Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 317 The Bizarre Battle

At Bernadette's call, the four ships simultaneously sailed into the "Forsaken Land".

Although Roger didn't make a very large opening, the four huge sailing ships sailed in without any hindrance, as if the black curtain was just a conceptual existence that blocked information. As long as information could flow through it, even things larger than the diameter of its entrance could enter.

Roger maintained the passage the entire time, and only lowered his hand after Bernadette and the others had completely entered.

The entrance to the "Forsaken Land" abruptly closed, and the outer ocean once again turned into a black curtain.

"Try this..."

Roger took a deep breath, took out Philemon's Bell, and gently shook it.

As the clear, resonant sound, seemingly connected to the spirit world, reverberated, Roger's figure vanished into a blue light.

A moment later, he arrived at the deck of the "Star Lord" inside the "Forsaken Land".

"Success."

Roger's lips curled up.

Previously, when he opened the entrance to the "Forsaken Land," a corresponding spiritual map had already appeared in the inner spiritual sky of the "Original Core."

Even if the entrance closes again later, the entrance area of ​​the "Forsaken Land" on that map will only become a piece of land that is like an isolated island again, but Roger can still sense it.

The significance of this is obvious: although the "Forsaken Land" has long been separated from the outside spirit world, Roger's act of "opening the door" allowed him to successfully obtain a projection of the spirit world in this area in a mystical sense.

If it weren't for the special nature of the "Primal Core," people outside wouldn't be able to perceive the interior when this area was resealed.

This is the disgusting aspect of the dark curtain that formed above the Forsaken Lands after the Great Cataclysm, and it's also why the Forsaken Lands have only been discovered by a very small number of people over thousands of years.

For Roger at this moment, since he has already obtained a small part of the "secret" here, it is perfectly fine for him to use his "traveler" abilities or simply walk up to "open the door".

Similarly, he can leave the Forsaken Land at any time using the Traveler's Dice and Philemon's Bell. The only limitation is that when he returns to the Forsaken Land, he can only go to the location where he can perceive the corresponding spiritual projection area, and he cannot go wherever he wants.

However, this is not a problem for a demigod. As long as he can enter the "Forsaken Land", the subsequent journey, even if it is a long distance, will only take a day or two longer.

Seeing Roger reappear, Zeus and the others breathed a sigh of relief, but they immediately looked with worry into the darkness inside the "Forsaken Land".

The land here, shrouded in shadow, is exceptionally barren, with almost no vegetation and no sunlight or stars in the sky; it is nearly pure darkness.

Only lightning, which flashes every few seconds or tens of seconds, can provide brief illumination, but even then, the light source is fleeting.

On the shore in front of the "Star Lord", a large group of twisted and bizarre, dark blue, giant lizard-like monsters were already lying there, their eyes filled with extreme greed as they looked at the "Star Lord".

These lizards were enormous, each one comparable to, or even larger than, the Komodo dragons Roger had seen online in his previous life.

Among them were many lizard carcasses that had been gutted and were missing their limbs.

Roger understood that this meant they were extremely hungry for fresh flesh and blood, and would even attack their own kind when driven to extreme hunger.

He was preparing to use his "Living Star Chart" ability to attack the lizards when he saw Bernadette strike first.

A ball of slowly rotating stardust rapidly formed in the palm of her right hand, from which one after another star emerged, densely packed and dazzling.

As Bernadette waved her hand, the stars instantly flew above the lizard swarm, scattering rays of light that attracted their attention.

These purple rays of light instantly converged into a magnificent pillar of light, enveloping a large area.

A chorus of agonizing screams erupted, and before the lizards could even react, they were dissolved by the starlight, collapsing and dissipating into ashes.

Bernard.

Bernadette lowered her hand and said in a deep voice:

“Bring out the ‘Explorer’s Lantern’.”

"Yes, Captain."

Behind Bernadette, a tall, refined man bowed and then took out a small lantern, about the size of a palm, from his bag and turned a knob on it.

Suddenly, the small lamp transformed into a series of extremely bright fireballs.

The fireball illuminated an area with a diameter of over 200 meters, but this illumination did not last long, as the fireball soon began to split.

One is divided into two, two into four, four into eight.

In the dark "Forsaken Land," these flames flew everywhere, flickering toward everyone.

Soon, a flame silently floated above Zeus's head, illuminating an area of ​​about two meters around him.

Many others also received the same light, which seemed to have its own consciousness, automatically following nearby living people and providing them with illumination.

Moreover, the "explorer's lantern" seemed to calculate the number of living people around and actively distribute its light to them.

Even the cat Bandit seems to have been identified as human by the "Explorer's Lantern," and a light appeared on its head.

This delighted Bandit, who leaped frantically, trying to catch the flame, but the flame always floated up and down with its leaps, as if consciously keeping its distance.

Roger also naturally received a flame, which he found quite amusing.

"Is it a sealed artifact from the 'Singer' pathway? Or the 'Hunter' pathway? Or a product of fusion?"

All three scenarios are possible, and Roger even suspects the last one is more likely.

After all, for Bernadette, the "mysterious queen," a high-ranking "secret seeker," using various extraordinary properties to create fusion is a very simple matter, especially when it only involves low to medium sequences.

The splitting of the flames continued for a while, then suddenly stopped.

"stopped?"

Roger was slightly taken aback. He looked up at his surroundings and quickly began to calculate the number of times the flames split.

"Exactly one hundred... which means the total number of fires cannot exceed this limit?"

Because Roger and Bernadette brought over a hundred people with them, a considerable number of them were unable to get a share of the firelight.

Fortunately, the "Explorer's Lantern" could transfer the split flames under the control of its owner. So, after communicating with each other, they determined who would stay on the four ships and distributed the remaining flames to the exploration team.

"So…"

Roger was about to give the order to set off on the exploration when he saw Leomaster emerge from the cabin of the "Star Lord".

This startled him slightly, but he quickly realized that the "Black Saint" must have sensed that the ship he was on had arrived at the "Forsaken Land" before ending his ascetic practice.

"Lord Leomaster."

Roger nodded slightly to Leomaster in greeting.

Roger.

Leomaster nodded to Roger, his expression very pleased:
"The secret chamber you provided for my ascetic practice is excellent. I wonder how it was created, whether it's the effect of a sealing artifact, and by what means?"

"You could say that."

Roger nodded:

"Primarily through the 'apprentice' pathway, but also through some other low-sequence seals."

"The 'Apprentice' path... is it the 'Arcanist' path?"

Leomaster asked.

"Yes."

Roger readily admitted that he wasn't afraid of Leomaster asking about the connection between this extraordinary property and Butis, since the traitor from the Abraham family was dead and the final interpretation of the matter was now in his hands.

However, to Roger's surprise, Leomaster did not ask any further questions, but simply nodded slightly, seemingly not thinking that Roger was going to kill Butis.

Faced with the boundless darkness of the "Forsaken Land," this Black Saint actually knelt down directly, making a gesture as if he wanted to pray.

Roger's heart tightened at this action, and he quickly stepped forward to help Leomaster up.

"what happened?"

Leomaster was puzzled. He had just been about to listen to the voice of the "True Creator," but Roger had stopped him.

“Lord Leomaster, I contacted my Lord when I entered this place, and He has already issued His holy judgment on our actions this time.”

"Oh? What teachings does my Lord have?"

Leomaster asked curiously.

“The Lord said that I would be in charge of this operation, and that He would watch over us and give me guidance when necessary.”

Roger delivered the speech he had prepared.

He's been a member of the Aurora Club for quite some time now and knows their nature very well.

For these fanatical followers of the "True Creator" in the Aurora Society, His instructions are the supreme law that cannot be questioned. Although this Sequence 0 true god is in an unusually abstract mental state and talks nonsense all day long, these cultists can always hear so-called divine pronouncements in his words.

That's why Roger understood that he didn't need to explain anything to Leomaster; all he needed to do was "repeat" what the true Creator had said.

After all, God doesn't need to explain his thoughts to his believers; in any case, His insight far surpasses that of the beings He created.

As for fabricating divine pronouncements, no one would dare to do such a thing, and Leomaster, whose only remaining personality was good, would not doubt Roger's loyalty.

The "Black Saint" nodded slightly and said:
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Roger."

Roger and Bernadette, the "mysterious queen" who was watching quietly from the side, both breathed a sigh of relief. When the latter was about to arrange for Bernard to give Leomaster a lamp, he refused.

Just as Roger was wondering whether Leomaster intended to continue his ascetic practices in the "Forsaken Land," a glowing figure quickly appeared beside him.

The figure emitted a light even brighter than the lamp above Roger's head, illuminating an area of ​​nearly five meters in an instant.

"The extraordinary soul of the 'Singer' pathway?"

Roger narrowed his eyes slightly and immediately saw through the scheme.

"It seems that his abilities in this area have not been affected... I just wonder if he can still summon the black armor and the 'Spirit Flesh Blade'?"

After rescuing Leomaster, he had been pondering a question.

That is, in theory, although Leomaster lost a part of his personality, he should still be able to use his extraordinary abilities.

However, in the black monastery in his dream, the appearance of the black knight chasing him was exactly the same as his own extraordinary "Black Knight" ability. Roger was very curious whether Leomaster would be scared to death by his own appearance if he really used the corresponding ability.

Another possibility is that, due to the absence of his corrupted personality, Leomaster is temporarily unable to use those two abilities.

As it stands, Leomaster's "Shepherd" and "Listener" abilities seem unaffected, but further observation is needed to determine the extent of the impact.

"At this stage, being able to use the ability to herd souls should be enough... Leomaster has been a demigod for quite some time now, even longer than Kexma."

Therefore, he should also be enslaving demigod-level souls like me, so his combat power is definitely guaranteed.

"I wonder how he views those enslaved souls now... perhaps it's a form of asceticism?"

Roger grumbled inwardly as he made arrangements for the next steps.

"Linsaria, you take your squad to complete the mission I've given you. If you encounter any danger, use the seal artifact I gave you that corresponds to the 'Iron-Blooded Knight'."

Roger was referring to the soft armor he had received from "General of Illness" Tracy.

Then, he tore off one of his fingers and handed it to Lindsay:
"Here's your finger. It can provide you with a defensive measure that can block most attacks from demigod level beings. I hope you will use it wisely."

"Whenever you find a human city-state, or if you encounter a danger you cannot handle, pray to my name, so that I will receive your prayers no matter where you are."

Just as he had told Philip and Matteo, Roger also told Lindsay his name, just in case.

As for the task Roger gave Lindsay, the content was simple, but it would require a lot of effort to complete.

That is, without alerting the enemy, to search and ascertain as much as possible the exact location and general situation of the surviving human city-states in the "Forsaken Land".

Derrick had already informed Roger of the general geographical environment around "Silver City," and Roger also knew the approximate coordinates of "Moon City," which had guarded the border of the "Gray Fog" of the western continent for generations.

In contrast, Silver City was closer to the landing site of the Combined Fleet and was relatively easier to find.

As for "Moon City," it was relatively far away and a long journey, so no such requirements were made of Linsaya.

Instead, his requirement for Linsaya's combat squad was to continue northwest toward the ruins of the "Golden Kingdom" after finding the "Silver City"!

Because in the original novel, Amon once said that there are no more than 10 surviving human city-states in the "Forsaken Lands", and the "Silver City" is just one of the cities with the best chance of seeing the light of day.

Considering that Amon's words were often exaggerated, Roger contacted Him again on the road to inquire about the relevant questions, and the answer was still "no more than ten".

He was somewhat helpless about this, and after discussing it with the crew of the "Star Lord", Roger decided not to seek Amon's help anymore, but instead to send Linssaya and her combat squad to search for him directly.

Considering potential casualties, Roger specifically expanded Linsaria's combat squad again, assigning her many of the more capable Extraordinary individuals to his command. This had two advantages: firstly, it allowed Roger to further promote his music and acquire more anchors; secondly, it helped improve the combat effectiveness and unity of Linsaria's combat squad.

The dangers in the “Forsaken Land” will greatly help Linsaya digest the “Witch of Pain” potion. If all goes well, she will be able to digest the potion and advance to “Iron-Blooded Knight” after completing her exploration of the “Forsaken Land”.

In order to complete the mission successfully, Linsaya and her team brought a lot of supplies. The "mysterious queen" Bernadette even lent her an extraordinary item with a large storage space to store her things.

Even if they run out of food, resupply is not a problem. With the "Star Lord" and "Dawn" ships fully loaded with supplies and Roger, who has teleportation capabilities, as their support, Linsaya and her companions can obtain sufficient supplies at any time without having to kill those contaminated monsters, risk mutation to eat their flesh, or search for Blackface Grass.

After all, Roger, who has now initially mastered the "Original Force Core", can be regarded as a super-large cargo truck. It is no problem to supply a combat team of only a few dozen people.

In the perilous "Forsaken Land," Linsaya's path was destined to be extremely difficult, so being well-fed and watered would ensure they could persevere longer.

"Yes, Captain."

Having witnessed firsthand the appalling conditions of the "Forsaken Land," Linsaya finally abandoned her usual carefree attitude and answered with a serious expression.

"However, Captain, I have a request."

She hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"What request?"

Roger asked, puzzled.

"Can I have a hug? I'm afraid I'll die before I reach 'Silver City' and never see you again."

"Lyssaia's eyes were a little red," she said.

"You're crazy. You haven't even set off yet and you're already thinking about your own funeral."

Roger rolled his eyes:
“I won’t let you die. You still have one of my Sequence 4 sealed artifacts, which is worth more than you.”

So I'm that unimportant?

Linssaya was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

"No, I was just kidding. I just wanted to give you some lingering attachment."

Roger shook his head and stepped forward to give Lindsay a tight hug.

"If there's a problem you can't handle, call for backup. Don't push yourself into a corner. A good leader is responsible for his subordinates."

he whispered.

"well."

Linssaya nodded vigorously.

After saying that, Lindsay looked at Bernadette again:

"Madam Bernadette, how long will these flames above our heads last?"

"Three days."

Bernadette said softly:
"These flames will not disappear within three days. After three days, unless you are near us, these flames will automatically return."

"Understood, thank you."

Linsaya took a deep breath. Her team carried some lighting tools with them. Although they were not as convenient as the "Explorer's Lantern" and had to be carried by hand, they were sufficient for normal exploration and rest.

"lets go."

Roger said that he walked ahead of Leomaster and Bernadette into the depths of the “Forsaken Land,” towards the direction where the lightning had started.

Linsaya and the others went in another direction and soon disappeared into the darkness.

Not counting the extraordinary individuals who stayed behind on the ship and the small team that Linssaya took with her, there are currently about 40 people still following Roger and Bernadette.

The group followed Roger, steadily advancing according to the pre-arranged exploration formation. Even Gadriya, dressed in a bulky black robe, walked among them with her head down.

Roger.

As Bernadette walked, she suddenly asked in a low voice:
"What exactly is your purpose in coming here?"

"Furthermore, you said earlier that this is where all the secrets begin. What did you mean by that?"

Roger smiled slightly; he could tell that Bernadette was filled with confusion.

In any case, the appearance of the "Forsaken Land" was very different from what Bernadette had imagined. She did not expect that the environment here would be much harsher than she had imagined. On the other hand, the almost complete darkness made Bernadette even more curious about what was inside.

"You should know the legend of the ancient sun god, right?"

Roger thought for a moment and then asked.

"The ancient sun god...that deity from the Third Age?"

Bernadette nodded; as a high-ranking "secret observer," she was also knowledgeable in this area.

"This is where He fell."

At that moment, a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating Roger's profile.

A moment later, the roaring sound came from the horizon.

"really……"

Bernadette's eyes flickered slightly, as if a long-standing question that had been lingering in her mind had finally been answered.

She then asked:
"So the anomaly here is caused by His fall?"

"Correct."

Roger nodded.

"Wait."

Bernadette suddenly said:
"He must be the true God through the 'sun' pathway, right?"

"Correct."

Roger nodded.

"Then how could His fall have caused such contamination? In my opinion, the unusually intense sunlight that appeared in the 'Remnants of the War of Gods' is more consistent with the contamination characteristics of the extraordinary power of the 'Sun' pathway."

"The appearance of the Forsaken Land can only be associated with the 'Sleepless Ones' and 'Secret Prayer' pathways. Only these two pathways can cause this kind of effect."

What Bernadette didn't say was that the sudden darkness and collective dream within the "Relics of the War of the Gods" also clearly carried the power and authority of the high-ranking individuals of the "Sleepless" pathway.

"This is a long story."

Roger was about to continue answering when he suddenly shut his mouth.

His eyes flickered with black light as he stepped past Bernadette and pointed to the nearby darkness with a strange gesture.

A splash of red appeared there, then exploded into a dazzling light.

With the burst of this red light, everyone witnessed a scene that sent chills down their spines.

Because there, a large number of monsters, numbering around a hundred, appeared!

The monsters looked extremely bizarre. Although they had humanoid forms, they were made up of hundreds of broken pieces of glass glued together. The edges of the glass were covered with dried, rust-colored bloodstains, and each piece reflected several different faces, seemingly the appearance of the same person at different ages.

These include a child's crying face, an old person's hunched back, and a middle-aged person's fake smile mask.

Between these lenses protruded numerous decaying human limbs, arms, lips, and eyeballs, like specimens forcibly sewn into frames. At the ends of these limbs were rusted marionettes leading to the void and darkness, as if being controlled by something.

The most bizarre thing about these monsters is their heads.

Those heads had no facial features, only a silver-plated mirror frame, the inside of which was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, reflecting the various scenes around them.

As Roger's "Astral Burst" struck the monster closest to the exploration team, the monster was immediately sent flying backward.

But as soon as it landed, it crawled quickly toward Roger again as if it hadn't been hurt at all.

As the monster moved its limbs, its entire body emitted a nauseating, high-frequency scraping sound, accompanied by the cracking of lenses at its joints.

Seemingly infected by it, the mirror monsters that were originally lurking nearby all made the sound of glass scraping and shattering, and began to surround Roger and the others at the same time!
Immediately, everyone in the joint exploration team activated their extraordinary abilities, and red, blue, and purple lights flashed wildly.

Even the "Black Saint" Leomaster, controlling the extraordinary souls of the "Sun" pathway beings he had enslaved, began the battle.

Compared to Roger's "Astral Burst," these direct magical attacks are clearly more effective.

"The 'astronomical eruption' attack was ineffective?"

Roger was quite surprised. His attack had clearly hit the monster; otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to fly backward.

However, the attack did not cause any further damage, as if it were just blown down by a gust of wind, nothing more.

"Could it be... that these monsters have no destiny at all?"

A rather bizarre hypothesis emerged in Roger's mind.

Without destiny, the "living horoscope" would not discover the loopholes in one's destiny, and thus one would not be harmed.

Soon, as if to confirm his idea, one of Bernadette's "Wrathful People" was caught off guard and had a mirror monster suddenly approach and pressed against his face.

The mirror on its head reflected the face of the "Wrathful People," whose faces began to contort violently as if they had witnessed something extremely terrifying.

A moment later, the face of the "enraged people" began to disappear!

"not good."

In Roger's view, the fate of the "raging people" was rapidly fading away!
He instantly appeared between the two, and the light of "Demon Slayer" burst forth, instantly slicing the mirror monster into pieces!
Because the mirror monster was killed, the face of the "Wrathful People" under the command of the "Mysterious Queen" Bernadette began to reappear, but his mental state seemed to be greatly affected, and his eyes were filled with a dazed look.

"The astral beings were shaken..."

Roger immediately assessed the situation of the "Wrathful People." He touched the latter's ears with both hands, and the principle of "spiritual healing" instantly filled the "Wrathful People's" inner world, quickly calming him down.

The next second, Roger's flesh and blood rapidly grew and burst forth in all directions.

This flesh and blood quickly attached itself to the crew of the "Star Fleet" and Bernadette's men.

Unlike the others who were already used to it, Bernadette's men felt something strange on them and all showed panicked expressions.

However, Bernadette quickly spoke up upon seeing this:
"Don't panic!"

With the "mysterious queen" speaking, the crew of the "Dawn" instinctively followed her orders and continued fighting.

In just a few seconds, the third movement of the Dawn Quartet flashed through the minds of these low- to mid-sequence extraordinary individuals, without even catching their attention.

With the enhancement of the demigod-level "Mind Thunder" rule, their reaction speed, teamwork, strength, movement speed, endurance, and mental resistance are greatly enhanced. They also have a certain ability to escape from the mirror monster's close-range hard control!
Most importantly, these people's attacks began to inflict a paralyzing effect on the mirror monsters. As a result, the joint exploration team gradually went from being caught off guard to being able to overwhelm the mirror monsters.

Whenever a mirror monster is destroyed, all the mirrors on its body shatter, and a silver sphere rolls out from them.

Some of the extraordinary members of the joint exploration team who participated in the battle became interested in the spheres and wanted to pick them up, but Bernadette and Roger stopped them in time.

After all, they didn't know what these silver spheres were, and if they contained any harmful or polluting substances, it would be a losing proposition.

Roger tried to destroy it using his extraordinary abilities, but found that the silver sphere was unusually hard; even attacks at the demigod level could only cause a slight crack and could not truly destroy it.

Soon, as more and more mirror monsters were eliminated, Roger gradually noticed something unusual.

That is, a large number of silver spheres began to roll rapidly and converge together.

A powerful silver light exploded in the remaining pile of mirror monsters, melting and engulfing them all like aqua regia.

A moment later, a huge humanoid object, five or six meters tall and entirely silver, reflecting the surrounding scenery and light, stood up.

The humanoid object had female features, but lacked facial features and skin details; its entire body was purely smooth and silvery-white.

"This is……"

Bernadette's pupils contracted as she suddenly realized something.

"Bernarde, do you recognize this?"

Roger asked.

"This is the Mirror God!"

Bernadette blurted out, her face full of disbelief.

(End of this chapter)