Chapter 1 The Church District of Beinz

The entire Church District of Beinz was a scene of utter devastation. No one coming here could possibly recognize its original form. The earth was split open everywhere, with bottomless cracks and holes dotting the wilderness. Fragments of massive tentacles littered the avenues and rocky beaches. Eighty percent of the strongholds along the defense line had been reduced to rubble, and the remaining watchtowers and sentry posts had either collapsed or been bizarrely entwined and eroded by the roots of gigantic plants, making them a terrifying sight. Outside these last remaining strongholds, the land was covered in the twisted, grotesque remains of direbeasts, the unholy blood and poisonous fumes having turned these areas into dead zones.

And opposite this shattered defense line, the entire forest was gradually rising!

From within the Twisted Woodland came earth-shattering roars, like thunder and the enraged bellows of beasts combined. It was as if ten thousand abyssal monsters were stampeding from the nightmare gate that had opened in the earth. The sounds of cracking rock and the collapse of the underworld even shattered the clouds above, and the sky over the Church District of Beinz began to fill with fragmented, scale-like clouds. The earth trembled violently, and the few buildings remaining in the town creaked and groaned under the last vestiges of divine radiance, sounding as if they were about to collapse. Looking towards the Twisted Woodland from a high point in town, one could see the center of the forest rising rapidly, as incredible and terrifying as a mountain range appearing out of nowhere.

The great vortex at the center of the Beinz Blood Lake paused for a moment. Then, with an unprecedented roar, the entire lake surface suddenly dropped. The crimson blood surged into a final, towering wave, and then sank with visible speed, the collapse of the underworld having caused the rocky bed of the Blood Lake to cave in as well.

Countless gigantic roots rose suddenly from the receding lake, even more massive and twisted than those that had been harassing the humans outside for the past day and night. These roots frantically absorbed the waters of the Blood Lake, and if Hao Ren and the others could have seen this scene, they would have understood what was happening: the Twisted Woodland was extracting the last bit of energy from the "Tide of Blood"!

Amidst the earthshaking rumble, the giant wolves at the town entrance abruptly stood up and roared at the Twisted Woodland, but these war cries, which would normally shatter mountains, only caused a few leaves to fall from the forest. The watchtower where Aouine stood began to collapse, and she and Hao Ren's group quickly jumped to the ground. "It's earlier than expected! Retreat!"

At the last moment, something unexpected had indeed happened: the "First Born" was awakening a full twelve hours earlier than the data terminal had calculated!

But no one was concerned about calculation errors at this point. After an initial moment of panic, the elite soldiers who were covering the retreat regained their composure. They knew that at times like these, only obeying orders and retreating in an orderly manner could offer any hope of survival. Squads of knights, led by their respective commanders, charged out of town and headed towards the Dragon Spine Mountains along pre-planned routes, while Aouine personally led a team with Hao Ren and the others to break through.

"Immediately notify the Church District Master of Gelton! Abandon this place!" Aouine ordered loudly to an adjutant while on horseback. The fatigue from a day and night of continuous fighting seemed to be forcibly dispelled at this moment, and she did her best to project her usual powerful aura.

However, the adjutant only returned with a group of ordinary bishops and assistant bishops. "Marshal, the Church District Master refuses to retreat!"

"What does he mean?" Aouine frowned.

The surrounding buildings were collapsing, and the earth shook more and more violently, but she sat astride her horse, as steady as a mountain. This aura also calmed the adjutant, who was in a state of tension and panic. "The Church District Master wishes to share the church's fate. He has decided to become a martyr."

"Is this something that can be solved by martyrdom!" Hao Ren was agitated at the thought. Faced with a monster like the "First Born," the heroism of a single person was utterly useless! But just as he was about to rush into the church and drag the stubborn old man out, a pillar of light, even more magnificent than before, suddenly shone from the direction of the church. The entire church was instantly enveloped in holy flames, transforming into a translucent, illusory structure. The powerful divine radiance even caused the tentacles that were constantly pouring in from outside the town to retreat. Seeing this, the bearded man grabbed Hao Ren. "He can't be saved. The Church District Master has already fused with the divine array."

The illusory structure conjured by the church gradually extended, turning into a magnificent Gate of Radiance, the image of the "Goddess's Gate" depicted by countless adherents of the Radiant Church over thousands of years through their faith. Within the Gate of Radiance, the figure of an old man in white robes gradually emerged, aged, hunched, his face full of wrinkles, so old that it seemed he would be summoned by the Goddess at any moment. His eyes stared blankly ahead, and he raised his hand slightly, pointing towards the Dragon Spine Mountains.

A beam of light burst forth from the top of the Gate of Radiance, connecting to the gap in the middle of the Dragon Spine Mountains along the path of the retreating knights. Under the light, the tentacles and direbeasts around the avenue were burned to ashes in swathes.

Hao Ren suddenly remembered what Gelton had said before jumping into the great vortex of the Blood Lake: "I am already very old..."

Aouine turned her horse around and swung down her sword. "Everyone, retreat!"

The last team charged out of Reiton Town, and what awaited them was a wilderness that was violently surging, like a twisted purgatory!

The earth rippled like softened gelatin, and everything in sight was shaking. Mountains and rocks were collapsing, and city walls were being destroyed. Reiton Town behind them turned into ruins in the blink of an eye, leaving only the divine radiance that had transcended the material realm to guide their path. Countless gigantic tentacles burst forth from both sides of the avenue, and even from under their feet. A dark mass of direbeasts poured out of the Twisted Woodland like a tide, but most were scorched to ashes under the divine radiance. This was the power accumulated by countless believers in the Church District of Beinz over three thousand years, and even if it was not enough to fight against the main body of the "First Born," it could at least clear away these things!

"If the heritage from the outside world hadn't been severed..." Aouine looked at the direbeasts rushing out of the Twisted Woodland. "Three thousand years would have been enough for us to eliminate these direbeasts! But unfortunately, the world has always thought of them as ordinary mutated monsters... No one knows that they are descendants of the Third Born."

The giant wolves cleared the way in front, followed closely by the knights. Aouine and Hao Ren's group covered the rear, and the team advanced through the landslide, risking their lives. Knights and mages flying at low altitude were constantly attacked by tentacles and fell behind. The remaining people could only do their best to abandon all distractions, try to ignore the deafening roar in their ears, and desperately move towards the Dragon Spine Mountains.

The divine radiance could not eliminate all the tentacles. The particularly powerful ones could always hold out a little longer under the holy flames.

Just as the team was about to reach the foot of the mountain, another thunderous roar suddenly came from the other side!

Elson, who was running at the front of the team, shouted, "Stone giants! The stone giants are coming!"

Countless stone giants rolled down from the mountain road, and even jumped directly from the nearest cliffs. They were smashed to pieces upon landing, but they recovered in the blink of an eye, got up and continued to advance. The scale of these stone giants was far beyond what the crowd had seen before. Thinking that these stone monsters had no ability to distinguish between friend and foe, and would only wildly attack any moving object within their sensing range, the remaining soldiers of the Knights were immediately engulfed in despair.

But in the end, these stone monsters ignored the humans. They charged without hesitation towards the Twisted Woodland, which was slowly turning into a giant "mountain"!

It seemed that there was still some kind of identification mechanism in these stone monsters that allowed them to figure out which enemy was the greatest threat.

Aouine visibly breathed a sigh of relief, her voice piercing through the surrounding roar. "Keep moving forward, don't look back!"

The team finally reached the mountain path of the Dragon Spine Mountains. This was a narrow mountain road, and the stone giants would not pass through here. As long as they advanced a little further on this mountain road, they would be out of the range of the roots of the Twisted Woodland. Vivian looked back and quietly activated the magic arrays she had left in the underground cave.

The "core" organ of the Twisted Woodland seemed to have a special function. Although the entire forest was rising, those organs had not yet left the caves that served as heart containers.

A faint red mist seemed to rise from the edge of the Twisted Woodland. At this time, Hao Ren and the others finally rushed into the depths of the mountains.

A roar like rolling thunder came from behind, almost capable of collapsing the mountains. This time it was a real roar. Hao Ren could almost sense the unprecedented anger and hatred of an ancient being from the "muffled thunder."

Suddenly, he remembered the venomous words he had heard from the giant brain:

"You scraps!"