Chapter 323: The Ability the Foreigner Unlocked

Chapter 323: Chapter 323: The Ability the Foreigner Unlocked

Dark red fissures, like massive scars, began to spread crazily across the sky above the clouds.

Then,

as if a pair of giant hands had parted the thick clouds,

countless enormous, mirage-like images abruptly materialized in the sky.

The dozen or so separate images were actually real-time scenes from the dozen Underground Cities on the border of White River Province!

However, the images flickered between clear and blurry, suffused with a strange sense of distortion.

But even through the haze,

the brutal scenes were laid bare for all the townspeople to see.

Slaughter, escape, and panic.

This was the grim reality unfolding in those dozen Underground Cities at that very moment!

"A display of Royal Authority!"

Necros uttered the phrase as he watched the bizarre phenomenon in the sky.

This spectacle—forcefully projecting scenes from within the Underground Cities onto the real-world sky—was supposed to appear only briefly during the "Earth-Sundering Monarchy" as a glorious declaration when a powerful individual achieved a Legendary feat.

But now,

there was no sign of any Legend being forged. Instead, these horrific scenes were being forcibly ripped open and hung in the sky for all to witness.

Nia had never seen such a shocking celestial display in her entire life.

For a moment, her mouth hung open in a perfect "O" of astonishment.

Her gaze darted rapidly across the blurry images.

Soon,

her slightly open mouth pressed into a firm, straight line.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Because,

at the edge of the image representing the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon,

she saw

a familiar black-haired boy unabashedly holding hands with a beautiful woman with long, ice-blue hair as they walked through a field of ruins.

’Oh, someone’s done for now~ Looks like they’ve provoked the queen of jealousy~’

In her mind,

Judith’s gossipy soul was instantly ignited.

She completely tossed aside her earlier panicked urgency to retreat, her tone now filled with schadenfreude.

Indeed, whether god or mortal, a woman’s nature was powerless against the temptation of juicy gossip.

However,

this subtle pang of jealousy didn’t last long.

The next second,

everyone on the high tower was forced to tear their eyes away from the sky.

They all whipped their heads around in unison to look toward Copper Creek Forest.

From the depths of the once-quiet forest, a massive cloud of dust was now rising into the air.

Accompanied by the deafening sound of snapping trees, flocks of birds fled in terror.

"The forest..."

Homman’s eyes widened as he let out a cry of alarm.

"The Demons from Copper Creek Forest... they’re all stampeding out!"

...

Meanwhile, as the outside world descended into panic,

deep within the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon,

Lance stood at the center of a slaughter.

He put sudden force into his right arm, and the Dragon Remains Crystal Spear in his hand whistled sharply through the air in a vicious sweep.

BAM!

A dull thud echoed.

The massive, red-skinned lizard before him was snapped in half at the waist by the immense force.

Its huge body slammed against the rock wall, splattering shattered bones and entrails everywhere.

Lance retracted the Crystal Spear and let out a long breath.

Finally.

He had wiped out the last group of Demons roaming the area.

He wasn’t sure if it was a chain reaction triggered by the Evil God’s ritual,

but Lance could clearly feel that the Demons had become unusually frenzied after the earthquake.

The moment they saw a living person, they would swarm and attack like a pack of rabid dogs.

It wasn’t without its benefits, though. They had completely refilled his [Pale Embers].

He’d gained an extra life out of nowhere.

He was on a slightly elevated slope of black rock.

The area was littered with massive scattered crystals and pockmarked, corroded ground.

Lance had followed the guidance of the [Crown of the King], fighting his way here.

Standing here, he had to admire the Underground City’s methods of concealment.

The entrance to the Lord’s room was ridiculously well-hidden.

Without direct coordinates, ten thousand Adventurers could come here and never find its location with their naked eyes.

"Nieve, go rest behind that large rock for a bit,"

Lance said, turning to the Snow Lady behind him.

"Okay."

Nieve nodded obediently, retreating to a safe distance with her Cross Sword in hand.

Lance took a deep breath, gripping the dark red Dragon Remains Crystal Spear with both hands.

He aimed the tip of the spear at a seemingly unremarkable rock fault on the slope before him.

His internal Ethereal Melting Furnace whirred to life, and ferocious Energy instantly surged into the spear’s shaft.

"Go!"

Lance roared, the muscles in his arms bulging as he hurled the Crystal Spear like a javelin at the target.

BOOM!

The moment the Crystal Spear made contact with the rock, it unleashed an incredibly violent destructive force.

Shattered rock flew everywhere, and dust billowed into the air.

Under the brutal physical blast, the once-solid slope was torn open, revealing a massive, downward-sloping crater several meters in diameter.

And from the depths of that crater, a strange aura faintly emanated.

The Lord’s room was inside.

Lance strode forward, taking the lead as he entered the crater.

Nieve gripped her weapon tightly, following close behind him.

The instant Lance’s foot crossed into the hidden space,

a series of ethereal blue notification messages appeared.

[You have entered the Companion Domain of the Heroic Spirit, Galeos!]

[Star Realm fluctuations detected...]

[Current environment is loading the Heroic Spirit’s exclusive Legend concept: "Miracle of Shedding Scales"!]

Lance’s gaze sharpened as he read the detailed information before him.

The reason he could see this information about the Heroic Spirit

was because Heroic Spirits, as unique existences of the Star Realm, had successfully triggered a new ability from his unlocked [Foreigner] Source Material!

On his status panel, [Foreigner] was no longer in its initial locked, grayed-out state.

Although its two major restrictions still existed, a sliver of it had been unlocked after Lance made that decision.

The moment Lance chose to stop being a detached observer and instead take the initiative, merging his fate with the currents of this world,

the unlocking process had officially begun.

And the method to increase this Source Material’s unlock progress was also very direct.

Just as he had seen before.

He had to use his own Power to tangibly affect the world’s trajectory and leave his own deep, indelible mark on its history!

[Source Material: Foreigner (Current Unlock Progress 1%: Outer World True Vision)]

This was the first ability of the Foreigner Source Material!

[Outer World True Vision]: As an "Outsider" who transcends this world, your sight is no longer deceived by the superficial appearances of the Material Realm. In any battle or confrontation, your vision will automatically strip away the surface layer, presenting the abstract clash of Power, Tiers, and Specialties between you and your enemy in the form of "Contested Rolls" in your mind.

Simultaneously, your senses have achieved a shallow resonance with the Star Realm’s dimension, allowing you to capture and analyze the "Star Realm Information Flow" that spills over into reality.

The Outer World True Vision ability was actually divided into two parts.

The first part,

was the data-like perspective that Foreigner had temporarily granted him during his duel with Elvira in Waterfall Canyon.

It could forcibly analyze the detailed Effects of the enemy’s active Specialties, Skills, and Talents.

This allowed him to gain an information advantage in combat.

The second part,

which began the moment he stepped into this Companion Domain today, was his ability to directly analyze certain hidden information flows related to the Star Realm.

Just like now.

He had just stepped into this space and hadn’t even seen anything yet,

but by analyzing the ambient Star Realm Energy, he already knew which Legend Galeos had chosen for his Heroic Spirit Body this time.

’So it’s that absurd Legend I saw last time,’

Lance calculated silently.

’The legendary Hydra?’

This was not good news.

In truth, if his luck had been good enough today,

he might have encountered a non-combat-related Legend Body, like the "Thousand Descendants’ Blessing" he’d seen before, which was more of a story about procreation. A fight like that would have been significantly easier.

Even a slightly worse outcome, like a Legend focused on commanding armies, would have been in Lance’s wheelhouse.

After all, he wasn’t afraid of fighting groups.

With a broken Specialty like [Pale Domain] that could drain stamina, he could even fight and heal simultaneously in a sea of monsters. He was impossible to wear down.

However,

Murphy’s Law kicked in.

He just had to run into the worst-case scenario for a one-on-one fight.

A Legendary creature like a Hydra, combined with the foundation of a Bronze Dragon...

This was definitely going to be a tough battle.

Lance sighed softly.

He said no more, simply tightened his grip on Nieve’s small hand and continued deeper into the tunnel.

As they walked,

Lance noticed the texture of the ground beneath his feet change.

The rough mountain rock had vanished, replaced by a surface with the texture of bronze.

This material was the most distinct characteristic of Galeos’s identity as a "Bronze Dragon".

Moreover, across the smooth bronze surface ran thick, purple veins, like those of a human.

A dark red liquid pulsed within these veins, all of them converging toward the depths ahead.

The tunnel came to an end.

Before them was a massive opening.

Lance led Nieve straight through it.

The moment they stepped out of the tunnel, the scene before them opened up dramatically.

This was a vast Bronze Hall, large enough to hold tens of thousands of people.

The hall’s dome soared high into the air, and its surrounding walls were carved with complex Magic Runes.

Lance glanced ahead and saw, in the depths of the hall directly opposite the entrance, an immense Bronze Throne.

The throne’s design was exceedingly bizarre.

It was cast in the shape of a complete Hydra!

However, the Hydra’s abdomen had been cruelly dissected.

Its nine enormous, ferocious heads curved downward, like stars orbiting the moon, tightly encircling and guarding the throne at the center, which was itself formed from a cluster of countless sharp bronze shards.

Not only that,

but around the vast hall,

knelt thousands of bronze statues of various shapes and forms.

These statues all faced the great throne, frozen in a posture of worship.

What was most horrifying

was that these cold bronze statues all seemed to be living creatures!

In the silent hall, one could clearly hear it.

Their metal-cast mouths were opening and closing slightly, and from their throats came a grating sound like rubbing sandpaper, as they chanted the same prayer in unison:

"We welcome our god... Sever the cowardly flesh... Praise the Nine-Headed Monarch..."