Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 526 Overlord of the Wasteland
A simple wooden sled-like vehicle, about half a meter off the ground, sped across the boundless wilderness.

With its tongue lolling out, Xiaotian galloped ahead, its four claws outstretched, as black, flame-like flowers bloomed in the low sky.

It seemed to treat this as a game, running around happily, its tail practically wagging like a fan.

The wind on the wasteland carried the stench of decay and a faint stench that permeated the entire world.

The scenery before them seemed like an unchanging sticker; no matter how they moved, the wasteland always seemed to be the same scene—the sky was dark and gloomy, as if covered by a thick layer of frosted glass.

Sunlight filtering through the frosted glass casts a dark, yellowish hue, darker than dusk.

Jagged rocks are scattered sparsely on the semi-desertified land, hidden behind withered yellow grass, only revealing a trace when the wind blows.

The place was as if it were dead; skeletons, mutated monsters, and alienated plants together created a desolate post-apocalyptic landscape.

Since leaving Graymist Town, an unsettling silence has permeated the entire team.

It wasn't until Iris couldn't help but break the silence that she finally did. She was the youngest and had never experienced the beauty of the original Black Star, only seeing it in other people's descriptions or in church scriptures.

Therefore, the grief that silenced Victor and Fafner became even more vague and abstract.

"So the whole world has become this horrible mess?"

"I think so."

Victor finally broke his silence and let out a long sigh:

“We should have expected this. How could they let ordinary people go? These depraved monsters need nothing but sacrifices and a bunch of walking corpses who only know how to worship evil gods.”

"Can"

Iris wanted to say something more, but seeing the sorrowful faces of Fafnir and Victor, her own face gradually paled.

"so"

Her lips trembled, and even her hands shook.
Even if we eventually manage to defeat the darkness—nothing can ever go back to the way it was?

It transformed back to how the book described it: the clear river shimmered in the sunlight, the wind carried the fragrance of grass and rice, and the azure sky was as beautiful as a clear sapphire.

The sunlight was warm and scorching.

She recited the author's descriptions of the past in "Old Tales," tears streaming down her cheeks until she was sobbing uncontrollably.
"So—even if darkness is defeated, the whole world is doomed?"

"Yes."

These two words seemed to carry a tremendous weight, and Victor said with difficulty:

"The protagonist is already on his last legs, and we old folks are also exhausted. Even if we manage to defeat the darkness, we'll probably lose our lives there as well."

The old guys from the Natural Church, along with a bunch of younger ones, transformed themselves into a half-human, half-plant state, gradually becoming woody and eventually turning into a tree.

The divine pronouncements are finished.
I fear that in the end, only a handful of people will remain in the entire world, and it will ultimately perish.

If there were no humans in this world, what would be the point of saving it?
If their stories and sacrifices go unnoticed, what is the point of using countless lives to resist?
"So you guys don't want to go and kill that son of a bitch Simmons?"

Aowu, who had been controlling the altitude of the 'flying car', poked its head out of the dragon egg.

"No!"

Victor growled through his throat, gritting his teeth as he said:
"The more this happens, the more urgent my desire to kill him becomes. Even if I die, I don't want to be like a weakling, hiding in that corner crying and waiting for death to come in despair."

If we're all going to die, even if I can't kill Simmons, I'll use my life to show him that we've never given up!
Moreover—"

Fafner joined in, his greyish-white eyes fixed on the equally grey and gloomy sky:
"This world will survive, and this world will remember us."

Li Xia glanced at the Zhuo Xin trio with some surprise. Although they spoke ambiguously, Li Xia felt that they were talking about the will of the world.

Whether the world possesses consciousness or not remains a question of debate among the apostles within the temple.

However, the world's will cannot interfere in specific matters; it will only give rise to a 'criminal' during major crises to attempt to resolve difficulties.

Thinking of this, Li Xia's expression suddenly changed, and he asked:
"Has the Zhuoxin Church, or any other church, ever come very close to victory?"

Darkness has been descending for so long, the calamity should have arrived long ago. In any case, this is the world's desperate resistance.

Upon hearing this question, Victor and Iris were surprisingly agitated:
"Xia, are you remembering something?"

Yes! There was indeed such a person, known as the Heart-Burning Spear of the Night. In the early days of darkness, the Church of the Night was not yet so powerful.

Our Burning Heart is far stronger than it is now, capable of standing up to the Church of the Night.

That great man once led the seven strongest warriors of the Burning Heart all the way into the core of the Church of the Night.

There were even rumors that they had severely damaged Simmons and found the source of the darkness.

Iris said excitedly in one breath, clearly showing her great admiration for the great man recorded in the ancient texts.

"Then the darkness experienced a great upheaval, and even the sky became clear again."

Victor said in a low voice, his expression somewhat somber. He and Fafner were both born before the darkness descended.

He can be considered a witness to the events of that time:
"At that time, the entire Burning Heart was celebrating wildly, no, I should say the whole world was celebrating."

The good times didn't last long; darkness soon returned, and even Simmons reappeared, stronger and more sinister than before.

really!

That must be a robbery!
Li Xia and Aowu exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

The darkness briefly disappeared, which means that the thief had successfully killed Simmons and even the incarnation of the Old God.

But the Old Gods still exist, so darkness soon returned.

"This calamity is truly formidable; it can even take down an avatar of an ancient god. Isn't it a bit too powerful?"

A collective gasp of amazement rippled through the team chat; they had no idea just how powerful the Old God's incarnation truly was.

But they had actually seen and fought the Star God incarnation before, and the Old God incarnation was even more powerful.

"The calamity child was born out of necessity, basically possessing full talent, and also has the help of the world's will."

Their mental and other attributes will also be maxed out. As soon as the calamity appears, it represents the highest combat power in the entire world.

The Old Gods raised the bar for this world, but being able to win is truly impressive.

Li Xia replied that he was basically at the limit of the current world, and he was still a little unsure about fighting the avatars of the ancient gods.

"Did something come to mind?"

Victor looked at the silent Li Xia and asked softly.

The Lost Ones are extremely powerful, but because they have lost their memories, they can only fight on instinct, which actually weakens their strength. However, as their memories are restored, their strength will become stronger and stronger.

Currently, Li Xia is the only one in the team who is in the best condition and has the strongest strength.

If he could regain his memories, the team's potential would be greatly increased. "No, it's just a vague thought."

Li Xia shook his head; he could only think of one thing!

"It's alright, this is already a sign. I had the same thing at first. First, there was a vague thought, then a sense of familiarity, and finally, flashbacks of fragments kept coming back."

Victor offered a word of comfort and then turned his gaze back to what lay ahead.

Their journey was faster than expected, mainly because they hadn't anticipated that the unassuming black canine creature possessed such an ability.

There are no powerful monsters on this wasteland, but many mutated plants and small animals lurk underground.

If traveling on the ground, these things will inevitably slow you down.

"Do you see that rocky mountain over there?"

Victor pointed to the shadowy patch in the distance:
"That is the residence of the King of the Wasteland, who was once an eagle-lion. Its strength was not to be underestimated, and after the mutation, it had the strength to rival that of an ordinary bewildered person."

There's a large depression ahead. After we enter it, we'll go through the Sky Lane and then walk around it via a side tunnel.

This is the advantage of having characters in the storyline; they know exactly where everything is and where the dangers are.

After driving for about ten minutes, a huge crater appeared ahead.

It doesn't look natural; it looks more like it was created by someone bombarding it. The bottom and walls of the pit are covered with glass-like objects made from sand that had been melted by the extremely high temperature.

"follow me!"

After standing at the bottom of the pit for a while, Victor walked straight to the side, pushed aside a crystallized boulder with one hand, and surprisingly revealed a fairly wide pit passage.

The group crawled into the tunnel, which was quite deep. The high rock walls blocked their view, and they could only see a little bit of the sky above.

Victor lowered his voice and said:

“Griffins have extremely sharp eyesight; even from this distance, they can clearly see things on the ground.”

Awoo smacked its lips and poked Little Black, asking a question with its eyes.

Xiao Hei shook his head. The rocky mountain was about ten kilometers away from here, considering the difference in elevation. Even with the strongest Sharingan, one couldn't see that far.

"During our last expedition, we first sent men to hold off the Gryphons and then carved out this road."

They used caves and underground rivers to traverse the rocky mountains.

No wonder it looked so familiar.
"When Zhu Xin was at its strongest, killing it shouldn't have been difficult, right?"

Li Xia asked curiously.

"It's not difficult. The Griffin was originally much weaker than the 'Lower God Level'. Even after being twisted and corrupted, it was still one of the stronger 'Lower God Level' classes."

This is why we were able to hold it off, but the griffin is extremely cunning and cruel. When it senses that it cannot easily defeat its opponent or that the opponent is very strong, it will evade and launch a sneak attack.

The winged griffin is also the overlord of this sky, and it is not easy to kill.

And if the kill fails, that beast will remember you and use its superhuman eyesight to follow you from afar.

Victor shook his head:
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have needed to go through the trouble of carving this passage."

Li Xia nodded knowingly. Having such a shameless 'lower-level god' expert constantly launching sneak attacks was indeed a lot of pressure.

Most importantly, Zhuo Xin's expeditionary force back then wasn't just composed of experts; there were also many other personnel, such as logistics and support staff.

Their role lies elsewhere, rather than in their individual strength making them vulnerable to surprise attacks.

Although the tunnels here have only been abandoned for a year or two, they look as if they have been abandoned for half a century, with thick dust and rotting black fluff filling the tunnels.

The boots felt strange against the dust that had accumulated at the bottom of the pit.

The entire tunnel was quiet, save for Victor's hushed explanation:
“There are many such regional overlord monsters in the wild. They have divided up territories of varying sizes and rarely leave.”

Humans or other monsters will not be allowed to enter.

Following our current route, we still need to pass four more of these monsters to reach the royal capital, Emmentus.

They are: the Lord of the Sky of the Wasteland - the Eagle Lion, the Lord of the Abyss of the Waters - the Abyss Shark, the Lord of the Poisonous Mist of the Swamp - the Green Swamp Lizard, the Lord of the Wilderness of the Forest - the Fierce-Toothed Tiger, and the Lord of the Rocks of the Mountains - the Mountain-Splitting Rock Demon.

Most importantly, there are not many areas where we can use the same methods as before; the only ones are waterways.

Because the fortress was located on the water, and we were unprepared for the other three dominant regions, we had to rely on ourselves.

Li Xia nodded silently, having already made her decision; the others didn't seem to be the fastest runners.

If you encounter them, just charge straight in and don't give them a chance to react or escape.

Lower God level. Roughly the top ten level in the Tier 3 Arena. Somewhat troublesome, but shouldn't be a big problem.

The tunnel ahead suddenly made a huge turn, and at the same time, the towering rock walls of the stone mountain came into view.

It seems that when they dug this far, they turned around at the foot of the mountain and entered the cave.

"We're almost there. After we round the bend ahead, we'll be close to the rocky mountain—"

Victor led the way in a low voice, rounding the huge bend ahead, when he suddenly stopped.

Upon seeing this, Li Xia's gaze sharpened, and she quickly stepped forward, but she was also shocked by what she saw before her, causing her to raise her eyebrows slightly.

"Oh my god—this—"

Iris, who followed behind, covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed.

A large section of the tunnel ahead had collapsed, creating a huge depression.

In the center of the depression, a skeleton that looked exceptionally grotesque lay quietly.

It appears to be at least ten meters long. Although it looks like a quadruped, a pair of long, enormous bones, like bird wings, extend from the white bone vertebrae on both sides of its ribs.

The enormous skull had a hole the size of a washbasin, which was likely the fatal wound.

Li Xia gave Victor a questioning look.

Victor stared at the skeleton again with an unusually solemn expression, let out a long sigh, nodded, and said in a low voice:

“That’s right, this is the overlord of the wasteland—the Griffin.”

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

It's best to avoid taking leave if possible. Thank you for your concern.

(End of this chapter)