Hao Ren no longer cared about the reality and illusion of the Black Forest, as he realized that the concepts of reality and illusion were meaningless here.
He knew that L 'Haronne had experienced destruction and rebirth, but he could deduce that the apocalypse the planet had experienced was far more than the one ten thousand years ago. This was the Umbral Realm, a fragment of the universe, the only remnant of a universe that had been destroyed by the Mad Lord once. Everything that remained in the Umbral Realm had experienced another apocalypse.
Destruction and rebirth was not the first time, and it was only natural that the planet would experience any sort of mutation, and Hao Ren guessed that the Black Forest was perhaps the 'mutation focus' of the planet after the apocalypse.
In this special place, all kinds of things were stacked together, including not only the Old World, but also the possible future of this world, the possible future of the Old World, the history that had not been realized, the history that had been realized but was erased because of the God's Dream, the history that had not appeared but appeared in the God's Dream, and even some absurd world line fragments that only had a one in ten thousand chance of happening.
Everything was stacked here, forming a black pine forest.
But mortals could not observe the truth of the Black Forest, their eyes could not observe a world in multiple dimensions, so they could only enter the 'surface layer' of the forest. That was a dense forest, with beast caves, monsters, traps, and even some relics. Those things on the surface were enough to confuse the traveler and make them think that they had successfully passed through the forest, but deep in the mist, the forest was far from that simple.
Because there was a god in the party, even if it was a holographic projection, Hao Ren and his party were not affected by the surface layer of the forest, and directly entered the true depths of the forest.
What they saw should be the earliest historical records of the Black Forest, or rather, part of its physical foundation.
The city in front of him, which was both real and illusory, was the evidence.
Rheia's eyes scanned the surroundings, and wherever she looked, the illusions of the past crumbled and returned to the city's true form, the grand buildings were reduced to rubble, the running warriors were reduced to dust in the mud, and most of the places were actually overgrown with vines, and those eerie vines were like malice from the dark crevices of history as they wrapped around the enigmatic city.
But Rheia did not completely end the illusions here, and in fact she had only cleared a small part of the road ahead of the convoy, and after the convoy passed, she would let the illusions return to normal, and that was to give Hao Ren the chance to record more clues from the illusions.
So it was as if a small 'Barrier of Reality' had formed around the three carriages, and outside of the barrier, the city was still standing, and facing the invading enemies from who knows how many eras ago, but around the convoy, everything had collapsed into a desolate truth after destruction.
Awenna's eyes widened as she looked at everything around her in surprise and unease. Those gleaming, advanced and elegant ancient cannons were still firing one second, and the next second they were in pieces on the ground, and the next second they were back to normal. Soldiers kept passing by the carriages, but their formation was intermittent, and whenever Rheia looked over, the soldiers would disappear, but when Rheia looked away, the illusions would replace reality.
This would probably be the most unforgettable experience of the princess' life.
"Can you still smell the blood?" Hao Ren leaned towards Vivian and asked softly.
"Yes, and it's very obvious." Vivian sniffled, "Not only can I feel it, but I can also smell it."
Lily sniffled as well, "Yes yes yes, I can smell it too! It's right in front … "
Illusions did not have a smell, and the blood could only come from a real entity. Who could it be, hiding in this ancient and real forest?
Hao Ren did not think it was any wild monster.
The three carriages stopped.
There was no more road ahead, and while it looked like a wide road with all kinds of carriages on it, when Rheia focused her gaze ahead, the road was replaced by a pile of collapsed buildings and a fallen black pine tree trunk, and there was only a narrow gap between the wreckage. Humans could pass through, but the carriages could not.
While they could blast the wreckage away, or just let the high-tech carriages drive a path through, but that would definitely cause some commotion, and the smell that Vivian sensed was within a kilometer ahead. To avoid alerting the enemy, Hao Ren decided to leave the carriages and check it out.
"You can stay in the carriages." Vivian looked at Awenna and Charlemagne and said, "The carriages have a shield system, and an emergency alarm system. You will be safer up there."
"Will we be a burden to you?" Charlemagne asked in a serious tone.
"Not really." Hao Ren shrugged, he was not trying to comfort them, but he had personally confirmed the siblings' strength, and they were more than capable of protecting themselves in this world, and even if there were any unimaginable dangers in the Black Pine Forest, Hao Ren and his companions would be able to easily cover the entire area, and would not be dragged down by them.
"That's good." Charlemagne touched the sword at his waist, "We are curious as well."
"Then everyone get down and follow." Hao Ren nodded, "But be careful, take care of yourselves, and do not leave the group."
The group left the carriages, and under Vivian's guidance, they entered the depths of the ruins. Hao Ren and his group took the lead, while Awenna and Charlemagne followed behind, while the soldiers that Charlemagne brought with him followed on both sides, acting as additional observation posts.
The strength of these soldiers may not be worth mentioning to Hao Ren, but in this place, it was always good to have a few more pairs of eyes.
They passed through the collapsed ruins, and a square appeared before them, and in the middle of the square stood a pyramid-like building.
Half of the building was still intact, while the other half was in ruins, and on the intact part, there were still some ornate decorations of the past.
Rheia closed her eyes.
The entire square, the pyramid, and the surrounding scenery were instantly replaced by the ruins of the past.
The edge of the square was filled with soldiers in silver armor, and they faced the outside of the square, and stood shoulder to shoulder to form a human wall. The energy shields in the hands of the soldiers were connected, and after a resonance, they formed layers of protective barriers, and behind the human wall were neatly arranged ion impact cannons, that was the name that Hao Ren had given to these cannons that used plasma to attack.
Even further back were the armed civilians.
And the pyramid-like palace stood in the center of these bodies of flesh and blood. It emitted a light like the sun, and the tip of the tower flowed with a viscous energy flow that was almost solid, and a surge of power — the power of life — was spreading from the pyramid.
The enemy had finally charged into the inner city.
The defensive cannons all over the city were firing wildly, but they could not stop the enemies from all directions (and near-earth orbit). The mutated monsters had destroyed the outer walls of the city, destroying layers of defense, and the buildings around the square collapsed like sand castles, and the ugly creatures shrouded in dust finally appeared in the sight of the guards.
The final battle had begun.
Laser beams and plasma bolts pierced through the air, and landed in the Blacktide, followed by beam sabers and rotten flesh clashing.
The power of decay weakened the shield system, and the energy barrier began to flicker, and a gap appeared. The monsters took advantage of the gap, and like flowing mud, they invaded the square, and the bodies of the guards were quickly consumed in the mud.
And the power of life that gushed out from the pyramid quickly healed the wounded soldiers in the square, allowing them to stand up again and again to fight against the invading enemies.
Every time they stood up again, the soldiers' bodies would become more broken than before, and their silver-white armors would become more tattered.
The soldiers finally had a gap, and the ion impact cannons were destroyed.
Now it was the turn of the armed civilians.
The power of life that was leaking out from the pyramid was getting stronger, and it was even … almost crazy.
Hao Ren heard the hysterical shouts of the guards. Some of the shouts were even frantic and disorderly, but he could still make out some meaningful words.
"Protect the palace!" "Protect the Holy King!" "Buy time! It's about to start! It's about to start! "" Just two more minutes, just two more minutes!! "
Awenna seemed to be frightened by the horrifying and crazy scene, her face was pale, and her lips were trembling as she followed closely behind Charlemagne. She could not understand, how did these people do this, and what was the enemy they were fighting against?
She could not help but think of her mission, and these thoughts made her lips turn even paler.
Rheia walked at the front of the group with her eyes closed, but she could clearly "see" everything that was happening around her, and as she passed by the falling guards, she could not help but sigh. "The power of mortals …"
The group walked past these illusions of the past, and the gate of the pyramid was before them, and a group of soldiers held their weapons in front of the gate as they awaited the arrival of the enemy.
Hao Ren passed through the wall of soldiers, and before he entered the palace, he looked back.
He saw that at the edge of the square, the fallen soldiers had once again stood up, and their bodies were so broken that they could no longer maintain human form, and the armor on their bodies had even melted into their flesh. They tried to stretch out their arms, and their withered and broken limbs were like charred wood, twisted and shriveled.
The power of life from the pyramid was still pouring into their bodies, allowing their bodies that could no longer be repaired to stand straight, and the soldiers maintained their posture, as their bodies grew taller and straighter, their arms stretched out, and their beards and hair fluttered, intertwining into layers of branches, and their feet grew roots, as their skin wrinkled like tree bark, and slowly spread throughout their bodies.
They had turned into black pines.
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