Chapter 2990

The rumbling of the earthquake—it was impossible to tell if the underground explosions outside the city were still continuing, or if it was just the commotion caused by the appearance of some unknown evil entity.

Following Luweiya's instructions, Xia De did not go out but rested peacefully, waiting for the event to continue developing; meanwhile, a steady stream of intelligence from the outside world was being summarized at the Golden Music Hall.

After the successive appearance of pitch-black rifts in the night sky and among the trees, monsters that did not belong to this era emerged one after another. In the southeast of the woodland, there even appeared a "Tyrant Beholder," believed to have gone extinct in the early Fifth Era. The difference between this monster, which lived in the underground world, and its ordinary kin was that the eyes of sufficiently ancient individuals would transform into Sage-level relics after they reached adulthood.

This was likely one of the reasons for their extinction.

After the rift from an unknown era emerged in the night sky, a single tentacle reaching out from behind the rift was enough to seal the time rift itself. That terrifying black tentacle was like black mist, lacking a physical form, but after it swayed in the air and reached toward the city below, a single contact was enough to melt a gap in the defensive ritual protecting the city.

The Paradox Bugs wanted to enter the city through that gap, but upon approaching the tentacle, they all turned into black mist. The black tentacle reached down from the gap, and any matter it touched was assimilated as part of it. It melted the roof, absorbed a family of five inside the house, then melted the entire floor, and continued to reach out along the ground toward other surrounding buildings.

It was like a writhing black pillar of heaven reaching out from the night sky; even the Paradox Bugs were no longer willing to touch that black tentacle.

The Keepers of the Church knew exactly what this was:

"This is the pet of the ancient God of Darkness, 【Lurking Darkness】, the most dangerous evil entity of the First Era kept by the Old Gods. When the Old Gods departed, their entire species was banished beyond time. Now, they are likely trying to take this opportunity to return to the material world."

Perhaps the Chosen One of Darkness who could control it had long since died in Tobesk last year, and the Chosen One of Light who possessed the power to restrain it was temporarily away.

So, in the end, Xia De received a request for assistance. Considering this was not a direct flight outside the city to fight the swarm, Xia De brought Mr. Albert's 【Sorrow of Blood】 and rushed over.

When he arrived at the scene, the Thirteenth-Order Ringed Ringed Shushi "Radiant One" was leading more than a dozen high-order sorcerers surrounding the tentacle that had already melted half a street. The tentacle was slithering along the ground, spreading like layers of illusory black mist.

Although it was almost immune to all attacks, the most basic "Light Spell" could slow down its movement speed.

And that Thirteenth-Order Ringed Ringed Shushi's "Light Spell" was indeed extraordinary; the soft light of dawn seemed to come from the morning sun not seen for a long time. It was just that while the tentacle was restricted by the light, it was also absorbing the light, so one could only feel the light in the dark night after getting close.

【Sorrow of Blood】 automatically lit up when Xia De appeared around the black tentacle. The blood-red light enveloped the sword body, and then its shape transformed from that holy relic of the vampires into a "Sword of Light" enveloped in pure white light.

Perhaps in the ancient era, this sword had also been held by mortals to fight against this evil entity originating from the source of darkness. Without Xia De even having to consider how to act, he felt the sword guiding his hand to raise it high.

Thus, the light reaching the sky turned into a blade, simply and cleanly cutting the black tentacle reaching out from the night sky vertically into two halves. The dissipated invisible darkness wanted to merge into this world of chaotic time, but it was immediately dissolved by the light scattered after the blade collapsed.

Xia De's ordinary state could not compare to those demigod heroes of the First Era, but the evil entity banished beyond time had long since lost its power from the First Era. This holy sword lent by Mr. Albert seemed to naturally restrain this kind of evil entity. As Xia De sheathed the sword, he was still thinking that if the Chosen One of Time had appeared before the Chosen One of Light, then this matter would have been terrible.

After that black tentacle collapsed and disappeared, the time rift that was its source also vanished silently from the night sky. Thus, Xia De guessed again that a time rift might only allow one sufficiently powerful existence to pass through. Just like that night of the "Moon of Madness," the rift closed directly after the blood moon disappeared.

After the brief crisis was resolved, Xia De exchanged a few pleasantries with the "Radiant One" and returned to the Music Hall. Emilia was still sleeping at this time, but waiting to welcome Xia De in the music hall was no longer Xivi, but Megan, who had swapped shifts with her.

The wise Great Witch looked like she had just returned from the battlefield. Although there were no signs of injury, Xia De could feel the surging spirit within her still churning:

"It's really great to be able to see you as soon as I come back. I have always believed that your significance to us is not just physical, but more spiritual. Everyone will be very happy to see you, especially at such a difficult time."

She reached out to hug Xia De, but opened her arms and stopped, then lowered her head and sniffed her clothes:

"Forget it, let's hug later. Xivi has already told me the divination results of the diviners. Next, I will accompany you here to wait."

Screams and explosions came from overhead from time to time. After several waves of earthquakes, Emilia finally woke up from her deep sleep:

"I dreamed that I was sleeping in a bumpy carriage, and I woke up when the carriage rushed off the cliff."

Emilia, with sleepy eyes, said while hugging her pillow, and then saw that Xia De was also standing in the room, so she threw away the pillow she was hugging with a blushing face:

"I thought it was my unicorn doll."

She had a unicorn doll in her dormitory at the Academy, which she would hug to sleep every night. After arriving at the Fifth Era, although she couldn't bring it, the dragon maid who took great care of the little elf sewed a new one for her.

Only after returning to the Vista Woodland did she not have a unicorn doll to hug to sleep. However, Emilia believed that as a future Elf Queen, she no longer needed to hug a soft and cute doll to sleep... But considering that the "hero" Xia De who saved the world needed a cute cat to accompany him when sleeping, she forgave her own little willfulness.

The midnight snack that had been prepared was brought over by the maids. After waking up, Emilia not only had a great appetite, but also looked much better in spirit. According to her, even her exhausted spirit had recovered by more than half:

"I dreamed of a big tree, a very, very big tree."

Xia De believed this was related to the leaf pattern on the back of her hand, but it seemed that the little elf had not discovered the moon mark that Xia De had placed on her left hand.

While Emilia was eating, Megan told her what had happened while she was asleep, and then soon followed Xia De to be called by the Church to help.

The problem this time was a Keeper-level relic. While the Church's team was fighting fiercely with the swarm above the city, they did not forget to arrange for a small team to patrol the city to prevent internal problems from breaking out. During a patrol not long ago, the Natural Church's team heard a clicking sound coming from an alley.

After rummaging through the trash can, they found a heavy brass-colored metal box in the trash pile. The clicking sound came from inside the box, but the box itself could not be opened in any way.

There were no patterns on the five sides of the box, only the side facing up had engraved runes and decorative patterns.

The rune in the center symbolized time, and the metal was changing like liquid. When Xia De saw the box, the time on it was 19:05, then it became 19:04, and then the numbers continued to get smaller:

"A countdown?"

Below the changing numbers was an unchanging string of runes. Xia De translated the meaning of the ancient runes:

"What's written on this is, um, art is... explosion?"

"Keeper-level (Level 3) relic 【Ancient Gnome's Rune Gunpowder】!"

Megan recognized what this was at a glance, and an expectant expression appeared on her face:

"After the countdown ends, this explosive will explode on the spot. This is the only characteristic of this kind of relic. If the power recorded in the book is not wrong, this relic alone is enough to raze the entire Vista Woodland to the ground, and within five hundred years, not a blade of grass will grow in this area. This is gunpowder that bombs space, even in the ancient era, it was a rare item.

I have only seen the introduction of this kind of relic in books before. Since the mid-Fifth Era, the relics left by this ancient race have become fewer and fewer. Those Witch Emperors didn't know how to leave something for future generations..."

"Let's not talk about this first. If this thing really explodes, we won't have to fight this battle tonight. Miss Lis Brown, how is this kind of relic usually handled?"

The person responsible for handling this incident was Miss Gaiana Lis Brown, the "Emerald Walker" of the Natural Church. Xia De and this Thirteenth-Order Ringed Ringed Shushi from the North had only met once during the Mibao incident last year (Chapter 677). This lady was actually the Thirteenth-Order Ringed Ringed Shushi stationed in Midhillburg, monitoring the entire Rommel mountain range. It was said that her title was related to her unique connection with the "Emerald Dream":

"Once this kind of relic is activated, there are only a few specific ways to stop it. Keeper-level relic 【Gnome's Alchemical Toolbox】, Sage-level relic 【Encyclopedia of Construct Creatures】, Angel-level relic 【Bomb Hunter】, etc. However, Vista Woodland can no longer be entered normally, and transporting relics is not realistic.

Besides that, the general solution is to send this kind of dangerous relic to an uninhabited area overseas and let it explode on its own. But now the time in the woodland is abnormal, and it is possible that the moment it leaves the woodland, the countdown on the relic will return to zero immediately.

Fortunately, the effects of time-stasis relics or miracles can take effect on this relic. However, to prevent accidents, before this war started, the Vista Woodland diocese transferred all time-related relics of Keeper-level and above that were housed."