In the Dark Forest, there was danger lurking everywhere, and this was especially true in a world where magic existed.
In the ancient legends of L 'Haronne, the world was first formed from a boiling and violent sea of' elemental elements'. The chaotic primordial energy rose and fell in the sea of elemental elements, and in the collision, the first bubble was formed, called 'Anker', and when the bubble burst, the first creatures were born. These creatures struggled on the remnants of the bubble, absorbing the energy of the elemental elements, and gradually cooling the elemental ocean around the bubble, forming a world, and the cooled elemental elements became the first seawater, surrounding the continent of L 'Haronne in the form of an endless ocean.
But not all of the 'first creatures' survived this process, and some of them went berserk in the process of absorbing the elemental elements. They desperately absorbed the energy, and in the end, they fell apart, and these failures who self-destructed due to greed became the source of all the monsters in the world. Their powdered remains floated across the world, and every speck of dust became a monster. These monsters inherited the greedy nature, and were constantly thirsting for the nourishment of magic. So they all gathered around the mana sources that had a strong magic reaction but lacked control, and became the most feared opponent of every magic-user.
This was why Rheia used an iron staff to practice the Thirty-Six Strikes of the Demonic Staff.
Accompanied by an ear-piercing shriek, a pitch-black lizard covered in hard crystal scales was sent flying high into the air, smashing a deep gully that was at least ten meters long when it hit the ground. As life drained from the monster's body, its mutated crystal scales rapidly weathered and fell off like sand, revealing the normal body of a lizard underneath. A few seconds later, the lizard's body also began to rapidly decay and wither, slowly turning into a pile of rotten flesh and white bones that were almost unrecognizable.
Rheia maintained the posture of swinging her iron staff forward, and after a long sigh, she slowly replied, "Magical creature research expert Bahry had figured it out three hundred years ago, these 'demon-eaters' are actually mutated products of severe magical corrosion. They did not gather around the mana sources out of greed, but they originally lived in these places, and then they were corrupted by the magical corrosion …"
She put away her staff, and watched in shock as Lily used the door-sized alloy X998 sword to seriously smash a demon-eater bear into the ground. She then shook her head, and continued her explanation as a scholar, "While myths have eventually become legends, and scholars have also proven that there is no such thing as a sea of elemental elements outside the Endless Ocean, the danger of these demon-eaters is always real. Spellcasters are most afraid of these things, because these monsters themselves are mutated by magic, and their skin is so resistant to magic that they are almost immune to it. So when a mage encounters these monsters, they either have to use their staff like I did, or hand it to a warrior … "
As she spoke, the corner of her eye twitched, because in the corner of her vision, Y 'lisabet was kicking a demon-eater lizard over, and then using one hand to force open the lizard's mouth, she held a basin-sized fireball in her other hand and shoved it into the lizard's stomach. The demon-eaters were indeed highly resistant to magic, but that did not mean they had a huge appetite, and after the third fireball, the poor monster finally breathed its last: it had stuffed itself to death.
"Yay!!" The demon girl cheered happily, an innocent and adorable smile on her face.
Rheia had completely lost interest in explaining, and hastily ended her lecture, "… Some special combat techniques are also effective against demon-eaters."
Not long after the party entered the Dark Forest, they were ambushed by the monsters, and the first thing that appeared was not some traditional beast, but the "monsters" that Rheia had mentioned earlier that had gone berserk due to the influence of magic. With the attitude of collecting the environmental parameters of this world, as well as biological samples, Hao Ren and the rest immediately swung their swords and spears into battle, just like a group of real mercenaries. But as the employer, Rheia did not just stand by and watch, and instead, she rolled up her sleeves and joined in the fray.
The mage lady was indeed different from the usual academy scholars, and when she charged forward with her staff, everyone immediately realized that. After all, no normal scholar could wield a staff that weighed dozens of pounds like a tiger, and also use all thirty-six enchantment techniques. Even with Hao Ren's vast knowledge, he only knew that Anthony J. Alphonso was an exception, and this Rheia was obviously the second exception.
But to Rheia, this group of "mercenaries" that she had just met was not just an exception.
Their fighting style was unheard of, and it was a serious challenge to her knowledge of every combat profession and combat tactics. Any instructor who had passed the qualification test would have burned his certificate after seeing this group of people fighting. The werewolf greatswordsman did not know any swordsmanship, and was just smashing the monsters with a plank sword; the fire mage loli only knew a fireball spell, and she used it to smash the monsters; the warrior named Y 'zaks also did not know any moves, and his main attack method was to grab the enemies and use them to smash the monsters; the serpent healer had curled herself up since the start of the battle, and no one knew where she went, but she managed to cast a few healing spells during the battle; the werewolf assassin had not been seen since the start of the battle, and only came out when the battle was almost over, with a fish in her mouth. This was incomprehensible, as there was no river in the forest, so how far had she gone?
If it was just one or two mavericks, Rheia could still explain it as "there's nothing too strange in the world", but for a group of strange fellows to come out in a group was not easy to understand. She suddenly began to wonder if she had made a mistake in hiring these fellows as helpers. Putting aside their strange fighting style, just their strength alone was enough to do whatever they wanted. How could such a group of people meet with an accident when they were out adventuring and end up in front of the mercenary guild?
But her doubts were quickly interrupted by Hao Ren's voice. "Done, done. These things are not as difficult as you said."
The corner of Rheia's eye twitched. "Because not everyone can smash a group of demon-eaters like you. Are you guys really just a bunch of adventurers out to make a living?"
"A 'battlemage' who can beat up demon-eaters with a staff, and you have the cheek to talk about us?" Hao Ren laughed and did not intend to answer Rheia's question. After all, he was just a passerby in this world, and he did not care about such details. "You don't have to worry about our origins. We will definitely complete this contract. Isn't there a saying in the mercenary trade: don't ask for names, just count your gold."
Rheia raised an eyebrow. "Now that's a bit more professional."
At that moment, Vivian walked over with Rollie by her belt. "We've already started to encounter the monsters. How far are we from the ruins?"
The catgirl struggled with all her might, her upper body wriggling. "Put me down meow! Put me down! I saw that you guys don't need my help, that's why you went fishing! "
"With the appearance of the demon-eaters, we're not far from the entrance." Rheia ignored the catgirl's chatter and turned to look at the enchantment scroll in her hand. It was a magic map that she had copied and made earlier, and it automatically recorded the route they took after entering the forest as well as the location of the attacks. "Just as I expected, the ruins are still leaking magic, so it'll be much easier to find …"
As Rheia spoke, she kept the scroll and raised her iron staff to draw a simple magic rune in the air. As the rune gradually dissipated in the air, she looked up into the depths of the forest. "Over there."
Under the guidance of the mage lady, they encountered a few more attacks from monsters that posed no threat. Finally, they saw the shadows of some broken walls between the overgrown vines and fallen trees.
The ruins were getting closer.
"These things …" Vivian looked at the increasing ruins around them with a hint of doubt in her eyes. "Why do I feel like I've seen them somewhere before?"
In the depths of the dark and gloomy Black Forest, relics from the ancient civilization lay dormant in the grass, withstanding the erosion of time. Thick mud and decaying leaves, years of moss, and intertwining vines had buried these ancient traces, and the once magnificent temple only had a few spires and a few broken bricks exposed. But it was those broken bricks and tiles that gave Hao Ren and Vivian an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
But that was definitely not the style of the goddess of creation, and Hao Ren was certain of that.
He had seen many goddess of creation style things, be it the temples on the Gate of Solenne, the Goddess' Palace in the illusion, or the starships of the guardian giants, they were all very distinctive, and he had been following up on the research in this area recently, and it left a deep impression on him. If these things were really related to the Star of Creation, he would definitely be able to tell at a glance.
Then what are these ruins in front of him?
Hao Ren frowned, and a blurry image appeared in his mind, but before he could grasp the key point, Rheia had already led everyone to the location of the ruins.
"Ah, found it! It's really here! "
The young mage exclaimed happily.
The scene before them suddenly opened up.
There was a rather wide open space in the forest, and the ancient trees and shrubs had not completely devoured the ruins of the ancient civilization. In that open space, the ancient pillars had collapsed and were half-buried in the soil, and the magnificent palace walls were leaning against each other, and around them were broken bricks and tiles. A particularly eye-catching building stood in the middle of all the ruins, and strictly speaking, it was just the remnant dome of a building. The ornate decorative and streamlined roof protruded out of the ground, and it was covered in moss and vines, and there was a large hole on one side, and a broad-leaved tree poked its head out of the hole.
The years of wind and rain had almost completely destroyed the original color of the ruins, and they were all covered in a layer of dilapidated greyish-black, but on that greyish-black background, there were still many golden lines and decorative patterns.
Golden lines and decorative patterns … luxurious style … streamlined …
Hao Ren felt a jolt in his mind, and he immediately began to compare the ruins with something in his memory, and at the same time, he painted all the ruins in gold in his mind.
Then he realized that he recognized the style, especially the complex decorative patterns on the surface of the buildings. He had seen them with his own eyes at the Gate of Solenne, and that was on the ship of the deicide.
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