Wasteland Echoer.

"Is this... an underground underwater world?" Dark looked around at the increasingly dense floating creatures with curiosity, as if admiring a series of beautiful paintings.

Soon, his attention was drawn to the largest, most spectacular, and most majestic creature that was surrounded by the many other creatures.

“In the culture of the Western Continent, the ocean is a land of death and silence, teeming with octopus-like tentacle monsters and the damp, dark aura of ‘ancient gods’ like Cthulhu and Depthère. Storms and the pitch-black shrouds of the Underworld are the ultimate fear of the Crusaders and the Putoans of the deep sea.” Wright stepped forward, walking to the center of the small underground town, gazing at the delightful, peaceful aquatic creatures, the tranquil ocean plane created by the illusory light, and the joyful seven-colored radiance, explaining to Dark beside him:
"This is the underwater dragon palace in the culture of the Flame Fire Empire. The Supreme Emperor Gao of the Flame Fire Empire made peace with the dragon race and gave birth to the royal descendants of the Yan family. It is said that after the war between humans and dragons, most of the dragons were suppressed in the lava-flowing Dragon Realm, but a small number were banished to the deep sea."

"The vast, unknown sea area west of the Endless Ice Ocean and east of Ninghai is the territory of Cthulhu and Depthère. Due to water pressure and buoyancy, this part of the dragon race is no longer able to rise to the surface on their own and escape their cage. In order not to be devoured by the 'ancient power', they relied on the power of the dragon race to create an underwater dragon palace that is as gray and yellow as Cthulhu, but has never disturbed human cognition or brought death."

"How did you know all this?" Dark looked at Wright with a look of horror. This knowledge, which should have been taboo, was now being recited from Wright's mouth without any restraint or concern.

Although in the Wasteland Era, an era already filled with antiquity, death, and cruelty, there were no longer organizations like the "Magic Management Committee" or the "Celestial Court" to restrict users of magical power and prevent them from falling into heresy, the fact that Kright was able to master this kind of knowledge shows that the imprint of "ancient power" within him had become even deeper.

"In the year 527 of the New Era, I was summoned to Socrates by the 'Song of the Machine'... Afterwards, I followed the army of the Zhine people, eventually arriving at Chekavsk, solely to participate in the even more arduous war to come. In the military inn there, I had a dream in which the Chosen One personally told me a great deal of information about Khitanris." Wright turned his head, his slightly empty, pure black eyes gazing at Dark's still rather robust body, and said in a deep voice:

"Including history, culture, and countless myths. The Yanhuo Empire, or rather the entire Great Yan culture, is built upon myths and legends. Back then, humans were neither capable nor able to completely expel the dragons, so they allowed their bloodline to flow freely in the royal family of the Eastern Empire, one of the five great empires."

“Just now, when I was observing the entire ‘town within a town’ with ‘Burning Black Vision’, the remaining power of the Chosen One unlocked these long-sealed memories for me.”

“Dark, do you remember the results of the divination performed for us by He Feng Yiwa yesterday?” Wright suddenly asked, placing both hands on Dark’s shoulders.

"Of course I remember, but I still think Hefeng Yiwa was slacking off; she was hiding it..."

“There’s no need for that, Eva Holmes,” Wright interrupted Dark’s analysis, explaining:
"The divination technique used by Hefeng Yiwa is a kind of magic that allows her to communicate directly with the gods. She conveys the will of the gods, and she cannot add any of her own will before, during, or after the divination. Therefore, the 'Qian Hexagram' is the true result of the divination."

"The entire 'Qian' hexagram describes the dragon's lurking, growth, and eventual burst of power, which corresponds perfectly to our current state. 'The dragon race feels fear and trembling in unfavorable predicaments, and from beginning to end examines and reflects on its mistakes and faults in order to correct and develop itself in the predicament.' This is our current state."

Letla led Dak toward the place where various kinds of light formed aquatic creatures gathered. Soon, they discovered that the town in front of them was nothing more than an illusion created by the interplay of light and shadow.

The closer they got to the school of fish, the more paths made of bluestone bricks stretched out beneath their feet. When they reached a height of 20 meters above the ground, the town in front of them completely disappeared, turning into the bottomless pool of water they had just been in.

Then, Dak looked up and saw that as the surrounding magical energy gathered more and more densely in mid-air, countless lights and shadows began to emerge from within the school of fish, forming a straight vortex that stretched upwards without end.

Soon, the surrounding space began to darken rapidly. Golden streams of magical fire energy emerged from between Wright's arms, like ribbons or schools of swimming fish, constantly impacting the dark barrier. They burst forth with powerful but fleeting fiery red light, then exploded into countless sparks, blooming like New Year's fireworks in Khitanris, falling to the ground and disappearing.

Immediately afterwards, the jellyfish, fish, shrimp, whales and other marine creatures, which were originally composed of energy bodies, exploded instantly, turning into countless bright but extremely faint sparks, which spread to every corner of this divine mountain, as if to fill every empty hole in the mountain.

However, the light suddenly disappeared, the universe vanished, and the demonic energy inside the entire mountain disappeared like a slideshow that had finished playing.

When all the thick fog and smoke dissipated, Dak found that he and Wright had arrived on a wide platform that was ten meters higher than when they came in.

"Has this...arrived at a higher position...?" Dark looked around, carefully observing his surroundings. At first glance, he saw the expedition members, now reduced to bare bones.

He strode forward to the fallen expedition team members, bent down, and rummaged through their remarkably new combat uniforms.

Soon, he found several documents that were partially rusted and the paper was yellowed. Most of the text on them was no longer legible, but the words "Torii Town Military Committee" were still clearly legible and proved their identities.

"This is the most recent group of explorers. For some reason, they came here, only to be brutally murdered," Dark said, looking at the skeletons of several expedition members.
"No, perhaps it wasn't murder, but rather infighting. There are only the skeletons of a few team members and parts of their combat uniforms pierced by bullets, but no trace of other living beings. Moreover, the surfaces of these bones, which show no signs of aging or corrosion, are bare except for bullet marks."

"'Sorrow,' or is it 'Sorrow' and radiation at work?" Wright, with his back to Dark and the skeleton, stared at the enormous sphere radiating a seven-colored light that was gradually taking shape before him, and analyzed:
“The ‘sorrow’ will gradually change people’s perceptions without their knowledge. Things that were once familiar will feel strange and frightening if people stare at them for a while and then look away for a while before observing them again.”

"This is why we often fail to notice the growth and changes of people living with us, while we can easily notice subtle changes in friends we don't see often once we meet again. Perhaps, in the eyes of these explorers, their comrades have become like 'alien monsters,' so the instincts imprinted in their genes drive them to turn their guns on their brothers."

"However, the bones haven't aged; it seems time flows differently here than it does outside." Dark reached out and touched the bones, which reeked of blood but lacked any of the acrid smell of rotting flesh, and analyzed:

“These bones look like they were just peeled off a human body, still bearing traces of fresh flesh and blood. But this group of explorers is clearly from a hundred years ago, consistent with the descriptions in ‘White Bundle’ and ‘Red Bundle’. Artyom has no reason to deceive us; after all, the more accurate the information the town provides, the more likely we are to find the ‘Relics of the Chosen Ones’.” “The passage of time. There are indeed different rules here. Just now, ‘Burning Black Vision’ told me that here, only the time of living beings freezes, while all other inanimate objects retain their original timelines until ‘God's Edge Mountain’ collapses.” Wright explained to Dark as he grabbed Dark’s arm and pulled him toward the seven-colored sphere that had expanded to its limit.

A few seconds later, the two arrived at the foot of the sphere. Looking up at the sphere of light that seemed to be nurturing some kind of life, they suddenly felt an extreme sense of peace and tranquility.

This state of tranquility is different from the one before. If the tranquility before was merely to calm a restless mind, the tranquility now is to guide people to completely give up exercise, action, breathing, and thinking, and even to give up the act of lying down and living life.

Gazing at the increasingly dazzling and radiant seven-colored sphere, Dark and Wright almost gave up the idea of ​​moving. They only wanted to stand here forever, until the end of the universe and the world.

However, a sudden, loud thud as something heavy fell pulled the two back from their brief state of shock.

Looking back, Dak discovered that the platform where the explorers' skeletons had been had collapsed. The metal and cement that had supported the platform seemed to have been snapped in two by an invisible giant hand and fell back to the ground where they had come from, producing a dull and crisp sound of metal colliding with cement.

Immediately afterwards, thick fog surged from the collapsed area into the entire interior space of the magical mountain, with tiny red lights flickering within it.

Soon, Dark and Wright's field of vision was limited to the vicinity of the seven-colored sphere.

The rapid and fantastical changes did not stop; the seven-colored sphere was instantly enveloped in a deep crimson, igniting a raging inferno that conveyed both heat and danger.

These flames rose slightly upwards before quickly surging towards Wright's body, enveloping him in an instant.

"Wright! Danger!" Dark roared, unleashing the magical power of water and darkness that filled his body.

Strangely, the surrounding flames seemed to be rapidly simmering the opposing forces within Dak's body. Only a thin wall of ice managed to emerge before Dak experienced a feeling of energy depletion, as if he had been "overindulging."

He was forced to endure the dizziness caused by the exhaustion of his strength, kneeling on the ground, staring at Wright, who was being increasingly and heavily enveloped.

The ice wall he had just summoned, after holding out for a few seconds, turned into thick wisps of water vapor and retreated, becoming a perfect backdrop for this fiery "feast" along with the dense fog that had just risen.

Strangely, Wright did not let out a heart-wrenching roar, nor did he unleash the red magical energy within his body to either absorb or resist the raging flames. He also did not use the "Dark Touch" to dispel the flames, nor did he summon the "Crimson Eagle Shield" to forcibly resist them.

He only let out a few excited roars belonging to the dragon race, as if Wright had transformed into a dragon and was bathed in flames, or perhaps he had transformed into a phoenix and was being reborn from the ashes.

In reality, Wright's physical form did not undergo any fundamental change. After a few "Crimson Dragon Roars" carrying heavy ancient power, the last bit of flame quickly peeled away from his body.

These flames, deliberately guided by the red magical energy, formed a massive energy body resembling an orca in front of him.

"The ancient sages of the Daoist sect said: 'In the Northern Sea there is a fish, its name is Kun, whose form is unknown, yet it fears the vastness of ten thousand miles. It transforms into a bird, its name is Peng, which blots out the sky and the sun, as if floating in the void. The perfect man is selfless and divine, and merges with Kun and Peng; the divine man has no merit as an immortal, so he borrows from things to travel ten thousand miles; the sage is nameless and without falsehood, and thrice yearns for it, hoping it will carry him across countless perilous lands.'" Wright waved his right arm, gathering the remaining flames on his body to his fingertips, and with a light crushing motion, absorbed them into his body.

Then he turned to Dark and explained:

"After the Chosen Ones traveled to this world, they must have seen giant whales in the outer seas of Khitanris, and even the legendary Kunpeng. That's why the remnants of the soul of this ancient divine beast appeared here, serving as the elevator and leading us to the interior of this divine mountain, to a higher, more mysterious, and more secluded place."

“Dark, I think finding the ‘Relics of the Chosen Ones’ might not be difficult. We are the chosen ones. The gods are always good at manipulating fate to achieve their goals, so the previous groups of explorers were not incompetent, nor did they encounter any beasts or monsters.”

"However, this mountain of the gods was not built for them, the Chosen Ones have no connection with them, and these relics do not belong to them. Therefore, fate did not bestow the 'relics' upon them, nor could it expel them; it could only grant them death."

“You mean, we’re here in search of the ‘Relics of the Choosers’ because we’re following fate?” Dark asked.

“Not only that. Perhaps everything we do from now on, until we control this world, is a predetermined fate.” Wright turned to look at Dark, a rare, chilling smile playing on his lips. (End of Chapter)