Chapter 1141: A Message Spanning Over 65 Million Years (4)
After hearing the soldier’s frantic report, Marybelle and the three representatives stood up instantly, rus.h.i.+ng out of the meeting hall and to the balcony. Then, they gazed ahead. Looking at this scene, not even Rhode could help but take in a breath of cold air.
Beneath the gloomy sky covered by thick dark clouds, thousands of dinosaurs were launching wild attacks on the palace. The number of them was so dense that they looked like squirming black waves cras.h.i.+ng onto the towering building. If the palace weren’t protected by the defensive enchanted field, perhaps it would have collapsed by now. At a glance, terrifying and dangerous monsters were everywhere. Apart from the ones swimming in the ocean, all the other types of dinosaurs were clearly visible, including tall, strong herbivorous dinosaurs and small, nimble, yet dangerous carnivorous ones, bellowing and smas.h.i.+ng onto the enchanted field with their bodies. Even while standing on this high balcony above, one could sense their malice surging forward aggressively.
But Rhode quickly discovered that they had a common ground. Their bodies were unusually pitch-black and were surrounded by dark mist.
“Hmph.”
Looking at this scene, Marybelle grimaced. She raised the magic wand high and tapped it lightly in the air.
Just like before, along with this gentle movement, the violent monsters attacking the palace suddenly turned into powder. Their bodies began to disintegrate quickly at a speed visible to the eyes, before turning into fine particles that dispersed in the air. As there were too many particles, it looked like a tide of black sand rolling in midair, before being blown away by the wind. But…
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Rhode suddenly realized something odd. Not everything disintegrated and disappeared entirely along with this attack from Marybelle. On the contrary, he was stunned to witness the faint black mist flying up with them as soon as the monsters vanished. Rhode thought that was only a special effect after the dinosaurs mutated. But he realized that the dark mist didn’t vanish like ordinary mist. Instead, they surged and coalesced while reaching for the sky. Specifically, they were heading toward that dense ma.s.s of cloud.
“That is…!”
At that moment, Marybelle detected the peculiar behavior of the dark mist. Her eyes glinted as she raised the magic wand and drew a circle in midair elegantly. Along with this movement, violent gales bl.u.s.tered and Rhode witnessed streaks of green wind rising from the ground like an enormous hand reaching out for the dark mist that was seemingly dispersing.
The instant the ‘innocent-looking’ mist was attacked, it began to twist and turn wildly. They, who had their disguise seen through, gave up on concealing themselves. They immediately gathered at one spot and turned into a tangible, black, snake-like presence. The enormous black snake slithered, trembled violently, and rushed into the clouds.
“Stop it!”
Marybelle screamed and was the first to soar into the sky. The battle angel on the other side followed her closely. The two white elves remained on the surface, ordering the others to retreat to the palace quickly and maintain the defensive line.
As the black snake was about to escape into the clouds, Marybelle grimaced, clutching the magic wand in her hand and tapped the air—pow! The endless dark clouds covering the entire sky dissipated in an instant. The violent winds and storm vanished to nowhere. The fleeing black snake hissed, turning around abruptly, and pounced on Marybelle and the battle angel!
The moment the black snake turned around, that enormous hand coalesced from mighty winds seized it. However, the black snake didn’t give up just yet. Instead, the instant the hand grappled it, its body bulged all of a sudden. Its body that was the thickness of a forearm swelled to the size of a water bucket in the blink of an eye and was continuing to expand!
The large hand that was clutching the black snake couldn’t take the high amount of pressure and exploded in a loud bang. But seizing this opportunity, Marybelle and the battle angel darted ahead and surrounded it. The black snake seemed to also realize that these two enemies weren’t ones to be trifled with. It hissed, spitting out its tongue and glaring at them with its large, round eyes. As a matter of fact, Rhode felt like it wasn’t too accurate describing it as a snake because its head obviously belonged to that of a dinosaur; it was just that its body was covered in scales and it was long and slim. After taking a closer look, Rhode spotted two long front claws, while at the back, there was a pair of wings like the Pterosaurs’. The black ‘snake’ simply looked like an odd monster formed by a combination of dinosaurs!
“———!”
As soon as the black snake realized it had nowhere to escape, it widened its mouth and snarled, pouncing on Marybelle immediately. However, Marybelle wasn’t slow either. The instant the black snake attacked, she tapped the magic wand and an enormous ice wall burst up between them, stopping its attack completely.
Boom!
In a deep and loud collision, the unexpected black snake crashed head-first onto the ice wall. Shortly after, it tried to escape upon realizing its plight. But meanwhile, the ice wall extended in all directions, forming an enormous ice cage in no time. In the blink of an eye, the black snake was trapped within. However, the instant it realized the situation, it disintegrated its enormous body and returned to the black mist. Looking at this scene, Marybelle and the battle angel couldn’t help but be taken aback. But what happened next startled them! The dissipated mist had actually drilled into the ice layer and dispersed, breaking through it bit by bit!
“Take over the defense for now. I must capture it!”
Marybelle gave an order immediately. Upon hearing her command, the battle angel raised her sword, arrived before the ice cage, and let out a grunt. Then, Rhode witnessed magnificent golden radiance erupting from her blade, rounding and forming an enormous, dazzling golden ritual that shrouded the ice cage. The gorgeous golden brilliance illuminated the black mist. Upon sensing the holy energy from the golden radiance, the black mist that was struggling to break through the ice shrunk back, albeit continuing to permeate through the other side of the wall at a much slower speed.
Marybelle extended her arm, chanting under her breath while waving the magic wand in midair. Even Rhode was aware that Marybelle was serious this time. Earlier on, no matter what situation she was in, she simply tapped her ‘almighty wand’ lightly. But this time, she added incantations and hand gestures. This went to show just how difficult this black mist was to deal with.
But Rhode had a new discovery. He keenly detected that the mysterious black mist was obviously similar to the one that his group faced earlier. But he didn’t know what it was exactly. It could be seen that perhaps it was this black mist that was trapped in the ice layer cast by Marybelle.
Although he didn’t know what Marybelle was up to, runes took shape one by one in her movement, flying toward the side of the ice cage and lining up in sequence. The runes emanated a flickering magical radiance as they slowly took shape. The black mist also seemed to notice that the runes were no pushover, which was why it accelerated with all their might, not even when a part of them was being dissipated by the holy radiance. The black mist began rolling once again, striving to reach the surface of the ice cage. At the same time, the battle angel turned grim as sweat flowed down her forehead. The sword in her hand shone brighter. Even though the holy radiance and black mist confronted each other temporarily, it seemed like the black mist had the upper hand and finally, it broke through the restraints of the ice layer!
As soon as it broke through the ice, the rolling black mist abruptly coalesced into the skull of an enormous monster, widening its mouth, gazing at the sky, and letting out a fierce bellow!
Roar———!
In this savage roar, dark clouds began gathering over the clear skies. In the blink of an eye, the radiance of the sun was once again concealed. On the dusky land, cold winds and violent storms rushed forth and overwhelmed everything. The battle angel gnashed her teeth and struggled to stay in place. As for Marybelle, her voice became somewhat hasty, but her hand continued gesturing at a calm pace. Just three more runes were needed to complete this ritual!
“Phew…”
The storm became wilder where even Rhode had a hard time opening his eyes. He stretched out his hand to cover his eyes from the strong winds and rain, at the same time trying to keep his eyes on the scene. At that moment, Marybelle held the magic wand downward. A rune appeared and went up to its rightful position.
Just two more runes left.
Rumbles…
The sound of deep, vexing, and thunderous rumbles boomed from the cloud. The continuous roaring thunder sounded like the snarls of an angry monster. At the same time, Marybelle swayed the magic wand once and another rune appeared in midair, quietly flying to its position.
Just one more rune!
Boom!
When Marybelle raised her magic wand and was about to draw the final rune, thunder clapped and Rhode witnessed countless, dazzling purple thunderbolts erupting from the thick clouds, intertwining and forming a large net to envelop Marybelle and the battle angel. The bl.u.s.tering, powerful force struck everything in its path. Then, Rhode observed several purple thunderbolts striking the ice cage, sending ice shards scattering in all directions. Fortunately, the ice cage that Marybelle created wasn’t some inferior product and was able to withstand the test.
But at that moment, a dozen thunderbolts struck the battle angel all of a sudden.
“Ahhh!”
Even though Rhode wasn’t involved in the battle and couldn’t personally sense the might of the thunderbolts, he knew the situation was far from good after hearing the mournful screams of the battle angel. As expected, the battle angel could no longer maintain her holy light and the radiance on her blade vanished immediately. But Rhode also witnessed that the moment the dozen thunderbolts retracted from the battle angel, they seemed to turn into a palm-like presence before vanis.h.i.+ng into the clouds in a golden flash. At the same time, the battle angel’s left arm that was struck by the thunderbolts turned black almost immediately. The battle angel decisively slashed off her injured arm with the blade, before soaring and releasing a sacred protection barrier to shroud herself.
After breaking free from the restraints of the golden holy light, the black mist struggled even more and half of its body had escaped from the ice cage. Just a bit more and it would be able to break free entirely!
But it was a pity that at that moment, the final rune was completely drawn by Marybelle.
As the dazzling rune flickered, the runes that surrounded the ice cage flickered one by one and revolved swiftly. The black mist began to snarl as though it were being restrained. It wrestled and rolled away, but an unknown force held it together and it couldn’t disperse at all. And as though responding to the cries of the black mist, another thunderbolt clapped from the dark clouds. But this time, Marybelle didn’t look on without lifting a finger anymore! She clutched the magic wand and swung it with force!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
An enormous light column that was tens of meters wide descended from heaven, enveloping the entire black mist, at the same time penetrating the rolling sea of clouds. The clouds that were struck by this deadly attack retreated and scattered, vanis.h.i.+ng into the horizon quickly. In the blink of an eye, they were nowhere to be seen.
The radiance dissipated.
The ice cage and black mist earlier were all gone, only to be replaced with a black sphere. It looked like a crystal ball that imprisoned darkness while hovering in the air. Looking at this scene, Marybelle heaved a sigh of relief. She turned to the battle angel. Upon detecting her gaze, the battle angel shook her head and didn’t say much.
“Let’s head back.”
Marybelle said and knitted her brows. After pondering for a few moments, she turned around and left.
Marybelle examined the black sphere after heading back to the palace. She was meticulous with her research, but the imprisoned black mist didn’t seem to have any changes as though it were lifeless. However, this didn’t pose a problem for Marybelle. She gazed at the crystal ball and after a few moments, her expression changed abruptly. Then, she extended the magic wand and tapped the crystal ball.
“…!”
Along with this action, the black mist inside the crystal ball suddenly changed its shape. It dispersed completely and revolved around the crystal ball swiftly like a small vortex. Marybelle frowned at this scene. She swung her arm and transformed into a light alongside the crystal ball and flew toward the horizon.
She arrived at the Door of Akasha, staring vigilantly at it. Then, Rhode witnessed Marybelle stretching her hand out and along with this action, the barrier protecting the stone door opened up gradually. She sauntered through it, reaching into her pocket for a small, circular, key-like object, and slotted it into the gap of the Door of Akasha.
Then, several beautiful, multi-colored light columns dazzled. The entire Door of Akasha trembled abruptly. Looking at this scene, Marybelle turned grim. She retrieved the key without speaking a word and turned around to leave.
What happened?
Gazing at this scene, Rhode couldn’t help but feel dubious. After all, he was only watching the scenes and wasn’t personally involved. He failed to understand this series of actions from Marybelle. The only thing he realized was that the mysterious black mist earlier should be related to the Door of Akasha albeit him not knowing what was the link between them.
At that moment, his younger sister’s voice rang in his head.
“I know the answer now… Big Brother, I know what Marybelle and the rest faced.”
“What is it?”
Rhode was taken aback by her remarks and asked. But this time, the younger sister didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she asked him a question.
“Big Brother, you should still remember when we discussed whether we should transport the Dragon Soul Continent to Earth, right? I told you that if the Dragon Soul Continent is transported over, the rule representatives like Lydia and Erin would occupy the rule positions here.”
“Yes.”
Rhode nodded. Then, he was startled.
“What you meant was…”
“We’ve neglected it…!”
This was the first time he heard a sense of remorse in her voice.
“Big Brother, just as you know, there isn’t a clear separation between Order and Chaos on Earth because they are interdependent! The same time when Order returned to its place, Chaos will also do the same! Even though we’ve sealed the power of the Door of Akasha, it is still the product of the strength of Order and Chaos! We may be able to use its side of Order, but we can never wipe out the strength of Chaos contained within. In other words…”
“In other words… the concept of Chaos inside the Door of Akasha… is starting to merge with the concept of Chaos here?”
Rhoded gnashed his teeth and said word by word.