Chapter 51&52

Chapter 51: Let's start the final experiment at the same time.

The second floating Island, inside the Ebon Candle Castle.

The rugged, dark castle was surrounded by ominous black smoke.

In the gardens surrounding the castle, the colorful flowers that were carefully cared for by the maids have now all withered. The petals have dried up, the leaves have fallen, revealing a sense of decay. It's like a garden that has been abandoned for decades.

It's hard to imagine that just two weeks ago, these flowers were in full bloom.

A crisp sound was heard in the castle.

The sound was not deafening, but it had the piercing force to pierce the eardrum, causing temporary tinnitus in anyone who heard it. With this sound, the violent magic power seemed to materialize, mobilizing the surrounding black fog and tightly sealing any exit of the castle. The door, the window, and even the ant hole were blocked...

It was as if it was preventing something inside from escaping.

"The fifty-seventh test has been declared a failure."

In the dark castle, the great sage Suowong rubbed his bloodshot eyes and drew a cross on the experimental log. At this moment, he had completely lost the dignity and composure he had two weeks ago.

His neatly groomed hair and beard now looked disheveled, his white robe was stained with several kinds of magic potions, and there were obvious scars on his hands and face...

However, he didn't seem to care about it.

Because all his energy was focused on the spiritual crystal that caused the commotion just now. "Damn it, what went wrong?"

With red eyes, Suowong grabbed his hair and vented his inner frustration: "The magic circuit has been calculated, and the internal structure of the crystal has been analyzed. Logically, we only need to pour magic power into it to activate the power inside, but why do we always fail!"

Since he got the spiritual crystal that symbolizes hope from Yatogami Tohka two weeks ago, he has been studying it day and night with Ebon Candle . He thought that with his outstanding magic talent and Ebon Candle talent and power as a god of the earth, the two people with the deepest attainments in magic in the

world would be able to easily analyze the power structure of this spiritual crystal together...

However, the fact is as it is now.

Their experiments have been going nowhere for a long time.

There were countless plan and experimental ideas drawn on the draft on the table, and several pieces of paper posted on the wall clearly marked the structures and circuits they had analyzed. Most of the various

spellcasting media and alchemical materials in the cabinet had been consumed by them.

In order to better understand the properties of spiritual crystals, Suowong even created a magic that had never existed in this world before in just two weeks, a crystal magic that used gems as a medium, hoping to get inspiration from it.

Unfortunately, their efforts did not elicit a response from the spiritual crystals.

Looking at the spirit crystal that was placed in the three-dimensional container, gradually suppressed by magic power, and finally returned to calm, Suowong eyes were full of depression. Every failed attempt would cause a strong fluctuation in the spirit crystal.

According to their observations, such fluctuations are extremely harmful to ordinary life forms, and severe changes can even cause distortion of life forms. Whether it is the withered flowers outside or the mice and cockroaches that mutated into monsters during the experiment, this is proven. For safety reasons, even the maids and servants in this castle were temporarily dismissed, leaving only Suowong, a cursed aggregate, and Lord Ebon Candle , the god of the earth, who are almost immune to the side effects of the spiritual

crystal fluctuations.

"Huh...it's such a tiring job to suppress this thing."

Seeing the spirit crystal calm down, Lord Ebon Candle , who was highly focused, stopped pouring magic power into the container. No longer needing to suppress the runaway spirit crystal, Lord Ebon Candle finally had some free time to talk. He said with a worried look on his face: "Today, I can only conduct three more experiments. I am really exhausted. If I continue, I will need to use the magic power that maintains the floating continent Island."

"Only three times left? Then you should still conduct the experiment according to the magic circuit I proposed." Suowong rubbed his brow and said, "Your experimental method is too slow! And so many times it all ended in failure. I told you it wouldn't work."

"Using the magic circuit you designed?" Lord Ebon Candle showed obvious disdain. "Using such a crude and violent magic circuit on this kind of artwork is simply a blasphemy to the creator of the Spirit Crystal!"

"After hundreds of experiments, it has long been proven that it is not as fragile as it looks, it is just unstable in nature." Suowong sneered, "Perhaps the reason for the failure of the experiment is that you injected magic power too carefully and took too long, causing it to reject it. Instead of wasting time and opportunity, you might as well do as I say."

"Failure is the mother of success, not to mention that the previous failures were not without gain." "Besides the data of its rampage, what else did you get? What I want is not its rampage, but to find a way to stabilize the refining of the Star God Fragments!"

"Wrong!" Lord Ebon Candle 's voice revealed a bit of pride, "You don't really think that the reaction of the spirit crystal just now was simply rampage?" "Isn't it?"

Suowong was visibly stunned.

Ebon Candle snorted twice, as if to say, "If you beg me, I will tell you the answer." The corners of Suowong eyes twitched twice, and he picked up the pills on the table, poured out two and swallowed them. The next moment, a cool feeling rushed into his brain, giving his overloaded nerves a break and rest. Using the effect of the drug to force himsSpirit to be alert, he began to summarize today's experimental data. So far, they have constructed many different models to test the structure and stability of the spirit crystal, and hope to get a model that can match the natural flow of the spirit crystal in Yatogami Tohka body.

However, with so many models, not a single one was successful.

No matter which magic circuit is used, the spirit crystal will eventually fall into a state of rampage. "Wait..."

As if he had noticed something, Suowong frowned: "Why do different models and magic circuits produce the same runaway data?" "You finally noticed it."

Lord Ebon Candle shook his head and expressed his agreement: "The only answer is that the spirit crystal is not rampaging." "If it is not rampaging, then what is it?"

"Return to its original state." Lord Ebon Candle said firmly, "The spiritual crystal we see now is the product of countless refinements, and under our constant stimulation, it has a tendency to return to its original state."

"Wait, how is this possible?" Suowong was stunned. "How can the original state be stronger than the refined state? This doesn't make sense!"

"Perhaps we have fallen into a logical fallacy."

Looking at the pure and quiet spiritual crystal in the container, as if he had found the truth, the soul fire of Lord Ebon Candle flickered with excitement: "The so-called refinement does not mean stronger, it just means more stable."

"I see!" Suowong eyes lit up. "If that's the case, then the power contained within that can distort life forms can also be explained." "Um..."

Hearing Suowong words, the soul fire in Black Candle's eyes dimmed a little. If every time the soul crystal returns to its original state, it will cause a distortion of life, then the price to be paid for refining from the initial state to a stable state is sSpirit-evident.

The look he gave the spirit crystal was filled with complexity.

This crystal, which is like a work of art, may have finally reached such a stable state after countless lives were sacrificed. Who exactly created it?

Yatogami Tohka ?

But a girl like that doesn't seem capable of doing such a cruel thing. "never mind..."

With a sigh, Lord Ebon Candle put these thoughts behind him.

These are not things he should be thinking about.

His job is to analyze the refining methods of spiritual crystals.

Now that we have an idea of how to refine the spiritual crystals, it is time to move on to the second stage.

"Do we really want to continue?" asked Lord Black Candle. "It feels like we're entering a forbidden realm. Once we step into it, we'll be cursed forever."

"At this point, there is no turning back."

"There is always a way out, you just don't want to choose it."

"That's for you."

Suowong sat down on the chair, his voice carrying a hint of weakness that could not be concealed: "For me, there is no way out." He was a man who should have died five hundred years ago.

It was just that because he had planted a curse on himsSpirit, he was able to continue living after changing his life form. But the curse was not eternal.

Suowong put his hand on his chest, where the dark scar was. He could feel that his time was running out.

However, he did not feel regret or sadness.

The corners of his mouth raised a happy arc.

When he set out on the road of killing gods as a brave man, he no longer feared death.

What he feared was that he would not be able to fulfill his ideals before he died.

Five hundred years ago, he feared the extinction of mankind.

And now, he fears that he will not be able to return to his hometown.

The appearance of Yatogami Tohka and the existence of the spirit crystal gave him a chance to realize his long-cherished wish. He was the one who bore the sin of killing gods. Therefore, opportunities are not gifts from God.

Perhaps, it's a curse from hell?

However, whether it is a blessing or a curse, it doesn't matter anymore. He was already a cursed man, so he wouldn't mind a few more curses.

What's more, he has done so much in two weeks.

He worked tirelessly to record data, create magic circuits, and modify plan, making his already old body even weaker. Unlike Lord Black Candle, who could continue to live, just as he said, he had no way out. Success or failure all depended on this small spiritual crystal.

After closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them again.

The voice was also infused with power, containing the will to never retreat.

"Let's start the second phase of the experiment."

Ebon Candle looked at him deeply.

After a long while, because he still couldn't accept it, he said in a complicated tone: "Sorry, I won't interfere with the experiments anymore. The purity of the spirit crystal is based on the filth of countless lives. I can't do anything to any pure life."

"Then, how about using the originally filthy life to conduct the experiment?" Suowong asked with a smile, "For an old man like me who is already a cursed collection, the power of distorting life is not worth mentioning at all."

"If I conduct experiments directly on you, you may not live to see the day when the ground is retaken." "It doesn't matter." Suowong said calmly, "As long as you can help bury my ashes back to my hometown on the day of victory, that will be enough." "…As you wish, stubborn human."

Lord Ebon Candle sighed deeply.

Controlling the magic power, he opened the container containing the spirit crystal, and the spirit crystal wrapped in magic power slowly floated in front of Suowong. Looking at the spirit crystal so close, Suowong smile became even brighter.

He has never changed in five hundred years.

As long as he can protect what he wants to protect, he can accept any price, whether it's the Star God, the Golden Fairy, or even himsSpirit.

"Please, Lord Black Candle."

Suowong took a deep breath and said firmly. "Let the final experiment begin."

Chapter 52: The Beast Tide Attacks

No wonder Suowong and Ebon Candle wanted to create the floating continental archipelago. This place is really not a place for people to stay.

After only three days on the ground, Yatogami Tohka understood the dangers of the ground and the necessity of the floating continental archipelago. After killing the last invading beast, she shook off the purple blood on the killing ox and looked at the beastmen who had not yet recovered from the previous wave of beasts

and were still in shock.

In just three days, they had experienced nearly ten waves of attacks from beasts. And in this vast Rhan, she had to deal with more than just the deep-diving sixth beast.

The [Fifth Beast of Rock Devouring] has an extremely hard shell, the [Eighth Beast of the Hammer] can shatter mountain steel with a single blow, and the [TwSpiritth Beast of the Rift] lurks under the sand and devours lives.

On this stretch of yellow sand alone, Yatogami Tohka has already killed three different kinds of beasts among the seventeen beasts. Together with the sixth beast and the [Fourteenth Beast of Weaving Light] killed in the battle to guard the fifteenth floating station, the number of types she has killed has reached five.

There was only about two-thirds of the distance left to perfectly complete the side mission three. Seeing that the surrounding beasts had been cleared, the golden fairies from other directions gathered around. The beasts attacked from almost all directions, and they were too scattered. Even though Yatogami Tohka had amazing fighting power, he could only barely contain a quarter of them.

beast.

The remaining three quarters were handled by the five golden fairies.

"We have been here for nearly a week." Rhantolk put down the holy sword in her hand with a little fatigue. "Compared to the first day, the number of beasts attracted here has increased recently. This is not a good sign."

"It's okay. If you're tired, just go and rest for a while." Noph said in a relaxed tone. "Besides, Chtholly and the others, as well as Tohka, are here to support us, aren't they? All the adult golden fairies in the Fourth Fairy Warehouse are here. It won't be a problem for us to hold out for a week or two."

"We can hold the position, but it's difficult to hold the position without casualties." Chtholly pointed at the orc warriors who were injured in the beast tide just now, "Next time, maybe they won't just be injured."

"Come to think of it, we have been here for three days, the rescue work should have been completed long ago, right?" Yatogami Tohka asked, "Why don't I see everyone preparing to retreat?"

Although the types of beasts that can be seen in battles on the ground are far more than those on the floating continental archipelago, in the past three days, she has killed almost all the different types of beasts living in this area.

Each of the seventeen beasts has different habits and lifestyles. It is impossible to find all of them in one area. It is already the limit to encounter three kinds of beasts in this barren yellow sand.

If you want to continue to advance the mission, you can only try your luck in different areas, such as forests, swamps, and the sea.

In other words, there were no new kinds of beasts here, and it was no longer worth it for her to stay in this yellow sand. "I heard from the beasts that the commander of the Saxifraga wanted to salvage as many relics as possible before leaving," said Ithea with a headache, "because he lost a survey ship, and he can only collect more relics to make up for his loss." When we heard this reason, everyone felt helpless.

Strictly speaking, the destruction of the Saxifraga was no one's fault. However, as the commander of the Saxifraga, the first-class military officer could not escape the fate of being questioned and punished. However, if something valuable could be excavated from the ruins in this limited time, such as a new holy sword, then the penalty for losing an airship would be much lower.

"boom----!"

At this moment, a loud noise was heard from the ruins.

Everyone showed confused expressions and looked towards the direction of the ruins entrance, not knowing what happened for a moment.

Yatogami Tohka heart suddenly became alert. It happened as expected.

In the original novel, the first-class military officer in charge of commanding here sent too many scavenger teams to the ruins for salvage, which caused all the beasts sleeping nearby to be awakened.

As a result, in order to cover people's evacuation, Chtholly, who was deeply affected by the erosion of her previous life, had her personality completely devoured while covering the retreat of the

airship. Even William had to drag his tattered body to fight again, making his physical condition worse.

However, due to the appearance of Yatogami Tohka, the current Chtholly does not have any symptoms of erosion from her previous life, and William has not even come, and is still taking care of

other underage golden fairies in the fourth fairy warehouse.

However, the only thing Yatogami Tohka could not stop was the beast riot. After all, she couldn't tell others that she knew what would happen in the future. And with her personality, it was not easy for her to say anything about preparing for a rainy day. That would be too clever.

But even if it can't be stopped, it doesn't matter.

Yatogami Tohka clenched the Sandalphon in her hand. All we have to do is kill all the rioting beasts.

"Boom boom boom!"

As the loud noise sounded in the ruins, the ground seemed to be torn apart by something. Under the Rhan covered by yellow sand, there were dark passages.

Like a honeycomb, each passage in the rock layer leads to the beast's lair. As the earth cracks, roars of beasts can be heard.

The deafening roar of the beasts resounded across the yellow sand, causing the orc warriors who had just recovered from the beast tide to panic again. "Retreat! Everyone retreat!"

Looking at the beast that emerged from the ground, the orc officers shouted fiercely: "Everyone, put down the relics in your hands, do not try to fight the beast, and retreat to the Plantain immediately!"

The sudden change threw all the orcs into disarray.

The boxes of relics that had just been dragged back from the ruins, the personal belongings in the tents, and the excavation equipment and facilities were all left behind, and everyone ran like crazy towards the Plantain , the only ship that could still take off.

Although they belonged to the Guardian Wing Army, most of them were investigators in the scavenging team and had no ability to fight back against the beasts. The only thing they could do now was to escape.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die here!"

Looking at the beast's open mouth, a captured scavenger team member's face was filled with fear. However, just before his life was about to end, a pure white sword cut off the beast's head. "Thank you, thank you."

"Get up and run to the Plantain ."

After thanking Yatogami Tohka in shock, the scavenger team member immediately fled towards the airship. Looking at the beasts crawling out from the ground, Yatogami Tohka said to the surrounding golden fairies with a serious tone, "Go and cover the others' retreat."

Yatogami Tohka poured her spiritual power into the Aosha-Kou, and the sword emitted a glowing purple light. "Leave this to me!"