Chapter 699: Chapter 346: All Things Are Children of Fire and Gold, All Things Return to the Mother of Fire and Gold
Moist, dark, oppressive space.
Strange and creepy sounds.
"Huff—huff—","creak creak"...
Suddenly, a point of red firelight flickered, and in an instant, the light illuminated the black moss-covered stone walls on both sides, densely packed with bizarre creatures that looked like both fish and lizards.
"Hiss—hiss—"
The abruptly bursting light was like a fuse, completely igniting this oppressive environment.
On the stone wall, countless strange black creatures, chewing on the moss, immediately stopped their actions and made hissing snake-like noises as they all rushed towards where the flames arose.
"Boom—boom—"
The speed of these strange creatures was incredibly fast. Once detached from the stone wall, their forms immediately became blurred, distorted, and vanished, leaving only the brief sounds of air bursts.
Amid the continuous sound of air bursting, countless bizarre creatures pounced towards the flames, their small but dense bodies nearly extinguishing the light in the blink of an eye.
But soon, the sound of metal clashing echoed in the spacious room, the sound of blades slicing through blood and flesh accompanied by the explosive sound of flames, with a strong stench of burning flesh rapidly spreading.
In the dark, the flickering firelight spread around, as if there was something more terrifying and unnameable, groaning softly, with thick tentacles dancing wildly.
The bodies of the bizarre creatures constantly fell before the firelight, like rain.
This process continued for a long time until the ground was covered with twisted, charred, torn corpses, scattered strange creatures quickly retreated along the stone wall in panic, a blazing fire flew out, landed on the ground with a "pop" sound, dispersing a small patch of the surrounding darkness.
Then, a tall and slender figure slowly walked out from the darkness.
Blue robes, white hair, handsome and cold face, casually swinging his hand to disperse the foul and stinking air, graceful and calm like a nobleman and scholar.
It was Ronan, who had formally stepped into the Forgotten Land.
Ronan stood by the flame summoned by the spell, picking up a palm-sized charred dried corpse at his feet, scrutinizing it in his hand, and then storing it in his personal space ring.
From entering the "Ancient Waterway" until now, in a short distance of less than five hundred meters, he had encountered no fewer than three waves of attacks by similar mysterious creatures.
These bizarre creatures, whether or not they came from the otherworld, individually weren’t very strong, only around the strength of a first or second-level wizard, but their numbers were overwhelming, bloodthirsty, frenzied, and without any fear of light.
Ronan swatted away the flame in front of him, squinting by the firelight to examine the surroundings.
He was now standing in the middle of a wide passage, which was wide enough to allow three to four carriages to drive side by side, with stone walls over five meters high on both sides, covered in bluish-black moss, obscuring some ancient patterns, and slightly farther away, he could see a very damaged stone statue of a naked little boy holding a water bottle at the top of the left stone wall, filled with an air of ancient decay.
He had descended a long staircase and was now within the "Waterway".
"...The Keldim Ancient Wizard Empire, at its peak, constructed an enormous waterway system beneath the Upper Ring Continent to regulate the flow of energy particles across the land, connecting countless Magic Nodes.
But with the decline of the empire, the onset of disasters, and the outbreak of wars, this vast waterway turned into a cruel battlefield, ultimately being forgotten..."
Ronan raised his hand to brush away the mottled moss on the side stone wall, looking at the ancient patterns, murmuring to himself.
These were recorded in the Rune Stone left for him by a middle-aged wizard.
The Ancient Waterway left by the Keldim Ancient Wizard Empire.
A part of the Forgotten Land.
And what Ronan had to do was to clear the remaining otherworldly demons from the waterway, find the exit, and proceed to the Quivada Oasis located at the center of the Forgotten Land.
There, find a token left by the New Prophet.
Those competing in this race, besides Ronan, included wizards from the Black Moon and Flames factions from the Spirit Lake, as well as the Witch Heart Hall and various wizard organizations under the two large Wizard Forces, and other smaller or larger wizard factions of the Destiny Empire.
It was even possible, as Heliodor mentioned, that people from other empires and other forces might "intrude."
After all, the Ancient Waterway connects the entire underground of the Upper Ring Continent, and the disasters that led to the fall of the massive Keldim Empire almost set the entire continent on fire.
This was a Chapter of history that had been sealed away.
One that Ronan was only now beginning to uncover.
"Phew—"
Ronan lowered his hand, letting out a soft breath, and then continued walking forward along the waterway.
Though the waterway was used to regulate energy particles and in its operational days might have had underground water flowing through it, now it was dry, but the environment remained cold and damp.
The Forgotten Land was vast, and the wizards from Black Moon, Flames, and Witch Heart Hall and the other forces likely each had their own entry.
A cosmic-like Spiritual Field emanated from Ronan’s body, slowly revolving, like an invisible behemoth inching through the air, continuously radiating outward.
Ronan’s proficiency level in the Ancient Star Meditation was on the verge of breaking through to Mastery, nearing the phase of becoming an Expert, constantly at the edge of transformation.
The Golden Fire followed Ronan’s movements, and in the surrounding darkness, various strange-looking mysterious creatures continued to launch surprise attacks at him in a persistent flow, like an unending tide, yet before they could approach, they were crushed and torn apart by his Spiritual Field.