Chapter 1314 - The Desolate Old Battlefield (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

What the Lord of the Mountains said finally resolved Hao Ren’s doubts.

Why did Collow only have five floating continents and fragments, which could not even form an island, around it? Plus, even with all five continents combined, it was not sufficient to form a planet!

Why did Collow, a world that was hand-made and supervised by the goddess of creation herself, not have any temples or legacies with divinity in them, while the world only had imitations made by mortals? Just like the Cassouin Cathedral and many other temples within the Sanctum, while they did have the style of the goddess’ creation, it was clear as day that they were manmade!

Why was Collow’s history across all nations so fragmented, and everything only started from the same point 10,000 years ago? Even if Lockmarton was the cause of the severance of heritage, the severance was too abrupt and too “neat”. It was as though a cataclysm had happened, and every country as well as civilization began anew!

However, the truth was, Collow had indeed undergone an almost cataclysmic rebirth. With the destruction of the Lord of Chaos, Lockmarton, the small world was severed into two dimensions. The original Collow was thrown into a nightmare by the Wardens with the help of the Creation Engine, becoming a forgotten old world, while the current “real” world was a recreation where the survivors were placed in! In the new world, the kingdom of mortals flourished as the legacies of the goddess were all back in the old world, suppressing the eternal nightmare…

With the Lord of the Mountains in lead, the contingent crossed the barren plains towards a rather important-sounding rally point. The scouting probes that Hao Ren sent out earlier had already started to deliver the first batch of data, and from the distant pictures, Hao Ren got a clearer picture of the “old world”. But to avoid drawing Lockmarton’s attention, the probes kept away from areas with intelligent activity or any areas with high energy signatures. Even so, the images were already invaluable.

Due to the collapse of the dimensional void, the “real” Collow had been squished into about two celestial units and stabilized. Aside from the floating continents in the void, it had no day-and-night cycle, and all forms of light in the area came from the primal storms within the void. Some of the floating continents almost corresponded to the real Collow (the new world), as countless of phantasmal objects spun about on the floating continents, slicing through each other, yet not affecting anything.

Over on the cloudy, wide plains, the probes had detected numerous shattered ruins, including floating fortresses of steel, magical spires, and buildings that looked like factories and storehouses. Some even had massive cannons or rail-linked sky-borne bastions. However, all these great buildings were nothing but broken ruins now, their shattered form floating in the old world’s sky. Between them, massive lumps of flesh filled with chaotic energy and roiling tentacles sprouted everywhere. They coiled and slithered about as dread and malice oozed out of them.

The images returned by the probes revolted everyone and sent chills down their spine. It seemed like the ancient Warden’s Army was once a very powerful force, and the goddess of creation had once set up heavy weaponry as well as orbital weaponry, which possessed destructive power beyond imagination. Yet, Lockmarton had slowly but surely overwhelmed the defense line and even dragged the entire dimension into a void. How powerful was this creature?

Were conventional soldiery and firepower even effective?

“So what’s our plan?” An agitated Lily was already hopping around as Hao Ren was piecing his thoughts together. She was an impatient one, and the place caused her to literally glow, leaving the husky even more restless. “Hey, big guy! Where’s that Lockmarton bastard? Let’s get this over and done with!”

In actual fact, Lily was not the only one who was glowing brightly. Aside from Noobie, every other member of Hao Ren’s gang was a walking beacon; their brightness corresponded to the number of blessed food items they had eaten. Lily’s voracious appetite and penchant for snacking was obviously number one, while Y’zaks’ was number two: the old demon had holy light glowing all over him, and even he found the entire image weird. It was like he had attained Buddhahood.

Even as he heard what Lily said, Geddon did not stop moving. He pointed to the distance. “Facing Lockmarton without any plan is suicidal. We need to get an idea of what’s going on here. We were asleep for far too long, and we have no idea how bad the situation here is now. But before we went into slumber, Loken had set up many monitoring stations and backup data vaults. They could still function even if the Wardens were corrupted since they were inanimate beings. They should have survived Lockmarton’s corruption. I’m bringing us to the closest monitoring station, and if it’s still functioning, we’ll have an idea of where Lockmarton’s body is, as well as the strength and dissemination of his minions and corruption in the area. Facing the Lord of Nightmares is a difficult task, and without all this information, we’ll be going in blind. If that’s the case, we are bound to be consumed by the Nightmare.”

Hao Ren nodded and as he had expected, the Wardens were prepared even though they were eventually corrupted. They had also planned and prepared for the counter-offensive that day. This cooperation was getting off at the right start. An ally that understood the overall situation and could control it was better than a group of brave knuckleheads.

At the same time, the scenes Hao Ren saw in Benedict III’s mental imagery came to mind.

Over the wide expanse, on the killing fields, Lockmarton’s foreboding shadow across the sky, and the giant mirror tower; each place that appeared in the mental image was a location in old Collow. He remembered hearing a faint roar of battle when he emerged, but where was the battlefield?

Hao Ren swept his gaze across the landscape but saw no signs of combat.

Vivian came to his side and asked out of curiosity, “What are you looking for?”

“Didn’t you hear war cries when you got out of the tunnel?” Hao Ren turned slightly as he whispered.

Vivian immediately frowned. “War cries? I think I did vaguely…”