Chapter 1545: Chapter 1543: Tidal Wave
Richard’s eyes narrowed as he considered a dreadful possibility... even though he had resisted the temptation to recite the remaining two spells, Abel might not have.
After all, Abel had walked this path for nearly his entire life. Now faced with the harsh truth, he was greatly shaken and might act irrationally. While the scroll remained with Richard, Abel had studied it extensively, fully capable of memorizing and reciting it.
So...
With this thought, Richard didn’t hesitate. He immediately abandoned the problematic Autai’s Brain and quickly rushed outside.
...
Soon, Richard arrived outside, at the mountain peak where Autai’s Brain was placed.
On the stone platform at the mountain top, Richard saw Abel.
At this moment, Abel had a complex expression, squinting at the distant horizon, his breathing somewhat rapid. Sensing Richard’s arrival, Abel turned around and, after a second’s eye contact with Richard, confessed his actions without waiting for Richard to ask.
"That’s right, you should have guessed it. I recited the spell—the fourth one," Abel said. "Because I find it incredibly difficult to accept the reality that nearly a lifetime of effort was just eating the dust behind someone else. How ridiculous, how pathetic.
I don’t believe the contents of the five spells are true. I don’t believe the past devastation of white light, planar disasters, all originated from a hidden spell experiment by someone in the shadows. I’d rather believe this is a joke, a colossal joke, that the spells above are all deceitful. So, I tried it, tried the fourth spell to see what is real."
Pausing, Abel once again looked towards the distant horizon, lowering his voice as he said, "Perhaps I’ve done something wrong, but wrong is wrong, and I don’t plan to seek any forgiveness—in the end, you and I are probably the same kind of person, willing to sacrifice ourselves for a certain answer, let alone for something else.
I remember you said you would leave, so why not part ways now? You can go do what you want to do, walk the road you want to walk, and I will stay here to bear the consequences."
Having said that, Abel looked out at the horizon again and fell into silence.
Richard didn’t respond to Abel’s words, simply joined him in looking towards the distant horizon.
There, he saw a white color approaching.
Was it white light? No, it was slower than white light. As it came closer, he could see clearly—it was a massive ocean wave thousands of meters high, the whiteness being the surf at the front of the wave.
The mountain holding Autai’s Brain was located in the vast middle of the wastelands, theoretically impossible to encounter an ocean wave, let alone such a terrifying one.
But now it was indeed happening, precisely the effect of the fourth spell.
Could this be... a flood of destruction?
Richard’s thoughts raced, and he couldn’t help but want to knock on Abel’s bald head to vent his frustration.
Because from the moment he emerged from inside Autai’s Brain, he felt the terrifying ocean waves advancing from all directions, rapidly compressing the air, and locking down the space.
This made it difficult even to leave using a space jump point, not to mention utilizing a flying spell, the difficulty multiplied exponentially.
So... although Abel allowed him to leave, whether he could actually leave was still uncertain.
"Splash!"
The ocean wave drew nearer, Richard’s expression growing serious.
"Splash!"
The wave came closer still, roaring as it reached the mountain front, countless waves crashing onto Abel.
Abel took a deep breath, stepped forward, and faced it head-on.
"Man, one must always find some meaning in life, no?"
"If all my past years were just absurd, pathetic mimicry of others, then at least in this moment, I hope to be a bit different from that person."
"That person... if it really was that person, I remember, as Autai’s Brain’s administrator, he silently died in the night."
"I hope, when I die in this daylight, it won’t be silent, at least with some sound."
"Some sound..."
Abel spoke quickly, his red monk robe billowing as his arms extended, fists clenched. Bright purple light erupted from his fists, the energy intensity causing the locked space to tremble slightly, then he punched fiercely at the crashing wave.
"Boom!"
An earth-shaking sound echoed, the wave instantly shattered, and the entire surging ocean wave showed a massive dent, a large amount of seawater evaporating into white vapor. Abel’s punch seemed to have halted the entire wave.
But it was just seemed.
A breath, or less than a breath, later, with a "splash," the subsequent wave surged, instantly engulfing Abel’s figure, making him disappear without a trace.
Richard’s eyebrows shot up, watching as the wave that swallowed Abel advanced towards him, stepping back a pace.
But there was nowhere to retreat to; the entire mountaintop was surrounded by the tens of thousands of meters high waves, and he was already at the bottom of a deep well made of seawater.
The deep well continued to contract, constantly shrinking.
Eventually, the walls of the well touched, seawater crashing into seawater heavily.
A layer of blue protective energy flickered on Richard’s body surface, shattering immediately under the impact, as the seawater enveloped his body, rapidly soaking his clothes.
Richard just felt himself sinking, uncontrollably falling downward.
The mountain below holding Autai’s Brain had already collapsed, and it seemed he would only stop when he reached the wasteland below.
During this process, he clearly sensed an indescribable pain in his soul, clearly, this seawater wasn’t ordinary, able to harm not just the body through water pressure, but also the soul.
But he didn’t panic. Calmly extending his hands beneath him, his internal energy circulated, then surged out in a whistling flow.
"Sss!"
A sound, as the surrounding seawater froze quickly, encasing him inside, turning into a thick ice ball.
Ice is lighter than water, and with considerable space inside, the buoyancy caused the ice ball to rapidly ascend to the water’s surface.
Aside from the harm to the soul, it seemed the effects of the fourth spell weren’t so dangerous... Watching the ice ball rise higher, Richard thought to himself... in that case, Abel might not be lost either, perhaps they’d meet again upon reaching the surface.
At that moment, through the ice ball’s shell, Richard suddenly saw a black shadow rapidly approaching in the upper part of his field of vision.
Huh?
Richard was taken aback; the shadow was already close, appearing larger than the mountain housing Autai’s Brain, and the next moment it split in the middle, revealing a dense interlocking of stone pillars, as if a palace had opened.
In the deepest part of the "palace," there was a dazzling green light, giving no time to react, it blasted forth with a roar.
"Splash!"
Richard heard the sound of the ice ball shattering.
Startled, he instinctively tried to distance himself from the shadow, but at that very moment, an even brighter green light shone upon him. His body stiffened slightly, feeling immense resistance, his movements forcibly slowed several times, and he could only watch as the shadow approached, engulfing him.
The whole world suddenly plunged into darkness.
Hmm, almost forgot, in the sea, the danger besides the water itself, there seemed to be creatures in the water... Richard’s last thought was.
