The Era of Gods

“If we don’t use it now, we’ll die. If we’re defeated, the artifact will fall into the enemy’s hands. I believe the leader of Gainey would agree with the decision I’m making.”

The other two Children of Nightmare remained silent; or rather, one of them, Gould, had not responded at all.

Seeing that his two companions raised no objections, Bernie took a deep breath and said,

“In that case, let’s temporarily withdraw our troops. I’ll go activate the treasure!”

Isaiah responded,

“I’m also withdrawing.”

After waiting for a while and still receiving no response from Gould, the two Children of Nightmare tried to communicate with him but discovered that his presence was extremely unstable, almost as if he were on the brink of collapse.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the Nightmare Legion under Gould began to show signs of agitation.

The two Children of Nightmare exchanged a glance, just about to say something, when the Nightmare Legion belonging to Gould unexpectedly began their retreat without any notice.

This turn of events shocked both Children of Nightmare, and even Lin Xiao was extremely surprised by this sudden change.

It wasn’t until Bernie asked repeatedly, each time with a more severe tone, that Gould finally replied, albeit reluctantly,

“The Legendary Giant Beast that I had previously suppressed within my realm has gone out of control. I need to return with the main force to re-suppress it.”

Bernie expressed some disbelief,

“Your True Body can’t suppress it?”

“It can’t suppress it.”

After a long silence, Bernie finally waved his hand and said,

“Go.”

The other Child of Nightmare, Isaiah, asked,

“Lord Bernie, shall we go have a look?”

Bernie shook his head,

“No need to bother. Under the current circumstances, one more or one less of him, the result will be the same. Now that we’re ready to activate the artifact, his absence is of no consequence. However, since he did not contribute, we’ll revoke his right to a share of the spoils later.”

Then, the two remaining Children of Nightmare left a portion of their subordinates behind and withdrew their core forces.

The Supreme Naga and Lesser Naga Union Army completely annihilated the rear-guard Nightmare Legion and joined forces with the Smart Goblins Mage Group twenty kilometers away who had just left the city to strike near the channel between the two worlds.

Now that it was clear that the enemy could not defeat them, it was time to counterattack!

Lin Xiao left a portion of his Clan to guard the Divine Realm, including two Legendary Lords of Supreme Naga. The remaining five Legendary Satellites joined the army marching out, targeting Bernie’s Nightmare Divine Realm.

Capture the ringleader first, and deal with the rest later.

However, when the army arrived at the realm’s connecting channel, they found it sealed by a very powerful force. Although it wasn’t strong enough to prevent a breach, it was certain that opening it would take some time.

He looked puzzledly towards the other two Nightmare Realms; the one on the left was also temporarily sealed, while the first one to withdraw, the Nightmare Realm on the right, was not sealed.

He assessed the seal that the enemy had put all their effort into creating across their realm, and even if he exhausted all the Divine Power he’d stored, he couldn’t blast it open quickly.

This “quickly” was by the hour.

“Then let’s go check out that side!”

The main force changed direction, quickly approaching the channel in the rightmost realm where Gould was located.

This Child of Nightmare named Gould seemed to have retreated in a hurry, and after pulling back, he had not stationed any forces to guard the nexus between the two worlds. Lin Xiao sensed that there were no Nightmare Creatures near the breach.

“What kind of trick is this? An empty-fort strategy or a lure deep into enemy territory?”

This completely illogical behavior made Lin Xiao hesitate to make any rash moves. After some thought, he sent a Wise Goblin Mage along with a small squad of Small Naga Scouts to investigate.

Soon, he was sharing the vision of the Clan squad and saw that the other side of the rift between the two worlds was empty, with no presence at all, as if the place had been deserted for some time.

The most surprising thing was that he could barely feel the natural suppression emanating from the Nightmare Realm.

In other words, the gaze of the Nightmare Child on the other side was not here.

While it wasn’t like the innate rule suppression carried by Demigods, if the gaze of a Child of Nightmare was here, the power of the realm would naturally converge to suppress the enemy. He couldn’t sense anything now.

Furthermore, through the Clan squad’s point of view, he vaguely sensed a terrifying will within the depths of this Nightmare Realm, one that was enough to make his heart flutter.

Fear, the kind that could drive one mad.

Merely sensing it made the Wise Goblin Mage acting as his conduit of perception slightly uncomfortable.

“`

“Boom!”

A heavy sensation of spatial disturbance swept over the Clan exploration team along with a faint ripple in space. They neither saw nor heard anything, but the moment the ripple passed, everyone’s minds conjured the image of a planet-sized gigantic species smashing heavily into the Earth—an unimaginable mass and strength impacting the Divine Realm, producing ripples that distorted space itself.

“What kind of terrifying existence is this?”

This feeling…

Lin Xiao was certain it was real, not an illusion.

His gaze, dark and intense, turned toward the deeper parts of the Nightmare Realm that gave off a heart-palpitating sensation. He issued a new command, dispatching five exploration teams, each consisting of two Wise Goblin Mages and a dozen Lesser Nagas, to enter the Nightmare Realm in different directions while his will accompanied the five teams into this eerie domain.

Silence, nothing but silence.

The domain felt dead, as if bereft of the Children of Nightmare, resembling the Nightmare Realm he had previously devoured after killing a Child of Nightmare. While the feeling wasn’t quite to the same extent, Lin Xiao sensed a similar trend.

At this point, he was almost certain something major had occurred within the Nightmare Realm. The deadness before him was unlikely a ruse to lure him in.

As the five exploration teams penetrated deeper into the Nightmare Realm, they discovered nothing—no Nightmare Creatures, the Nightmare energy in the void as gloomy as ever. However, the unsettling feeling they had was growing stronger, as if they were gradually drawing near to some terrifying Giant Beast.

Before they realized it, the fastest exploration team had covered a distance of about twenty to thirty kilometers into the realm, arriving near a cliff formation with a mix of caution and confusion.

The team stood on the edge of the cliff, peering forward through a not-too-dense mist. They saw what resembled a sinkhole canyon—a flat expanse of land that suddenly dipped into a canyon, with the very distant opposite rim just barely visible.

The edge of the canyon wasn’t steep, it was a… slope?

A slope that seemed peculiar. Lin Xiao’s attention was drawn to the surface, instantly familiar in its curvature, looking like…

A thought, unbelievable to him, sprung into his mind.

This sinkhole canyon…

He commanded the Mages to fly up over the canyon for a bird’s-eye view, and the more they saw, the more shocked they became.

“Damn, what in the world is this?”

From above, the canyon looked as though it had been formed by an enormous spherical object rolling over the Earth, leaving behind an impression.

It was hard to believe, but the resemblance was uncanny.

The five exploration teams split into three directions, with two teams going left along the canyon, two to the right, and another team crossing the sinkhole canyon to continue forward.

Half an hour later, one of the teams on the right sent back alarming information. Lin Xiao’s will descended upon them and witnessed the sinkhole canyon in disarray. There was a huge area of uneven, pitted ground where countless terrifying traces of battle stretched into the far distance.

There was no residual matter left on the battlefield, but one could feel the despair of the recent fight.

From the leftover traces of battle and the chaotic landscape, Lin Xiao was certain a Giant Beast beyond description had fought with a Child of Nightmare from this realm.

Yes, putting together the information, it could be confirmed that an enormous creature had appeared in this Child of Nightmare’s domain, something even it couldn’t handle, leading to this dire scene.

Just then, strange sounds emerged from the chaotic distant land, followed by Nightmare energy in the void being drawn by an invisible force toward the distance. The concentration of Nightmare energy between heaven and earth plummeted.

Next, with a deafening explosion, the distant sky and land suddenly expanded outward and then quickly snapped back to their original state, as infinite black Nightmare Energy spread like a tide in all directions.

At that moment, Lin Xiao felt the Nightmare Realm’s space become extremely unstable, the vast domain seemed on the verge of collapse.

The surging Nightmare Energy tide swept past, revealing the clear skies and land beyond. A colossal figure, impossible to imagine, was in the center of the Nightmare Realm, extending arms kilometers in length to hammer against the Nightmare Realm’s core symbol—the Black Gigantic Tower.

The instant Lin Xiao saw this, his pupils constricted in recognition.

This nearly two-kilometer-diameter mass that exuded an oppression unfathomable to ordinary people—it was the same flesh ball that had been taken into the Divine Realm by the Child of Nightmare along with him.

When first taken, the object had been just over ten meters in diameter, and now, in such a short period, it had grown to this size?

Lin Xiao felt as though he was dreaming.

Not sure if it was the shock affecting him greatly, but the monster that was furiously hammering at the core of the Nightmare Realm suddenly paused, and a giant head on its body turned to look in his direction, unleashing an overwhelming, despairing will that struck him, severing his connection to this portion of his will attached to the Clan members.

However, it was not destroyed but temporarily interrupted. Seconds later, the connection with this will was restored, and to his surprise, there was something extra attached to his will. As communication with his True Body was reinstated, that extra…

Something like a mark traveled along the will, stretching across two domains to reach his True Body and leaving this mark upon him.

“Too terrifying!”

Lin Xiao swiftly ordered the other exploration teams to retreat, meanwhile commanding the troops at the breach between the two realms to withdraw. The Transcendent Mage Alemente quickly summoned the Mage team to prepare the sealing barrier.

There was no way to fight, absolutely no way.

How big is a two-kilometer diameter?

It’s the size of a city rolling toward you, a transformation of strength that could easily breach even a Legendary Defense Spell, and the current Divine Realm had no means of resistance.

That thing was still at the Legendary Level.

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