Chapter 179: Truth (1)

Chapter 179: Chapter 179: Truth (1)

After a brief minor storm — mainly the kneeling act of those two — the five set off back to the Mermaid territory, exchanging all the information from the past few days along the way.

Jeremy also told them about the soul mark on his spatial bracelet, considering it a dose of tranquilizer.

At least the group still had an unrevealed trump card.

After piecing the information fragments together, Leon said:

"Recently, spatial rifts have been appearing more and more frequently. Our escape from being controlled is probably also because the power sustaining the illusion is constantly weakening."

Jeremy agreed:

"I planned to wait until right before this illusion collapses, use the soul mark to remotely transmit that batch of documents to our teacher. Then forcibly use a teleportation magic array to leave. But if we do that, we will completely lose the chance at the treasure sealed within the ruin. We might even have our memories wiped clean from the moment we stepped into the seabed palace."

"It’s fine. Just do as you see fit."

Leon had no obsession whatsoever with the so-called ruin’s treasure. Having it is good. Not having it is not something to force.

Phoenix and Evelyn silently nodded in agreement.

The entire group understood clearly: by this time the ruin’s trial still hadn’t shown its face, the probability of them receiving the treasure was extremely small.

Clinging to it was useless. Who knows, the destined person the ruin chose might be a completely different person.

Lucius quietly walked at the end of the line, not contributing a word. But according to his personality, no matter what Jeremy said, he would just cooperate.

Seeing all four supported him, Jeremy set aside his concern.

Actually, he chose that plan not only out of a genuine desire to help the Human race find a way to eradicate magical beasts and return a peaceful homeland to the commoners, but also out of calculation for benefits.

If he could bring that pile of documents and these scenes back to Sylvanor, and once they were proven to have truly existed, the returned benefits would far exceed an F-rank ruin’s treasure.

As for specifically how much it would exceed... that would have to wait until everything settled down to know.

The three major factions of the continent had poured so many generations into researching magical beasts yet still came up empty-handed. The thing contained in his image-recording magic tool right now could be exchanged for anything.

Jeremy retracted his train of thought, urging the group to move faster.

Because they couldn’t utilize their full inherent magic power in the ethereal state, their movement speed was significantly reduced.

The journey back and forth took nearly a day and a half.

But when they arrived, what welcomed them was not the victorious cheers of the Ice Dragon race.

But a sea of blood, and piled-up mountains of corpses.

Merely a day and a half. What on earth had happened?

"Roar--!"

A furious dragon roar tore through nine layers of water.

The five hastily rushed toward the central area.

Arriving there, they saw Demon Emperor Tianlan — who was supposed to be imprisoned along with his allies — had now escaped his chains, and was currently engaged in a chaotic melee with the Ice Dragon leader and the leaders of the races who came to reinforce.

The battle had clearly erupted a long time ago. The palace was now merely a pile of ruins, the wave-carved stone pillars snapped in half, the domed roof half-collapsed.

The test subjects in the underground palace had also been released at some unknown point. They were charging at the soldiers of various races.

The strengths of the two sides were evenly matched. But when one side possessed intensity stats a hundred times that of an ordinary person, knew no fatigue, knew no fear, and would still bite even after dying — the outcome was all too clear.

An Aberrant with both arms severed still lunged forward, using its teeth to bite through the throat of a tier-six dragonkin.

Jeremy raised his magic tool to record this scene.

But not even a few minutes later, the scene before his eyes abruptly changed.

It jumped straight from the engagement scene to the scene where the battle had ended.

The outcome: the Mermaid race, with a massive monster army in hand, claimed victory.

The Ice Dragon leader and all reinforcements from other races were transformed into new test subjects.

Through countless researches, the madmen headed by Tianlan had discovered a rule: the stronger the test subject’s strength when alive, the higher the starting strength after mutation, and the larger the maximum limit ceiling.

Thus, after slaughtering tens of thousands of people, not only did they not stop their hands, but they became even more frantic.

A tier-nine leader captured alive was worth a thousand commoners.

Naturally, to avoid being bitten back by their own monsters, their ancestors had created a nemesis specifically for Aberrants right from the early research stages.

It was a type of medicine possessing purifying and immunizing properties.

But one of its most important ingredients was the holy flower symbolizing the Mermaid race.

The flower known today as the Ashbloom Flower.

Before Jeremy had time to think further, the background before his eyes began to shift again.

And with every shift, the number of spatial rifts in the sky increased — long black streaks, hovering motionless in mid-air like knife slashes on a painting.

It seemed the illusion was about to collapse.

The subsequent scenes played out as if fast-forwarded, flashing by at breakneck speed.

After Tianlan won, that group became increasingly insane.

In the later stages, internal war broke out due to power struggles. War began again.

This battle lasted a thousand years, dragging nearly the entire continent into its vortex.

And along with the increase in the number of deceased living beings, the number of infected Aberrants also rose accordingly.

After the first generation of Tianlan died, the war still didn’t stop.

It was passed down to the next generation like a legacy.

It wasn’t until ten thousand years later that the number of creatures retaining independent consciousness plummeted rapidly.

And then, along with a riot caused by the out-of-control test subjects...

The destruction began.

What happened next was exactly identical to what Sylvanor had recorded.

This continent was completely swallowed by magical beasts, becoming the Wasteland.

Then hundreds of billions of years later, the Fallen God once again punched a path through the Wasteland to Sylvanor. And thus came everything that followed.

A massive amount of information flooded into their brains simultaneously. All five momentarily felt dizzy.

Exactly at that moment, the totems on the backs of their hands heated up simultaneously.

A few golden threads emerged from the marks, extending forward, pointing the way.

Jeremy looked up into the void.

And saw countless golden lines of text appearing in mid-air, densely packed.

The content was as follows:

[The sea area here also leads to the undersea tower. The two places are interconnected. The undersea tower used to be my laboratory, and the seabed palace used to be my residence. Therefore, I used a soul fragment as the core, leaving a trace of remnant thought connecting the two places.

Unfortunately, rewinding and restoring this entire lengthy scene has consumed the majority of my magic power. The remainder is only enough to communicate with you via text. Now, if you have anything to ask, just ask. After this time, I will completely disappear from the world.]

Jeremy finished reading, not even having time to exclaim over this bizarre coincidence, immediately asking:

"This place isn’t the ruin’s trial, but an illusion created by you?"

Could it be that right from the start they had never stepped into the true ruin area?