There were only a few minutes left until the end of the three days of exploration within the realm of flames. At this moment, all five clans were in a frenzied madness, digging and searching for anything that could be useful.
However, all wore twisted and tense faces; this opening of the realm was a disaster for them. They all lost half of their numbers as soon as they entered, and the vast majority of the dead were young cultivators. The two smaller clans were the most affected, losing even important advisors. All the clans had much less gain than usual due to this incident.
Obviously, they were not idiots; all the advisors saw the whale and its group heading straight to the central area. Added to all the abnormalities in the two smaller demon clans. Surely, he had a hand in this.
While the clans gave their best, up to the last possible seconds, the advisors felt a great approach on the outskirts of the realm of flames. It was the thousands of half-demons and half-wyverns.
They came from the central area, preparing to leave without risking being blocked by beasts at the crucial moment. The advisors of the major clans turned to them with red eyes, but swallowed that frustration. Now, they had another priority, and surely soon, their clans would demand accountability, and they would relieve that frustration in a bloody way.
BOOM!!!!!!!!
An earth-shattering explosion made the entire realm of flames violently tremble. Suddenly, all the volcanoes in the realm of flames erupted. It was not a common eruption; it was as if all the magma and fire possible were being released at once into the sky.
The high advisors looked at the gigantic central volcano in astonishment; they were certain that the epicenter came from there. However, in two seconds, muffled cries of agony reverberated, startling them.
The entire place, even being the outermost area and closest to the exit, was covered in fire runes, as if a sea of fire were falling upon their heads.
The advisors from all five clans felt their bodies melting, then turned and ran in despair. Without looking back, they ran, spitting blood, not because they were injured. But because they had no chance to defend, only to run, and soon, all the young cultivators were lost. And that was an irreparable wound for all the clans.
No one stayed to watch, but Calirer and Runula jumped in front and activated the demon diagrams. Immediately, a barrier protected both clans, and their diagrams seemed to fervently engulf everything.
The hearts of the two pounded like drums. They believed that, after leaving the realm of flames and using all the treasures they collected, their diagrams would become as powerful as the top 10 clans. But now... even before feeding the diagram, both were directly absorbing everything, and they felt an incalculable amount of power accumulating in them.
A little distance away, the trio fighting in a deadly training ran for their lives. Almin ran with Loeus by his side, and there was no unburnt part on their bodies. Langrum was on Almin’s shoulder, unconscious, while he forcibly stuffed all the most powerful pills he had into her mouth, with a contorted face.
The whale sent a message through the array to Almin a few seconds ago, the message was: ’Seems like no one died. Great, now I’m going to level up the training. Maybe multiply it a few times. Start running and fight to come back alive.’
ROAR!!
Ahead of them, countless golems and other creatures emerged from the lava as if they were in a frenzied madness. Tears streamed down the eyes of Almin and Loeus, concentrated drops of despair.
"LIVE OR DIE!" Almin roared, withdrawing his spear and swallowing all available pills.
Loeus cradled Langrum in his arms. Then, he sighed heavily, looking at her face as if those were his last moments, and he wanted to memorize every millimeter of her face. His eyes closed... then his Yang power exploded... and in his blood, a sacred heritage unknown to him ignited together.
He ran with all he had, holding her in his arms, and didn’t see Langrum’s lips curve slightly into a smile.
Far away, atop the volcano, the whale used every spatial ring he had to store all those abyss crystals. Ruri was tightly clinging to his back, asleep, and the spatial inventory was already packed to the brim, prompting them to decide to prioritize increasing its size to the maximum after they returned.
’We used everything we had to attack with the bone club and destroy everything. Now, we have ten times more than we had when we entered the abyss. Finally, real gains.’ Alm said, laughing.
Then, amidst those thousands of crystal fragments, they saw a two-meter grayish sphere. The whale’s pupils dilated with excitement. Using their souls, they analyzed the entire volcano without caring about the cost and confirmed everything.
Before they destroyed the crystal block, they already considered it certain that the entire realm of flames would collapse. Now, they clearly saw the underground rivers below the central volcano; that was the center of all the firepower in the place.
The whale approached, touching the surface of the grayish sphere. ’This is the source of everything, and it’s not something natural. It’s an elemental rune from the divine realm. It’s practically extinguished and sealed, but just a minimal remnant of this rune fueled the entire realm of flames.’ Alm murmured coldly.
They stored it quickly; there was no time to waste. Then, they turned towards the gigantic black rune, and belatedly, realized something.
’Change of plans! If this rune is the source of everything, then we need to leave!’ Bruno said suddenly. And quickly sent a message through the clan mark and the array to Calirer and Almin.
Soon, they turned back to the black rune and focused on it. Seconds passed, and they sighed, already confirming what was expected.
Alm commented, ’With our shallow cultivation, penetrating our spiritual intelligence into it and analyzing its use and effect is impossible.’
They then used the soul, but that was different from spiritual intelligence; the soul served only to see its internal structure as if it were eyes. And that didn’t activate the rune, preventing them from studying it. So they only realized that this rune was 90% different from their collecting rune.
’I feel that even if we had a complete understanding of the second level of the collecting technique, we still wouldn’t be able to comprehend this. Maybe only in the higher levels... we won’t gain anything from it now.’ Bruno said lightly.
Alm squinted his eyes, reluctant to accept that, and then began to think deeply. He remembered something that intrigued them from the moment they stepped into the abyss.
’Our bloodline, along with all the laws of the earth in our body and the abyss, is being suppressed to the maximum. These five realms and everything within the abyss must be connected to this fact,’ Alm commented seriously. ’I think we can test something. Let’s use the minimal amount of bloodline we have left.’
Bruno frowned. ’If we burn this, we won’t be able to activate Ruri’s hero rune. We were saving it for an emergency... but I’m always in favor of risks.’
’If it’s as I imagined, this rune will absorb our bloodline directly. Let’s put our sense with our soul, so we’ll feel internally what will happen.’ Alm added and closed the whale’s eyes.
In the whale’s hand, a brown aura, the color of the earth, slowly emerged, illuminating the entire environment. A second passed, and then the space suddenly trembled. The gigantic black rune vibrated fervently.
An infinite pressure fell upon the whale’s body, as if focusing entirely on it. They immediately activated the physical cultivation. But still, the body seemed on the verge of collapsing. It all lasted a second.
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Whooosh!
All the aura in their hand vanished as if it had been sucked into the void, and all the pressure evaporated along with it. At that moment, Alm and Bruno were completely focused on feeling everything.
One minute... two... three... Then the whale opened its eyes; the connection was severed.
’All five realms and the demon diagrams are connected, the center of all this is the Realm of Ashes.’ Bruno spoke with conviction.
Alm then analyzed, ’According to the entire structure and the reaction with our lineage, all of this is a massive sealing formation. It’s specifically sealing the bloodline and the laws of the earth. Perhaps the entire abyss is just a part of it. After all, there are other similar places on this planet. And for the queen to do this, it must be something big. Great, let’s fuck with her plan.’
Bruno then became serious, recalling everything they had read in the Soul Eater clan records. All four realms are focused on a basic element. The one they are in is fire, but there are also realms of lightning, wind, and water. The last one should be Earth, but it is known as the Realm of Ashes.
’Within the four other realms, there must be four identical runes. In the center, in the Realm of Ashes, is where everything converges,’ Alm thought, a bit confused, and found a good analogy. ’The demon diagrams of the clans are like the veins of the body that transport blood. The black runes in the realms are the hearts that receive the blood and pump. The center, the Realm of Ashes, is the brain; it receives the blood and commands everything.’
’There was no reaction from the rune when we removed the source of the fire laws from this place... so that was added later and is not part of the original formation,’ Bruno thought calmly. ’This elemental power from the divine realm must have been created to serve as an environment where demons can feed and nurture the diagrams. Even those weak ones who can’t collect treasures end up contributing with their lives and souls.’
Alm added, ’The demon clans are like herbs, planted and nurtured to feed the diagram. But it wasn’t meant to be like this originally. We know it was the so-called demon emperor who distributed the diagrams. But there’s still a lot of missing information.’
’Well, we’re still too weak to figure out what’s being imprisoned and deal with it now. But if the source of these realms are runes from the divine realm and they are not connected to the formation, in that case... Let’s steal... I mean, let’s save the demons and end this.’ Bruno said strangely.
Alm responded excitedly, ’Let’s suck up everything we can. All these realms are full of things for us to take. This demon emperor has become our biggest sponsor.’