Chapter 1 The Rolling Heat Wave

Rolling heat, flying debris, and the shockwave from the massive explosion tore through the long-silent plain. The decaying and twisted matter was indiscriminately annihilated into dust, and the corrupted demon creatures that roamed the land were reduced to ashes.

At the epicenter of the explosion, the smoke formed a vortex and gradually dissipated. Hao Ren emerged from the vortex, his body radiating heat. His rigid shield shimmered, and the aura of conflict between Order and Chaos spread for several meters around him.

In fact, he didn't need holy objects like Order Amulets to walk through the Chaos here or even create a large-scale Order environment. He himself was already the most divine "holy object" in this world (apart from the missing Goddess of Creation). As the direct representative of another True God, he could generate a force field similar to the Golden Banner of Victory in the Chaos domain of this "Koro World." He had voluntarily taken on the task of luring away the demon creatures, partly to temporarily avoid Veronica's gaze and verify his situation.

This situation of "body as sacred ground" was too shocking, and he hadn't decided whether to reveal this characteristic to the locals.

Veronica probably thought he carried some ancient "Order Amulet" to move freely in the Chaos domain.

Hao Ren looked at the aura spreading around him, the faint silver lines visible within it. Extending his gaze further, he saw the charred fragments of demon corpses rapidly weathering away. The weathered material gradually became part of the surrounding environment in a way that defied physics, soon disappearing completely.

The power of a small nuclear bomb was indeed impressive.

He squatted beside a piece of debris that was gradually dissipating, examining it while muttering to himself, "The boundary between physical and non-physical is blurred. After losing constraints, they are quickly assimilated into the surrounding environment, including the remaining material parts... Judging from the cross-section of the wreckage, the internal physiological structure has completely lost its meaning. All these demon creatures do not rely on their internal organs to maintain activity. Their power source may be a third-party energy source such as magic... The bones have a black crystalline structure, and it is not yet clear what connection this structure has with the so-called 'Chaosification'..."

The wreckage disappeared completely, and Hao Ren raised his head, looking at the vast darkness.

An unprecedented sense of loneliness surged in his heart. He was not used to his current state: his companions were not around for various reasons, and even the mental connection with the Data Terminal had become extremely weak. Being alone in this strange "Koro World" made this situation more unsettling than ever before.

But after a moment of daze, he regained his senses and did not allow the temporary loneliness and anxiety to shake his heart.

The surrounding mist seemed to thicken, and some low roars came from all directions. Hao Ren immediately became vigilant, gripping his plasma spear in his hand: he knew the corrupted demon creatures were still there, and their numbers were definitely more than he had just eliminated.

The explosion just now seemed powerful, but the power of the corrupted demon creatures was not as fragile as he thought. Many monsters withstood the shockwave at the edge of the explosion, and more monsters escaped the scene with their powerful instinct and speed before the explosion occurred. So, less than one-fifth of the thousands of monsters were killed. More monsters were only temporarily dispersed into the heavy darkness. Now these corrupters had surrounded him again, and this time, it would be a bit difficult to pull them together for an AoE attack.

Although the corrupted demon creatures had no intellect, their instinct as predators was terrifyingly strong.

Hao Ren looked at the rigid shield shining on his body. The shield capacity had been depleted by a third in the chase just now. This Koro World was not simple. Even an inspector couldn't just rely on his shield and weapons to charge around here.

He watched the movement in the dark mist, while releasing several autonomous machines from his personal space, preparing to deal with the next wave of attacks.

Just then, a beam of light suddenly shone from behind, dispelling the darkness, interrupting his movements, and attracting the attention of the monsters in the darkness.

In the town ruins, a beam of light suddenly shone brightly, like the Tower of Babel in mythology, pointing straight at the sky, tearing a hole in the dark clouds floating in the high sky. Under the light, the town's broken walls gradually became crystal clear, and the ancient runes originally invisible on the stones lit up one after another, turning into a temporary barrier for the land of Order. A translucent, shield-like light罩 formed above the city. It shook gently a few times, and then became stable.

Hao Ren was stunned. The words "Hearth" flashed through his mind.

So that's what it looks like after that thing is activated.

A series of demon roars interrupted his thoughts.

The light above the town ruins illuminated the wilderness. In the light, the corrupted demon creatures originally hiding in the darkness revealed themselves one by one. These monsters, which had become accomplices of Chaos, painfully covered their eyes in the light, and billowing black smoke emerged from their bodies. However, in this extreme pain, none of these monsters turned around to escape. On the contrary—

Just as Veronica and Morian had said, these corrupted demon creatures were attracted to the light of Order.

They turned and rushed towards the town, like moths to a flame.

Hao Ren had heard of this "habit" of the demon creatures from Veronica before, but he couldn't help but be shocked when he actually saw it. He had seen all kinds of ferocious and terrible monsters, but the sight of the entire demon creature group rushing towards the light barrier while burning was unprecedented. He saw the ugly creatures emitting thick smoke fall apart as they ran. Black matter fell from the cracks in their bodies, igniting a series of flames on the ground. The monsters were painfully burned by the light of Order, and let out scalp-numbing screams in their mad rush—but even so, they still rushed towards the light curtain under the Hearth Tower without hesitation, as if nothing could stop them.

Hao Ren, who was their number one enemy a moment ago, was now being ignored.

The monsters ran past Hao Ren as if they didn't see him, without even a look back. Hao Ren watched the chaotic army run towards the town ruins, and almost in the blink of an eye, the area around him became empty. He was stunned for a moment, then grabbed his spear and chased after them.

Thousands of monsters rushed into the Order light curtain, seventy percent of them died on the way, and a small portion were shot to death by Hao Ren from behind.

They rushed towards the Hearth while burning all over. When these monsters appeared in Veronica's sight, the latter was basically only left with a hundred or so skeletal frames about to be burned to ashes. The knights waiting in the square easily cooperated with Hao Ren to eliminate these fragile enemies.

Hao Ren returned to Veronica's side. Apart from the heavy shield consumption, he was unscathed. Veronica looked at him in surprise: "You must have been the most powerful warrior in the temple back then. I have never heard of anyone who could easily accomplish such a feat as you did today."

"Ah, so-so," Hao Ren waved his hand perfunctorily, frowning as he looked at the few ash piles on the square. "These monsters just... died? Most of them basically died by suicide."

"Corrupted demon creatures are pitiful creatures," Veronica lowered her eyes. "Actually, it's very simple to eliminate them. Just use the light of Order to make a trap, and they will always rush in without regard for their own lives... These creatures corrupted by Chaos, their souls still retain the last trace of longing for Order, but they have fallen too deep, and it is beyond redemption."

Hao Ren shook his head and turned to look at the Hearth Tower behind them, which was emitting a radiant light.

The stone square tower was now fully operational. Countless golden runes lit up on the originally black tower body. Light floated in the hollow structure at the bottom of the square tower, as if there was a flame burning inside. The top of the square tower emitted a bright beam of light—this was the light he had seen outside the ruins before.

Standing next to the Hearth Tower, Hao Ren could clearly feel that the unpleasant "Chaos aura" in the wilderness had completely dissipated. It was easy to breathe here, and he felt refreshed. This was the feeling of being in the land of Order.

He nodded: "We can rest assured with this thing."

"But this Hearth can only last for a short while," Veronica glanced at Hao Ren. "It has been burned out. This place is in the heart of Chaos, and the dark side of Karnas completely covers it. The Hearth Tower will not be replenished with the power of Order. A fire without a source cannot last long. I used my own bloodline to light the Hearth. It will last for at most two hours."

Hao Ren suddenly understood why Veronica and her knight order had to find Mount Kasuan despite having such a powerful holy object in the wilderness: it turned out that maintaining a land of Order in the Chaos domain was so difficult.

"So, have you figured anything out?" Hao Ren looked at Veronica.

The Knight Princess wanted to understand the reasons for the strange behavior of the corrupted demon creatures in this action. When Hao Ren came back, he saw the old knight Morian checking something next to the base of the tower, while several knights were checking the remains of the demon creatures that had not completely dissipated. He was curious about what clues the other party could find.