Chapter 186: Chapter 86: Promotion to Level 6: Divine Kingdom Skill Tree
A terrifying rumble vibrated through the deepest layers of the world.
The fearsome fluctuations from the Divine Kingdom made the faces of the two Middle Rank Transcendents from the Blood Shadow Rose stationed here change dramatically.
’If the Divine Kingdom in these deep layers really collapses, we’ll be buried alive.’
Fortunately, the terrifying tremor passed as quickly as it had arrived.
When the tremors receded like a tide, the rain of dust and rubble quickly ceased.
The two Middle Rank experts gazed ahead.
Their hearts sank, and their faces fell.
There,
the Divine Kingdom Gate, its outline once clearly visible in the gloomy depths, had vanished without a trace.
The Divine Kingdom Gate... was gone!
Naturally, the two didn’t dare to conceal such an unbelievable turn of events. They immediately reported the news up their chain of command.
Just as the Divine Kingdom Gate was on the verge of opening, every stage of their plan had required a massive investment of resources.
The Divine Kingdom they had clearly located was plundered clean overnight, and to make matters worse, their Saintess had mysteriously disappeared.
This had already forced the top leadership of the Blood Shadow Rose to halt all resource investment.
Not another speck of resources was to be invested until the Saintess was captured.
But today’s catastrophe—the news that the Divine Kingdom Gate itself had disappeared—sent the Blood Shadow Rose’s leadership into a furious, chaotic uproar.
After all,
this Divine Kingdom was a core asset, the trump card into which the Blood Shadow Rose had poured immense resources.
It was where they intended to plant the Magic Ring·Rose Mother Tree.
Even if it wouldn’t allow them to achieve their ultimate goal of the Rose Witches ruling the world,
the blooming of the Mother Tree would have still drastically increased the power of all Rose Witches.
But now, with the sudden closure of the Divine Kingdom Gate,
all their previous investments had come to nothing.
They felt the World’s most profound malice directed at them.
...
「In the Saintisman Realm, deep within the gloomy subterranean strata.」
A few Steam Science Wizards stared at the now-sealed Divine Kingdom Gate.
Their expressions were grim.
This was one of their research and development projects.
At the outset, they hadn’t known this place was a Divine Kingdom.
Some time ago, when they confirmed it was a potential Divine Kingdom, they had immediately submitted a formal project proposal.
Today, the approval process wasn’t even complete.
And yet, the "Divine Kingdom Gate" hidden in the depths had vanished without a trace.
While the resources they had invested weren’t vast, they were by no means insignificant.
As a result, their entire investment had gone down the drain.
...
「Atop a towering redwood tree.」
Tendrils of puppet silk, capturing myriad bits of information from the air, slowly converged within the Perception of the Puppet Master, Gregary.
Gregary could sense even the most subtle information through his puppet threads.
This was especially true since the disturbance originating from the distant Redwood Forest this time was far from small.
He slowly raised his head, looking toward the Ancient Redwood Forest, its towering trees shrouded in mist.
Ordinary humans rarely ventured into the Ancient Redwood Forest; it was a place shrouded in mist, with treacherous terrain and home to many strange and powerful Extraordinary creatures.
Now that the number of Transcendents was gradually increasing, a few from the Hunter Sequence would occasionally venture inside.
But for the powerful disturbance erupting from the Ancient Redwood Forest this time to travel so far... it was definitely not caused by any ordinary Transcendent.
After a moment of thought,
Gregary stepped onto a web of puppet silk woven in mid-air and headed toward the Ancient Redwood Forest.
He was going to see for himself what had caused the disturbance.
...
「Within the ancient, dreary Divine Kingdom, thick with the stench of decay.」
Zorn stood there quietly.
He was surrounded by the towering "Divine Kingdom Crystal Wall."
Through the translucent Divine Kingdom Crystal Wall, he could see the towering redwoods of the physical world, the swirling expanse of the Calamity Black Mist, and even a portion of the Exotic Lands.
The Divine Kingdom spanned numerous realms, forming the very edge of the mystical world.
When one reached an insurmountable, towering bulwark,
that was the impassable "Divine Kingdom Crystal Wall."
Inside the Divine Kingdom,
the ground was made of slowly flowing Divine Kingdom Sand.
Even after long months of stagnation and decay, this Divine Kingdom Sand still flowed languidly.
Upon the "ground" formed by the Divine Kingdom Sand,
lay the ruins of countless toppled, towering Angel Statues, Divine Kingdom Pillars, and many a Miracle Ancient Hall.
Although these many structures had collapsed,
they still supported the operation of the entire Divine Kingdom.
The vast number of towering statues attested to the place’s former greatness.
But the pervasive atmosphere of rot and stagnation spoke of its present-day decline.
As the current de facto Controller of this Calamity Divine Kingdom,
Zorn Corick needed to inject it with new vitality.
After completing the construction of the ritual here,
Zorn invested roughly 80,000 gold pounds worth of resources to fully activate the Divine Kingdom.
This represented the vast majority of the resources and wealth Zorn had stockpiled over the winter.
Now, it had all been poured into the Divine Kingdom.
And this was only the resource investment for the final stage of opening the Divine Kingdom Passage.
If he had had to fund the entire process from the start,
Zorn Corick truly would have had to raze a city just to scrounge up the resources.
After investing the resources and unlocking the Divine Kingdom, Zorn immediately unleashed the prepared ritual within.
First, he established a brand-new Divine Kingdom Gate, anchoring it within the Steam Magical Castle.
Then, he activated a ritual to close the Divine Kingdom Gate, completely sealing the ancient Divine Kingdom’s other three Doorways.
After all, obtaining the Spell to close a Divine Kingdom Gate required paying a hefty price.
