Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 512 Hidden danger

September 557th, 10th year of the New Lunar Calendar.

Cruz Federation, Arctic Special Zone Q Zone (formerly Arctic Zone), "British Luna" area, a former official settlement, at the end of the outer street of the "Expansion Committee Directly Managed Hotel".

"Age 9: All things rooted in the earth watch the sky, and the gods above the world overlook the land. The light bestowed by the gods brings darkness, and the long night ruled by the people brings dawn. The Creator said that light sometimes means hot and violent; darkness sometimes means cold tranquility. Floating sounds will eventually disappear, and the long night will also have an end. Heavenly punishment cannot come, and there is no destruction in eternity. The sleeping people will eventually wake up, and the red light will go to the east." - "Dark Book".

A gust of freezing wind rushed into the settlement from the sky and quickly spread through the streets and alleys. The withered leaves fell one after another, and the last ancient giant tree that retained its breath of life eventually became a tall, bare, black "pillar".

Wolfya turned his back to Talia Ekaterina Mantenova, the second-in-command of the "Wilderness Tourist Group", who possessed the temperament of a female soldier of the old empire.

He smoked the last of the "Anshen Neijinghua Cigarettes" that the Hinet people had brought into the Federation, shook the empty box vigorously, and threw the cigarette butt and the box aside with a helpless look on his face. He sighed softly and said:
"What you just said is the content of the Dark Book, right, Ms. Talia?"

"That's right, but I'm curious. As a soldier of the Empire, you actually have a deep understanding of mysticism. This is very rare." Talia crossed her arms on her chest and said with an ambiguous smile:

"Logically speaking, most federal soldiers, especially men like you who can't use magic power, don't have a magic power sequence, like violence, worship power, and have excellent physical fitness, should prefer military affairs, at least firearms and other weapons. But the feeling you give me is... a huge body carrying a... strange soul."

"What a strange soul, interesting." Wulfya laughed.
"But, speaking of which, we are leaving this settlement tomorrow. You asked me to come here to officially part ways with us?"

"That's right." Talia nodded and frowned.
"'Future' has awakened. According to him, his soul was forcibly pulled into a half-real, half-false dream space called 'Central Silence' by a 'false god'. Fortunately, his strength was recognized by the 'false god', who strengthened his heart and magic power through his soul. Wulfya, I remember that Dak seemed to have been pulled into an alien dream by the people of 'Spear of Odyssey' a few days ago."

"Yes, so I guess this former official settlement, which has been infiltrated by a large number of Lost Ones and 'Independent Armed Forces', should have been filled with 'Spear of Odyssey' people. And I heard that Commander Yaroslav has arrived in Vasilysk and will go to the Wind Wall with the Federation Council's direct troops in the near future." Wolfya walked up to Talia, stared at her head, and said:

"So, Dak and I are going to set off tomorrow. We will probably reach Vasilysk in a day. I heard that in addition to Commander Yaroslav, Fu Bing, the Ruler of the Order Society who defected to the Federation, and the half-dragon Adaroni who was released from the Sener Prison will also be there soon.

"I want to follow the Federal Committee with Dak. Right now, the situation on the front battlefield, mainly the 'Gnadi Line', is becoming increasingly tense. If we continue to act alone, it will only increase the risk."

"I respect your decision, but I'm afraid that Future and I can no longer work with you. The Federal Council regards our Wilderness Tourist Group as a thorn in their side and must get rid of it as soon as possible. I think we should first meet up with the brothers in the Demon City and then go south to enter the Wind Wall." Talia responded:
"As long as we share the same goal of stopping the Evolution Platform, there is absolutely no basis for us to become enemies. But then again, Wolfya, don't you think that the closer we get to the area where the so-called Evil God Echo and Pramini are located, the more frequent these mysterious and extraordinary strange things will happen? I suspect that there may be more mysterious and terrifying existences here than the Evolution Platform, the Gods, and the Fire of Heavenly Punishment, but from our human perspective, we can neither peek nor see."

“Miss Talia, aren’t you talking about the Lord of Darkness that we met before? Indeed, this ancient god who existed after the flames and dragons has the ability to make people gradually forget his existence.” Wulfya walked behind Talia and spoke in an exceptionally deep and masculine voice close to her neck:

"In fact, we just need to remember that He is not the creator of all things, nor is He the leader of the dragon clan who started the war with humans. In fact, He should have been annihilated by the light and returned to the dark depths of the universe under the waves of steam and stars. However, Ivan XXII's ridiculous desire gave Him the opportunity to descend again into this miserable world. He is the creator of dark energy, the maintainer of the cold world, the catalyst of unclean desires, and the true guardian of the long night wasteland - the 2nd-rank god 'Lord of Darkness'.

"It is obvious that He has never truly slept, and has been wandering around this continent in a constantly changing identity. As long as the night exists, He can transform into a limited number of clones to enter human society, playing any role He needs to play, and then find the right time to attempt to destroy a country to build His own kingdom of night."

"Interesting, this has quite a few similarities to the ancient mythology that Marco told me," Talia responded.

"According to limited reliable historical data, the Lord of Darkness has appeared three times in this continent since the Steam Age, when the magical power began to gradually decline." Wulfya stretched out a hand, took off his jet-black gloves, and stretched out three fingers. "Three times?"

"That's right. The first time was around 450-500 years of the Steam Element. The little emperor of the Flame Empire, the 'Sorrower', opened up two dangerous and terrifying spaces, the 'Dragon Realm' and the Floating Divine Realm, in order to revive the dragon race and satisfy his ridiculous and pathetic desire to dominate the continent. With the overflow of power, a large amount of magic power was accumulated from the Flame Empire's capital, Yancheng, to Gubin in the south, and tore apart a space called the 'Twin Path' in our dimension." Wolfya narrated:
"He brought a young dragon boy from a dimension similar to the Creator, and caused a meteorite disaster, which led to a 20-year period of chaos in the Flame Empire. The capital of the Flame Empire was also destroyed by the debris of the fallen floating divine realm at that time, and it has not been successfully repaired to this day."

"So, what about the second and third time?" Talia continued.

"The second time was at the end of the Steam Era, during the reign of Ivan XXV. At that time, there was a young magician in a black robe in the court of the Old Empire. His name was Dekri. He served as an advisor to the Empire for fifteen years and disappeared on the day of Ivan XXV's death." Wolfya continued to explain:
“As everyone knows, during the reign of Ivan XXV, all data of the old empire dropped drastically. Industrial production dropped significantly, the number of troops continued to decline, and the empire’s finances were on the verge of collapse. Even the core areas that were previously under full control were taken away by the Zhine and Aventre people.

"Some people call it the era of 'the afterglow of Cruz', while others denounce it as the period of 'the demise of the double-headed eagle'. Facts have proved this point. Ivan XXV's only achievement was his death, which was greater than his life."

"That sounds like a subtle but pungent irony," Talia commented.

"That's true, but if the emperor had lived another twenty years, he would have witnessed the entire federation being destroyed by the 'Heartless Virus'." Wolfya snorted coldly.
"According to the historical data obtained by the Federation in the 'Evolution Experimental Field' in Choigler not long ago, the root cause of the continuous decline of the Empire's strength is the mysterious waste of a large amount of funds, materials and personnel. It is said that under the instigation of 'Dekri', Ivan XXV has been conducting a scientific research project called 'Odyssey Twilight'.

"The general idea is to build a giant energy receiving device on the mountain in the Empire Territory, using Cruzde as the base to continuously receive the dark energy in the universe while pushing our continent or planet into the depths of the universe. In just one thousand years, the continental thrusters transformed from the giant receiving device will allow us to enter the realm of the Creator and realize the complete evolution of all mankind towards the direction of God."

"This is too crazy. I'm afraid even a devil would not instigate an emperor who rules an empire to do such a ridiculous and abominable thing." Talia said angrily.

"This is the Lord of Darkness, a monster god influenced by darkness. Fu Bing of the Order Society found a mask called Krasen left behind by Him in the dense forest shrouded in thick fog a week ago, and entered a mysterious alternate dimension created by Him." Wolfya continued:

"So, I suspect that He is secretly planning something in some areas that we don't understand. So, Talia, I don't suggest that you separate from us. As long as the mysterious danger exists, it is not safe for you and the Future to act alone."

"Wolfya, I appreciate your kindness, but the 'Independent Armed Forces' are destined to be the opposite of the Federal Committee. Even if I am temporarily accepted by you, the future results will not be much better than the 'Wind Mine' and 'Sound Annihilation' of the Order. I am free, and humans should be free too. The Wasteland Era can take away human lives, but it cannot take away the heart of freedom in the chests of us." Talia said, clenching her fists tightly with a slight smile on her lips.

Then, she suddenly turned around and punched Wolfya in the face with her right fist, while her left hand quickly pulled out the dagger from her boot and stabbed it into Wolfya's chest.

However, Wolfya was an experienced Federation Warrior after all, and he knew that this was a "friendly attack" by Talia in order to prevent him from getting into trouble.

He simply dodged the fatal attack of the dagger by slightly turning sideways, grabbed the swinging fist with his right hand, and then gave a light push, causing Talia to crash into the dark giant tree behind him.

However, to his slight surprise, where Talia landed there was only a burst of huge sparks, the kind that only appeared in a steel plant. Her real body had already reached the top of the three-story stone house opposite with a "thump thump" sound.

With a dazzling light and a cold wind, Talia disappeared from the spot, leaving Wolfya with only a pair of bracelets belonging to the ranks of ranked monsters that were obtained from the ancient ruins near the "artificial lake" on the ground in front of him.

(End of this chapter)