Throne of the North.

Chapter 788 Wizard's Grand Array, Tai Su Raven, The Open Cage

Crossing the dimensional portal, Evan saw the world of Mikragard, a boundless ocean.

As a legendary magician, his vision was unlike anyone else's; the first thing he saw was the boundless, raging wind above the sea.

The wind is not simply a sea breeze, but an outward manifestation of the boiling magical energy. The magical energy in this world is more active than in any other world, which is quite unreasonable in an era when the North is covered.

"This world is still alive and struggling."

Evan opened his arms to embrace the world, breathing it in greedily.

“Great power! It brings the whole world to life, Lord Ryan. If I told you that this world is a giant, colossal one, would you believe me?”

"The wind you see is His flowing blood, the ocean you see is His bones, and the life you see is His... organs."

Ryan wasn't interested in that; that was what mages sought. He simply asked Evan:

"Lord Evan, can you sense the projection of that great being hidden in the deep sea?"

Evan shook his head.

“He is mysterious and terrifying. I can’t find Him, but I can sense that He is very young.”

“A very young and great being, even like an infant, is growing all the time. He is not yet an adult and is very immature compared to the ancient and great beings. Therefore, he needs to hide and go find his own ‘food’.”

Evan looked at Ryan, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light.

"Lord Ryan, He, He seems to be only a little over a hundred years old!!!"

"He was born in the transdimensional war of the gods."

"From the remains of all living beings, a new and great being was born."

"This is simply the most unbelievable news beyond the realm of magical truth."

"Do you know that if His existence were revealed to other legendary mages in the empire, it would definitely cause a magical upheaval?"

"But...he belongs to me now."

Evan looked at Ryan very seriously.

"Lord Ryan, our deal must not be known to a third person."

Ryan nodded and said:

"If Lord Evan can achieve our goals, then naturally we don't need anyone else to share the spoils."

"Rest assured, Lord Ryan, having witnessed the war between Lan and the gods, I am now more familiar with the life forms of these great beings."

"Lord Ryan, do you know that they, too, have physical bodies?"

……

On the vast sea, Evan stared wide-eyed at the crows flying around in front of him.

His mouth opened and closed on its own, as if trying to say something, but he couldn't utter a word. He could only stare blankly at Ryan, feeling like a clown.

Ryan affirmed what Evan hadn't asked, and said:

"Lord Evan, you are right. Gods also have bodies. These ravens, their souls and power come from the ancient supernatural system of this world, while their physical bodies are created for them by the gods using their own bodies, giving them eternal life and a cage."

"The extraordinary system you mentioned before for dealing with the projections of great beings, is that them?"

"Yes, the only problem is that they don't have legends, and the massive Wizard Storm Array doesn't have the power of legends as its core."

Evan gazed greedily at the void of the sea before him.

"I'm much luckier than Lan."

Ryan introduced Evan to the ravens, and surprisingly, all of them took the time to surround him, where they discussed the philosophies of wizards and mages.

Ryan couldn't understand, and could only see various lights flashing in the sky. It didn't look like a war was about to break out, so he ignored it and focused on sending people to revise the roster of the world's citizens.

“Tell everyone that from this day forward, they will all be subjects of Ryan Clayton, and their loyalty will be solely to Ryan.”

"I will grant everyone a peaceful life on the 'land'."

His 'followers,' carrying messages from another world, began heading to the market to spread Ryan's name.

Meanwhile, in the sky, the academic discussion between the raven and the magician gradually came to an end.

“You are old. New era brings new knowledge. The power of magic is always forward. After the interdimensional war of the gods, the ancient is no longer a synonym for power. New magic surpasses a clearer understanding of the gods.”

"But you know too little about the gods; the knowledge in your minds prevents you from reaching the great beings."

“I am different. I am a blasphemer. More than a hundred years ago, we dissected the flesh and bones of the gods. On the battlefield of the gods, we devoured the gods and reshaped their followers.”

“We are constantly getting closer to the gods, but we are not being twisted in flesh and soul because we are getting too close, and becoming their followers.”

"This is a great advancement in magic."

Evan's words plunged the ravens into a long period of contemplation. After a long while, Kledal and the other oldest ravens finally spoke:
"It's a pity we are no longer wizards, otherwise we would definitely look forward to such a world, to analyze all things and create new rules."

They looked at Evan, having already acknowledged the legendary magician.

“You can become the central hub of the wizarding array, but you, the newcomer, have said something wrong.”

"Ancient and powerful go hand in hand; this principle will never disappear."

"Nothing is closer to the divine than time. The ancient wizarding system also possesses power closest to the divine. We control the primordial essence, what about you?"

"The Great Simplicity is the original authority of the Great Being."

"Now, we will hand over control of Taisu to you."

Evan's eyes widened, filled with anticipation.

Ryan suddenly looked up, shocked to see the sky's brilliant light transform into seven colors.

"That's... the power of the Rainbow Bridge?"

This wasn't the first time Ryan had heard of the Rainbow Bridge. He first learned about the great pheromones from the Great Serpent Spirit. The Rainbow Bridge connects every world on the World Tree, encircling the canopy of the World Tree and allowing various otherworldly planes to connect.

The Rainbow Bridge has long been shattered, and the Flor Empire holds a portion of the authority over the fragments of the Rainbow Bridge. Surprisingly, this world also possesses some of these fragments.

However, unlike others, the ravens of this world are using the authority of the Rainbow Bridge to frantically infuse magic.

The massive wizarding array, covering most of Mikragard, was receiving unimaginable magical energy.

The magic didn't just come from Mikragard itself, but also from other other worlds. Using the Rainbow Bridge as a medium, it summoned the magical elements contained in one world after another and poured them into the wizard's array.

The magic that permeated every single second exceeded the limits of even a legendary mage. This scene once again confirmed Ryan's conjecture: the ravens of Mikragard, with their immense power, could not possibly be confined to one world; they had always possessed the power to leave it.

But they became ravens, so they don't.

Wandering in the center of this ocean of magic was none other than Evan, the Empire's "Ivy," who let out a painful wail. Countless magical energies around his body catalyzed his legendary blessing, and thus, countless vines began to climb the void. As the magical energy was inexhaustible, their growth was also inexhaustible, and they were about to create a cage that mortals could not imagine.

In the blink of an eye, the ivy has climbed hundreds of miles and is heading towards thousands of miles. One can imagine that tens of thousands of miles will not be their limit.

This is not the power of Evan alone, but the very essence of one world after another supporting this great formation.

It wasn't just Evan who was bathed in magic; tens of thousands of raven orcs were also affected. Among them, the Raven King, who was unable to move and couldn't even move his eyes, endured the most terrifying tearing force.

In this terrifying tide of magic, the souls of all the raven orcs are being torn apart, decomposed, and then reassembled, enduring this process again and again.

As the vines climbed higher and higher, the raven beastmen's painful howls echoed out, terrifying the ordinary people in the sea below.

“The Soul Scream will breed nightmare creatures. We must not let them devour the souls of the Raven Orcs. We need to extract the faith from their souls.”

In the sky, the wizarding array that had been prepared for so long finally began to operate slowly. The first step was to call upon the great being of Mikragard to return.

This process was unimaginably painful and terrifying for the raven orcs, as it required crushing their souls bit by bit, finding the power of faith in the great being in the smallest cracks.

In despair and resentment, nightmare creatures that feed on these creatures were born. In the surging tide, Ryan saw a hundred-foot-tall gray monster twist and take shape. It was a pure monster, without any senses such as eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. Its gray, misty body was covered with empty mouthparts, trying to devour the souls of the raven beastmen.

The ravens, of course, would not allow it. One by one, the holy ravens moved through the wizarding array, using their extraordinary power to crush those nightmares that had not yet taken shape.

The grand formation has begun to operate, but it will take some time before it is fully formed. The crows have only activated it; the current wizard formation is not yet qualified to threaten the great beings.

Those are gods, after all.

The wizard's grand array still lacks the power to harm a great being.

Only one other god could stand against the gods.

"When mortals call upon the name of the great being, they will inevitably be looked upon by the great being. Believers are especially adept at calling upon the Lord."

“My Lord’s believers, call for His return.”

Dozens of ancient crows, clad in feathered robes, echoed with the voices of their souls within the wizard's array. They murmured in the ears of every raven-beastman's soul, and gradually, an ancient call resounded within the wizard's array.

"Great Lord, magical storm Furni, your followers pray for your return..."

The souls of the raven orcs called out blankly, the power of their faith echoing within the wizard's array. At that moment, Evan, amidst the tide of magic, also sensed the "Primordial Essence" that the raven orcs had spoken of earlier.

It is sacred, grand, sublime, majestic, inviolable, and eternal...

No amount of great words can adequately describe even a fraction of the beauty of Tai Su.

"By mastering Tai Su, one has mastered the power of a demigod."

Evan was fervent; he longed to incorporate these elements into his body and soul. He was confident that he could use this to advance to demigod status. However, he could not and dared not. This wizard array belonged to the more than one thousand holy domain ravens. If the function of the wizard array were changed, the first to die would not be those raven beastmen, but him, Evan.

It is with great regret that Evan, in the name of legend, guided these [Primordial Elements], forging them with magical hammers into the outline of a giant raven.

The silver and purple specks of light were gradually taking the shape of a crow.

On the sea, a crow-shaped boat.

Ryan looked up. He didn't stop the crows from activating the wizard's array as soon as Evan arrived, because he was confident that he could intercept all the [Primordial Essence] simply by reaching out.

The primordial energy of the gods is nothing more than divine energy units on his spiritual panel. Since these [Primordial Elemental ...

Due to the differences in their extraordinary systems, the ravens did not describe much about the wizarding array to Ryan. However, at this moment, Lord Evan was leading the wizarding array, which Ryan could still understand.

According to Ryan's previous plan, after they were ready, they would head to the chaotic sea and attack the projection of that great being.

But now it seems the crows' plans are even more elaborate.

They wanted to lure the enemy into a trap, forcing the projection of that great being deep beneath the chaotic sea to leave the chaotic sea and come to this area, willingly entering the endless cage of the witches.

As for how to do this?
It was also very direct: to make the projection of that great being feel threatened, to feel the start of war.

The divine projection beneath the chaotic sea is, in essence, a part of that great being, a corner of His divine kingdom.

He cast a corner of his divine kingdom onto Mikragard, attempting to devour the world.

But Mikragad is part of the world's native gods; it is their divine kingdom.

What would happen if these two great beings met?
A divine war will occur, just like the divine battlefield in the Hot Spring Province. It will be a war of the divine kingdoms that will never end, with the families and believers of both sides killing each other without fear of death until one side's source is exhausted.

Now, what the wizard's grand array does is gather the aura of a great being. When the master of this world appears, how could the projection of a god, as an outsider, not sense the threat?
If He senses a threat, will He flee, or will He eliminate the threat?

If it were truly a divine being descending, perhaps it would be the former, but at this moment... beneath that chaotic sea, in the deep seabed where the sunlight could not reach, countless chaotic eyes opened, looking mockingly at the primordial crows created by those mortal ants.

The master of this world has long since died, and the puppet formed by this faith also wants to deal with Him.

He acted, and ripples appeared on the still, stagnant ocean of Mikragard, a sea that would never rise or fall for millennia. These ripples then transformed into giant waves that rapidly approached the mortals.

"Don't be nervous, it's just that His gaze is on us."

"His temptation was not the waves, but the monster in the ocean."

Kledal landed on the mast next to Ryan and explained to him that war with the gods wouldn't be this swift; this was merely the beginning of contact between the two sides.

“His temptation is coming, nobleman from a foreign land, now it is your turn to step forward.”

"We cannot approach those creatures in the deep sea."

The ravens have always occupied the skies of Mikragard because they know that once they, with their divine bodies, enter the depths of the sea, they will be devoured and killed by another great being.

For many years, Mikragard has been like this: the sponge above belongs to the raven, and the sea below belongs to the projection of that great being.

The sea was raging with huge waves, and the small boats were tossed about in the spray, with people falling into the water and sinking to the bottom of the sea in the process of struggling.

They are just ordinary people who make a living on the sea.

"I need the Raven Ship."

Ryan made his demands, and soon his soldiers began shouting to the people on the small boats.

"In Ryan's name, everyone, board the nearest Raven Ship immediately!"

Those small boats wouldn't be able to survive these towering waves.

The seawater grew increasingly dark, and the monstrous creatures hidden beneath the surface, carrying the will of a great being, arrived.

(End of this chapter)