments, the caster can completely detach from the material plane, achieving perfect concealment.】

【Everyone was highly encouraged, believing this to be the most viable plan. Subsequently, Celia began bulk-engraving the magic onto magic scrolls.】

【Freya found out about the situation here. She sent inquiries about our status a dozen or twenty times a day, anxious to rush back to Norvigel, but I stopped her.】

【Told her that the curse posed no threat to me, only endangering Celia and the others... Told her to remain at her post in the Talin autonomous territory. The affairs there could not do without her, and her rushing back wouldn't help anyway.】

【As the death node approached, the atmosphere grew tense. Professor Duncan became the first person to use the magic scroll.】

【Professor Duncan died at 10:35 AM today.】

【Shreds of flesh and blood appeared out of thin air on the laboratory floor. It seems staying in the Etheric Realm is not safe.】

【Elder Barnes, Scott, and the other two elders died at 12:05 PM today. The cause of death was identical.】

【This plan has utterly failed. Celia's emotional state is on the verge of collapse. Firmly believing there is nothing wrong with the core concept, she locked herself in the laboratory to repeatedly adjust parameters and troubleshoot vulnerabilities.】

【Hypothesized cause of failure: The God of Clamor and Filth's power has surged exponentially over the past millennium. The corruption has long since penetrated both the material and spiritual realms, and even the Etheric Realm was not spared. The standard the gods used to seal the God of Slaughter back then is no longer enough to stump Him.】

Ansu closed the diary and sighed softly.

No wonder the God of Clamor and Filth viewed them as enemies. Once safe magic was popularized, it would inevitably destroy the foundation of His existence. He could not tolerate a world where corruption did not exist...

This was, in fact, the most fundamental way to fight back.

As long as they kept promoting it, there would come a day when the transmission pathway of corruption would be completely cut off. It was just that...

Ansu had no time. This kind of war, which was measured in years, could not resolve their immediate plight. He only had five days.

A sudden wave of frustration and despondency washed over him.

Every path they could think of seemed to be completely blocked.

He instinctively looked at Celia. In the simulation, she had only one and a half hours of life remaining.

“Ansu... Ansu!”

Celia's hoarse voice suddenly rang out.

Ansu immediately walked briskly over to the workbench.

Her eyes were terrifyingly bright. Clutching the manuscript like a piece of waste paper, she spoke with a hysterical excitement:

“Since we can't escape through the Etheric Realm, we'll go to the Astral Realm! That is where the righteous gods reside! It's a plane born from the philosophy and faith of the material world! The God of Clamor and Filth can't possibly reach His hands into the gods' territory, can He? He surely wouldn't be allowed to run wild there!”

Ansu knit his brows tightly, then shook his head gently.

The Astral Realm was too dangerous. It was teeming with indescribable god-level existences. Venturing in with their current level of life was no different from committing suicide.

Simply put, it was just a choice between dying and dying an even more miserable death.

Celia's gaze swept over the grandfather clock on the wall.

The hands ticked forward. She was drawing closer and closer to her death node...

She let out a soft sigh, her voice suddenly growing quiet. “Ansu, I'm going to die soon, aren't I?”

Ansu opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to say something comforting.

But looking into her eyes, which had long since seen through the inevitable outcome, he swallowed his words back down.

“But I don't have any regrets anymore...” Celia spoke against her true feelings, her voice growing softer and softer. “To have found someone I want to protect, someone I love... My life is already complete...”

“No!”

Ansu suddenly gripped her cold hand tightly, the despondency in his eyes vanishing instantly.

In its place was an obsession so intense it bordered on the extreme.

“I will definitely find a way. I will never let you die!”

“Celia, trust me!”

...