Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

He tapped the touchpad and brought up a cross-sectional diagram of the Earth's internal structure.

"You can think of the Earth as an egg. The shell breaks into several large pieces, floating slowly on the viscous egg white. These tectonic plates, weighing billions of tons, move very slowly, only a few centimeters per year—slower than the growth of your fingernail. But over millions of years, they are enough to drift thousands of kilometers."

Angers stared at the cross-section. The crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core were clearly defined. The dark red, symbolizing the flow of magma, meandered slowly through the mantle, like a slumbering flame in the Earth's veins.

“Around 100 million years ago, during the Mesozoic Era,” Pompeii continued, “the continents of Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica were once a single entity. They gathered in the Southern Hemisphere to form a supercontinent called Gondwana. Over the next tens of millions of years, they drifted in different directions, gradually separating and eventually shaping the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean as we know them today.”

He paused deliberately at this point, glancing sideways at Angers.

“I understand,” Angers said.

"As a liberal arts student, you actually understood it on the first try?" Pompeii raised an eyebrow. "That's incredible, buddy! When I was explaining this to my third girlfriend, a French girl who studied art, I explained it five times and she still didn't understand. In the end, she cried and said, 'Science has ruined romance.'"

Angers couldn't immediately tell whether this was praise or a veiled insult, so he simply remained silent. Click to view the next image.

A dynamic simulation. The shape of the Japanese archipelago begins to change dramatically. At times, the foundations collapse, seawater floods in, tearing new bays inland. At other times, volcanoes erupt, crimson lava gushing forth, cooling and solidifying into black, hard rock formations that rise as jagged new islands from the sea. At still other times, massive earthquakes tear apart the rock layers, shattering previously connected landmasses into numerous isolated islands.

Tens of thousands of years of geological changes are compressed into a few dozen seconds of animation. The transformation of seas into mulberry fields becomes a literal and visible process at this moment.

“Doesn’t this have anything to do with the sinking of Takamagahara that we were talking about?” Angers asked.

“There is no direct relationship,” Pompeii said.

Angers turned to look at him, his eyes saying, "You better be joking."

“Don’t rush, be patient!” Pompeii immediately raised his hands in surrender. “We’ll be connected soon! Let’s lay the groundwork first so you won’t keep asking questions later. From a geophysical perspective, Japan, a landmass located at the boundary of tectonic plates, is destined to gradually sink over a long period of time, but not tomorrow, not next year, not even the next century. It’s an extremely slow process, theoretically taking millions of years.”

He tapped the screen with his fingertip, pausing the animated GIF. The image froze on a fragmented piece of land, crisscrossed with cracks, like a shattered porcelain plate.

"Therefore, the submersion of Takamagahara cannot be explained solely by the natural evolution of the Earth's crust. Historically, there have been many ancient cities that were submerged due to rising sea levels, such as Heraclitus in Egypt and Pavlovetelli in Greece. However, they were only submerged in shallow waters tens of meters deep, which can be easily visited by diving enthusiasts. But Takamagahara..."

“It’s located deep in the Japan Trench, more than eight thousand meters deep. That trench has existed for millions of years,” Pompeii said in a low voice, emphasizing each word. “Takamagahara shouldn’t be there. Geologically speaking, there’s absolutely no reason for it to sink into such a deep abyss.”

Angers was silent for a moment. “Perhaps Takamagahara was built on the seabed from the very beginning. Judging from the shape of the corpse guardians, the remains we recovered in the Atami had human bodies and snake tails, with gill slits. Ancient hybrids may have had the ability to survive in the deep sea.”

“No,” Pompeii shook his head firmly. “That city must have originally been built on land. The architectural forms of a city surrounded by air are different from those of a city surrounded by water. In the air, a city only needs to cope with the erosion of wind and sand. In deep water, it has to withstand the enormous force of water pressure and the impact of ocean currents. The latter is thousands of times more destructive than the former.”

He pulled up a set of comparison images. On the left were photos of the ruins of ancient cities on land: Ephesus in Turkey, Pompeii in Italy, and Loulan in China. On the right was a 3D image of Takamagahara.

“From a fluid dynamics perspective, Takamagahara perfectly matches the characteristics of a land-based city,” Pompeii pointed to the screen. “It has towering, thick walls. In the deep sea, such vertical walls would withstand terrifying pressure, so there was no need to build them like that. Its streets are straight and regular, and the constant erosion by the water will naturally form winding channels. It even retains the structure of plazas and steps.”

He looked up, his gaze meeting Angers', his eyes devoid of any joking tone: "It looks too much like a land city. It could only have sunk to the bottom of the sea. The only question is—," Pompeii's voice trailed off, "...how exactly did it sink?"

Chapter 477 Geological Changes in Japan (Part 2)

“That has certainly sparked my imagination,” Pompeii broke the silence. “I know that after you discovered Takamagahara deep in the trench, you immediately rushed to the library. Not the library in Kassel, but the one at ETH Zurich. They have the most complete collection of geophysics materials there. I was rummaging through mountains of old papers, and one of them was particularly interesting.”

He pulled up a scanned document. The paper was yellowed, covered with dense German text, interspersed with numerous hand-drawn charts and complex formulas, and scrawled notes along the edges.

"This paper mentions that evidence can be found in the geological record indicating that about 10,000 years ago, there was a terrible crisis that almost instantly destroyed Japan at that time. It was a super earthquake that was close to the theoretical limit, with a magnitude that may have approached 10, and almost wiped the entire Japanese archipelago off the map."

"Can an earthquake alone destroy a country of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers?" Angers asked.

“It’s not impossible,” Pompeii said, pulling up another image—a geological profile of Japan. “The fundamental reason is that the foundation of Japan is simply too fragile.”

The screen clearly displays the layers: the upper layer is a dark rock layer representing the Earth's crust, and below it is a hot, flowing mantle. Within the mantle, countless crimson veins, like the roots of a giant tree, meander upwards, penetrating the boundaries and deeply penetrating the crustal layers above.

A thick main ridge points to Mount Aso on Kyushu Island, while another connects to Mount Fuji on Honshu Island. In addition, there is a dense network of countless fine red lines, like the capillaries of the earth, spreading throughout the entire island.

“What are these red veins?” Angers asked, pointing to the red lines.

“Magma conduits,” Pompeii explained. “Beneath Japan’s crust flow countless rivers of magma. Because it lies on a crack where several tectonic plates collide, it is one of the most restless regions on the planet. There are hundreds of active volcanoes throughout the country, including Mount Fuji. It last awakened in 1707, when its volcanic ash blanketed Tokyo for sixteen days.”

He slid his fingertip across the touchpad, and a red line on the screen lit up. "You can imagine what the Japanese archipelago looked like in ancient times. Countless volcanoes erupted, black plumes of smoke tore through the sky, and scorching lava fountains shot into the air. Continuous earthquakes created countless fissures deep in the earth, and seawater and groundwater seeped into these wounds."

"When solid rock layers are mixed with a large amount of liquid, their physical properties change dramatically, and their fluidity is greatly enhanced. In geology, we call this state 'rock liquefaction'. In short, deep in the Earth's crust is a silent but turbulent river of magma, while water seeping into the surface is constantly softening and dissolving the rock layers. This is the weakening effect caused by the 'water-rock interaction'."

Angers' brows furrowed even more. He stared at the interwoven red and blue veins as if examining an X-ray of a terminally ill body.

“But that’s not the most fatal part,” Pompeii continued, pulling up another simulation animation. The image showed the dynamics inside the Earth’s crust: crimson magma slowly undulated, and dark blue seawater seeped along cracks. Where the two met, white bubbles representing gases constantly rose.

"The high temperatures brought by magmatic activity nourished a special microbial community in the deep strata. These bacteria metabolized in an oxygen-deficient environment, producing huge amounts of methane gas. These gases could not escape and accumulated in huge cavities in the Earth's crust for up to a million years. It is estimated that the total amount of methane gas stored underground in Japan may account for more than 70 percent of the world's methane hydrate reserves."

He made a simple gesture: "This high-pressure methane becomes a super lubricant for crustal movement. Imagine you're injecting high-pressure gas and lubricating oil between two thick slabs of stone, and then suddenly pulling away the support underneath."

Pompeii casually picked up a few sugar cubes from the tea tray and stacked them into a small spire. Then, he quickly pulled off the bottom one with his fingers.

The sugar tower lost its balance and collapsed with a crash, scattering across the tea tray with a soft, crisp sound.

"When that super earthquake struck, this building in the Japanese archipelago, under the combined action of magma, liquefied rock and soil, and high-pressure methane, underwent a massive slide along its weak points. Finally, with a crash, it collapsed entirely."

Angers' gaze lingered on the scattered sugar cubes. After a long while, he slowly raised his head. "So, Japan, this seemingly solid skyscraper, has actually always been built on a foundation of quicksand?"

“The analogy is very accurate,” Pompeii nodded. “Ten thousand years ago, that theoretically super earthquake suddenly erupted. The magnitude was close to ten, a catastrophic release of energy, its power comparable to an asteroid impact. Japan’s already fragile geological structure was completely detonated, and the subsidence process that would normally take millions of years was compressed into a single day, or even less.”

He brought up the last simulated animation.

The scene begins from a vast space perspective. The azure Earth slowly rotates, surrounded by swirling white clouds, with the Japanese archipelago resembling a string of emeralds scattered across the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

Then, without warning, the tremors began.

The entire archipelago seemed to tremble violently as one. Countless bottomless wounds burst open on the land. Volcanoes began to roar, dozens, even hundreds, erupting simultaneously. Crimson lava surged menacingly from the earth, and thick, inky plumes of smoke violently shot into the stratosphere, clearly visible even from space.

The sea surface then began to undulate strangely. Centered on Japan, deadly ripples rapidly spread outwards. The waves grew higher and higher, their speed increasing, eventually forming a wall of water that reached the sky.

"At the moment the disaster struck, if you were lucky enough to look down on Earth from space, you would see a tiny splash of water suddenly appear on the calm surface of the Pacific Ocean. The actual diameter of that tiny splash is hundreds of kilometers."

The animation continues. The giant wave first engulfs the Korean Peninsula, flooding the plains and rushing deep inland. Hours later, the crest reaches the Russian Far East, and Vladivostok disappears. A day later, the devastating tidal surge crosses the entire Pacific Ocean, crashing violently against the west coast of North America. California's coastline crumbles, and seawater rushes inland, reaching all the way to the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

"The tidal surge, hundreds of meters high, even broke through the Bering Strait and poured into the Arctic Ocean," Pompeii recounted, "stirring up towering waves on the thick ice sheet of the Arctic Ocean. Large areas of the ice sheet cracked, and terrifying fissures thousands of kilometers long pierced through the polar ice cap."

The animation ended. The screen went dark, reflecting two extremely solemn faces.

Angers remained silent for a long time. "Is it really possible for a magnitude 10 earthquake to exist in this world?"

“In purely natural geological activity, the probability is extremely low.” Pompeii turned off the computer, and the screen went dark. “The strongest earthquake ever recorded by humankind was the 1960 Chilean earthquake, with a magnitude of 9.5. A magnitude 10 earthquake exists only in theory.”

"However, we should both understand that earthquakes are not only caused by the accumulation of stress in the Earth's crust itself."

Angers looked up, and their eyes met in mid-air.

“You want to say…” Angers said slowly.

“Word of Power, my friend, do you remember the Great Explosion at the King’s Factory?” Pompeii shrugged.

Angers rapidly pieced together, combined, and deduced from every word Pompeii said, every image he presented, and every piece of data, like scattered puzzle pieces.

A magnitude 10 earthquake, plate rifts, magma networks, soil liquefaction, methane lubrication, devastating tsunamis, and the power of words to stir up the might of heaven and earth.

Chapter 478 Magnitude 10 Earthquake

"So, that near-magnitude 1000 earthquake ten thousand years ago," Angers' Adam's apple bobbed slightly, "was caused by the power of words?"

Pompeii nodded slowly, without speaking immediately.

He turned and walked to the window, then swiftly pulled open the blinds. The long-awaited afternoon sunlight flooded in, filling the room and making both of them squint involuntarily.

Outside the window, the peaceful campus of Kassel College unfolds: students carrying books stroll in twos and threes across the green lawn, a squirrel nimbly leaps over a branch, and the distant clock tower chimes precisely on time, announcing the end of the day's classes. The melodious chimes resonate in the warm air.

Everything was in perfect order, so peaceful it was almost unreal.

"Let me try to reconstruct for you how that catastrophe happened ten thousand years ago," Pompeii said, his back to Angers.

"A certain Dragon King, in the instant of its complete awakening, released its ultimate incantation, powerful enough to trigger natural disasters. The earth was torn apart from its deepest depths by savage force. From Kyushu to Honshu, all the dormant volcanoes were forcibly awakened at the same moment, erupting violently, the boiling lava illuminating the long night as if it were a purgatory day. The already liquefied rock and soil began to collapse and slide on a large scale under the lubrication of high-pressure marsh gas, and the entire landmass, like a palace built on quicksand, lost all its support."

He turned around. Sunlight poured in from behind him, outlining his tall figure with a dazzling golden edge, while his face was hidden in the shadows of the backlight, making it difficult to see clearly.

"Immediately following was a super tsunami nearly a kilometer high. It crashed violently against the mountain of Mount Fuji, and the resulting spray turned into a world-shattering downpour, washing over the already collapsing earth. The surface cracked completely, and icy seawater rushed into the depths of the earth's crust, colliding head-on with scorching magma."

He walked back to the table and sat down again. Now Angers could see his expression clearly: solemn and serious.

"The moment water and fire met, it triggered a steam explosion a million times more powerful than any explosive. Japan, a skyscraper already riddled with holes and built on quicksand, finally reached its limit, teetering on the brink of collapse, and the entire archipelago was on the verge of sinking completely in a chain of disasters." Pompeii paused, slowly drawing a circle on the smooth table with his finger, "But unexpectedly, it ultimately survived."

"Why?" Angers asked almost instinctively.

“That’s right!” Pompeii laughed again, breaking the heavy atmosphere. He reverted to his carefree playboy persona. “That’s when someone needs to ask ‘why’ at just the right moment! That’s how storytellers get a real sense of accomplishment!”

He clapped his hands happily, like a child who had just devised a brilliant prank.

Angers felt a vein throb slightly in his temple, and the familiar urge to strangle the guy resurfaced.

“Because the epicenter,” Pompeii said, his smile fading, “was concentrated within an ancient city. At the peak of the devastating tremors, that ancient city, Takamagahara, seemed to be sliced ​​off from the main continental shelf of Japan by an invisible blade. It was like a piece of cake that had been cut off, swept up by a deep-sea tidal wave and dragged into an endless abyss.”

He made a dragging gesture. "Finally, it sank to the seabed near the edge of the Japan Trench. Under the unimaginable force of its own gravity and the slope of the trench, the ancient city slowly slid down the steep seabed cliffs to the deepest part of the abyss, finally coming to rest in the darkest and most terrifying place on this planet. It remained isolated from the world for a full ten thousand years until the 'Trieste' lowered its lights from above, and humanity glimpsed its face again."

"That dragon that caused the disaster," Angers asked, "also died in the catastrophe it caused?"

“Yes,” Pompeii nodded. “Takamagahara became its eternal burial place. But such a great being cannot truly die. It has merely entered its deepest hibernation, like a lurking beast, waiting for the opportunity to awaken again.”

"Until ten thousand years later, a human icebreaker sailed into that forbidden sea. And its cabin was filled with the most precious offering of this era: the fresh blood of an ancient dragon embryo, the purest and most primal dragon genes. The slumbering dragon king sucked on this life-giving blood from his own kind and was resurrected."

"Deep in the abyss, the Trieste inadvertently witnessed what may be the oldest and most solemn blood sacrifice ritual in the world," Pompeii said softly, as if reciting a lost prayer. "But they only found the sacrifice, not the recipient hidden in the darkness. Just imagine, if the sacrifice alone required a complete ancient dragon embryo, then what kind of being could have enjoyed such a sacrifice?"

“Perhaps the title of king is no longer sufficient to describe the noble recipient of sacrifice,” Pompeii said clearly, word by word. “Perhaps we should call it a god.”

God.

Angers' eyebrows twitched slightly.

“Listen, my friend,” Pompeii leaned forward, “there is something more urgent and more deadly before us than dealing with the rebellion of the Serpent Clan: the slaying of gods.”

He took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart: "Think about it, this is a being destined to destroy the world from the moment it awakens. It may be more ancient and ferocious than any dragon king we know, earth and mountains, bronze and fire. In the ten thousand years since its death, no high monk has chanted sutras to pray for its salvation and to resolve its resentment. The hatred it has accumulated for this world has only become deeper and more ingrained."

"If it were me! If I got killed and sealed at the bottom of the sea for ten thousand years, the first thing I'd do when I woke up would definitely be to fucking destroy the world! That's called morning grumpiness! It's the kind of morning grumpiness that can destroy the world!"

Angers stared at Pompeii. The man before him, who just minutes before had been chatting about his mummy collection, dating a female PhD, and all sorts of interesting anecdotes, now had a burning excitement in his eyes.

"You must hurry!" Pompeii grabbed Angers' forearm with a strong grip. "Otherwise, we might have to say goodbye forever to cherry blossoms, sake, Kobe beef, tuna belly, and those gentle and considerate Yamato Nadeshiko women! Because Japan might soon cease to exist as a country!"

“Faced with an existence of this level,” Angers slowly began, “I’m afraid it’s not a problem that can be solved simply by rushing things. The real key question is, can He really be killed?”

This is the core issue.

Killing the Dragon King already requires meticulous planning, a formidable team, immense sacrifice, and an indispensable element of luck. So, what about the gods who reign supreme above the Dragon King?

“The Dragon King will not immediately regain its full power upon its resurrection,” Pompeii released his grip and sat back in his chair. “This is the best window of opportunity to kill it. At this time, its power has not yet fully returned, and its consciousness is still in a state of chaos and ignorance. Like a newborn baby, it has infinite potential, but it is fragile.”

"Otherwise, once it fully awakens and grows into a complete world-destroying god, we'll probably have no choice but to beg the US government to wipe Japan off the map along with it using intercontinental ballistic missiles. But how many people would die? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions?"

Angers fell silent.

Chapter 479 Animated Demo: Japan Sinks