novelraw Chapter 470-479: The Intersection of Time and Space 5
Chapter 470-479: The Intersection of Time and Space 5
Chapter 470-479: The Intersection of Time and Space 5
Lina was talking in her sleep.
However, the details of the eating language are vague.
This bizarre phenomenon shrouded everything in an even thicker fog of mystery.
Kag scratched his head in frustration, looking at the green area within the city that was gradually calming down but still lingered with terrifying magical fluctuations. He muttered in a low voice, "It's not this, it's not that, so where the hell did this monster come from? It couldn't have just sprung from a rock, could it?!"
The moment Kag uttered those almost cathartic words, a bolt of lightning seemed to strike Saruman's mind! He straightened up abruptly, his silver eyes blazing with an unprecedented light. All his previous confusion and contradictions seemed to find a possible direction at that moment.
Of course, although it is also an unbelievable explanation, it is indeed very possible!
He slowly turned his head to look at Kag, then at the utterly illogical and desolate world around him, and at the stone tablet that read "The Realm of Non-Time." His voice trembled slightly with excitement, but this time, it was more of a chilling sense of approaching the truth.
"Kag—do you remember what's written on the stone tablet? 'The Realm Beyond Time'—what if—what if this place could truly disrupt time and distort the continuity of spacetime?"
He took a deep breath and, word by word, uttered the conjecture that even shocked himself: "Then perhaps—we and that legend in the city" are not in the same time and space at all.
"A person?!"
As expected of a young and exceptionally talented wizard who had already touched the threshold of legend. After eliminating all conventional possibilities, he turned his gaze to the deepest and most unattainable realm. With his extraordinary wisdom and keen intuition, combined with the puzzling hints on the stone tablet, he actually managed to touch the edge of part of the truth.
However, he was only half right.
R'lyeh, this forbidden land, is indeed affected by laws beyond the norm, with temporal turbulence and folds existing within it. However, Ian within the city does not originate from the more ancient "past" as he speculated, but rather from—a point in time after their current existence.
That "future" that has not yet happened.
"Huh? So that's how it works?" Saruman's "spacetime displacement" conjecture was like a burning meteorite thrown into thick darkness, instantly illuminating Kag's mind, which was filled with chaos and despair, but also bringing a deeper chill from the cognitive level.
"No—not the same time and space?" Kag opened his mouth wide enough to fit a dragon egg. He looked around at the desolate, lifeless world, where even time itself seemed to have died, and then at the city of R'lyeh, which stood silently under the dim sky, exuding an aura of ancient madness. An indescribable sense of absurdity and insignificance gripped him.
Time? Spacetime?
These concepts are too abstract and too terrifying for a soldier.
"You mean—that guy in the city might be from—the past? Or—the future?"
Kag was trying to keep up with the other person's train of thought.
"It can only be the past!" Saruman almost subconsciously and decisively denied the possibility of the "future." In his mind, time was a long river flowing in one direction; the past was fixed and could be explored, while the future was a mysterious fog full of infinite possibilities.
How could there be a definite "existence" that flows upstream from the future?
"It can only be from an ancient era unknown to us, existing in a historical gap! An ancient being who achieved legend before the records of our known magical history, and who was trapped here for some reason, or who entered this place voluntarily!"
Saruman spoke with a firm tone.
This is not just wishful thinking on his part.
after all.
Logically speaking, if legendary wizards can no longer be created now, how could they possibly be created in the future? Therefore, this legend must come from the past.
This might also explain the mysterious disappearances of many legendary figures.
The more he talked, the more reasonable the explanation seemed to be; all the previous conflicts seemed to have found a solution.
"Yes, only in this way can we explain why his power is so immense yet leaves no trace in the history we know! And only in this way can we explain the childlike quality of his voice—perhaps in his time, some kind of magic or racial characteristic made their voices naturally like that!"
"Or perhaps he was indeed very young when he became a legend, but his era has long been buried by time!" Saruman could accept that the ancient prodigies became legends earlier than himself.
Because he didn't live in an era of abundant resources, even though he felt his talent was no less than anyone else's, he still acknowledged that ancient geniuses could indeed become legends at a very young age.
"Forehead----"
As Kag listened to Saruman's analysis, his mind felt like a jumbled mess stirred up by a troll. He struggled to comprehend: "A legend from ancient times—?"
"Is this really possible?"
In his gaze toward R'lyeh, besides the previous awe, there was now a greater sense of alienation and uncertainty in the face of "antiquities".
It feels extremely strange to be in the same place as someone from a different time and space.
"Very likely!" Saruman nodded emphatically, and began to pace quickly around the stone tablet, his silver eyes flashing with a mixture of excitement and solemnity.
"This R'lyeh," the inscription on the stone mentions "eternal slumber" and "the Great Old Ones," it may itself be an ancient ruin that has spanned a long period of time, or even a node or graveyard in time and space!
Through that stone door, we not only traversed space, but more likely—we stumbled into a region where time flows at different rates, or where the rules of time are chaotic!
Saruman was conducting an analysis.
He paused, carefully sensing the lingering legendary-level death magic in the air, trying to glean more information. "If that's truly the case—then our previous plans will have to be completely altered. A legend from an unknown ancient era, his way of thinking, his purpose, his attitude towards us—"
Everything is uncertain. Making any rash moves could be far more risky than we imagine!
Kag also realized the seriousness of the problem. If the other party were a contemporary, no matter how evil, there would still be a basis for communication and a shared cognitive framework. But a legend from an ancient era, whose way of thinking might be completely different—who knows how he would view these two "uninvited guests"?
Is it to be regarded as an ant to be crushed at will, or as an interesting experimental subject?
"Then—what should we do? Should we continue following him?" Kag's voice was hesitant.
Saruman remained silent in response.
He looked at the unconscious Lina, the scales on her face reflecting a greasy sheen in the dim light, her breathing so faint it seemed it might stop at any moment. He then looked at the black lines on Kag's arms and neck, which seemed to writhe slowly like living creatures. They had no time. Staying here meant waiting to die.
Venturing into the city to face the unknown ancient legends is an adventure, but perhaps—there is still a glimmer of hope.
"We—we need more information." Saruman finally made his decision, his voice regaining its calm and decisiveness. "We can't rush into the city, but we can't give up observing either. We need to know what he's fighting, his condition, and—whether he intends to leave or has a way to do so."
Saruman spoke, turning his gaze back to the stone tablet. "This tablet is key. Since it records the name 'R'lyeh' and those warnings, there might be more information about the spatial and temporal characteristics of this place, perhaps even—clues to that ancient legend!"
He decided to continue deciphering the more complex and dangerous passages on the stone tablet at all costs. Kag nodded and gripped his greatsword tightly. Whether the opponent was a monster, a dark wizard, or a legend from ancient times, protecting Saruman and Lina and finding a way to survive was his duty and his only belief.
Just as Saruman was about to immerse himself in deciphering the stone tablet again, that childish voice rang out once more from the direction of R'lyeh. But this time, it was not a declaration of casting a spell, but rather carried a clear and discernible impatience that seemed to pierce through the mists of time and space.
"This is really... never-ending."
The voice remained cold, but the trace of "human" emotion it contained—impatience—was like a glimmer of light that instantly pierced through the image of the "ancient unknown being" that Saruman had previously constructed.
Saruman's movements suddenly froze.
That tone—that hint of youthful weariness with repetitive trouble—could this really be the emotion of a legendary being from ancient times with a completely different way of thinking?
A more absurd and unbelievable thought, yet one that subtly resonated with a certain intuition, quietly coiled around his mind like a poisonous vine growing in the darkness—the “childishness” of that voice was not due to the characteristics of an ancient race, but because—he himself was still very “young”?
This idea does have some possibility.
Saruman instinctively suppressed his thoughts, afraid to delve deeper. But the seed of doubt had already been planted. The mists of time and space seemed even denser and more eerie than they had imagined. And the truth remained hidden behind the distorted architecture and boiling green magic of R'lyeh.
Waiting to be revealed.
In the time that followed, Saruman's "spacetime distortion" conjecture was like a boulder thrown into their hearts. Before the ripples it stirred up could subside, new developments in R'lyeh drew their attention back to the distorted and eerie complex of buildings.
After that clearly impatient "This is never going to end," the battle within the city not only did not stop, but instead erupted in an even more intense and astonishing way!
It is no longer the single "Avada Kedavra" or the far-reaching "Avada Plague".
"That person is entangled 1" This time, the two felt a more complex, more unpredictable, and also more dangerous battle rhythm.
At times, dense, rain-like green light of "Avada Kedavra" would rain down, like a barrage of deadly arrows, at an alarming frequency, scattering in all directions from some corner of the city.
Each green beam was precise and deadly, as if dozens of death gods were wielding their scythes simultaneously. This casting speed completely exceeded Saruman's understanding of "rapid casting." It was no longer a skill, but an instinct, or rather, an application of the rules.
At times, the chilling "Avada Kedavra Plague" erupts once more, the green cloud of death like a living tide, sometimes contracting and coalescing into a death torrent that pierces through obstacles; at other times, it suddenly spreads, attempting to engulf vast areas. Its magic possesses the power to annihilate all life.
"This is terrifying! The power of a legend!" Even from such a great distance, Saruman and Kag felt a stinging sensation on their skin, and their souls seemed to be wailing.
But what chilled them to the bone even more was the aftermath of the battle.
They could see that the twisted towers within the city, constructed of huge green stones and defying the laws of physics, collapsed like building blocks kicked by a naughty child under the impact of some invisible force. Debris flew everywhere, stirring up clouds of dust, which was even tinged with an ominous dark green.
They could hear not the explosions of magical clashes, but a deeper, more terrifying sound, like mountains groaning, like the earth tearing apart. Sometimes it was an extremely sharp shriek, as if it could pierce eardrums, a sound that did not belong to any known creature; other times it was a low, almost imperceptible, eerie hum that could make one's internal organs resonate, as if it came from the depths of the earth's crust, or from some indescribable dimension.
The magical turbulence in the air also became extremely volatile and chaotic.
Besides that signature, chilling death magic, it was mixed with other indescribable energy auras—some of which carried the damp chill and oppression of the deep sea.
Some energies emanated a void akin to the annihilation of stars, while others were filled with a blasphemous, pure madness. These energies collided, eroded, and annihilated each other, the resulting aftershocks like an invisible storm sweeping across the wasteland outside the city, ruffling Saruman's silver robes and Kag's hair.
It carried a chill that penetrated to the bone.
"Damn it—what the hell is going on in there?" Kag couldn't help but curse under his breath, subconsciously moving the unconscious Lina further behind him, as if that would isolate him from the invisible danger.
He gripped the greatsword tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.
As a seasoned warrior, he could roughly judge the scale and intensity of both sides by the movements of the battle. But the scene before him was completely beyond his experience.
This is not a military-level confrontation at all; it is more like a devastating collision between two, or a few, but each of them possesses the power to move mountains and overturn seas!
Saruman's expression became even more solemn than before. He even temporarily abandoned his study of the stone tablet and focused intently on sensing the energy changes within the city.
"I can't even imagine—" his voice was hoarse, "that legend—he faced far more than one enemy! And each one was extremely formidable!"
It's hard to imagine.
What kind of enemy could possibly make a legend so difficult to fight? Even the weakest legend could easily defeat Saruman.
Thinking hard.
This is truly terrifying to think about.
Saruman was also glad that he and his companions hadn't rashly entered earlier.
otherwise.
His ashes are probably cold by now.