Chapter 1 The Barren Plain

The scorched earth plain was vast and desolate, just like its name. All one could see on this boundless wasteland was a large expanse of scorched earth. The land, corrupted by the power of nightmares, was barren. Cracks covered the black ground, and at a glance, the entire earth seemed to have been burned by fire. In the ancient memories of the Mountain King, this plain had once been lush with water and grass, and its population had been thriving. That was before Collow was fragmented and this land had become the "Old World." Gordon remembered that this land was then located in Collow's northern hemisphere, in the temperate or subarctic zone. At that time, a beautiful city-state called "Lavendel" stood on this plain. A mortal saint ruled the land. She was a devout follower of the Goddess of Creation and relied on wisdom and faith to lead her people to take root in the wilderness. She was also a close friend of several wardens. In that beautiful era, although an evil god was imprisoned in Collow's core, this planet was still full of vitality and hope. Loken led the "Ancient Kings" to form the "Sky Council" and ruled the planet together with mortals...

Every day seemed sunny back then.

But those days were gone forever.

Gordon snapped out of his brief daze and saw a pillar of smoke and dust slowly collapsing. Countless twisted and evil monsters were being sent back to the depths of chaos by the battle formations and spells of the Knights and the flames of the Fire King, Gulash. The chaos storm that had previously blotted out the sky seemed to have temporarily subsided.

This was the scorched earth plain today—in this cursed place, there were only monsters, endless monsters.

"Gordon, are you alright?" the voice of the Wind King, Avtina, came from the side. The giantess summoned a healing aura and sprinkled it on Gordon's head. "You were distracted just now."

"Just remembering some things from the past," the Mountain King shook his head and looked at the human legions in front of him. "Another wave repelled. These mortal armies are stronger than I thought."

"They have always been strong. After all, they are also the creations of the Mother and share the same origin as us," Avtina said softly, while reminding Gordon, "Concentrate. We are very close to Lockmarton's territory. It is very likely that it has already begun to try to influence our minds."

"Don't worry, I won't give it any more openings." Gordon said in a deep voice.

At the same moment, above this vast army, the three most powerful magic导(dao) warships of the City of Divine Grace were sailing at low speed.

Transferring matter from the real world to the Abyss of Oblivion was extremely difficult, especially when the main channels were blocked. Countless heroic souls in the City of Divine Grace sacrificed themselves to transfer the city to the scorched earth plain. They were no longer able to send more things to this world. However, to face the Nightmare Tyrant, Lockmarton, flesh and blood were far from enough. Therefore, the Pope and the heroic souls did their best to calculate every gram of mass and improve the conversion efficiency of every unit of energy, and finally transferred the three magic导(dao) warships parked near the City of Divine Grace to this world.

Dawn Light, Saint, and Daybreak were the most powerful magic导(dao) warships in the entire Holy Domain, even the entire Collow. Although Gordon was not optimistic about the role these three ships could play, they were still one of the few trump cards in the hands of this "Nightmare Expeditionary Force."

In order to maximize the use of the three ships in the final battle, the three ships had been given the best protection throughout the march. Except for providing fire support in two critical encounters, the three ships had hardly participated in combat until now.

On the front deck of the flagship Saint, Hao Ren and his group stood with the Pope, looking at the dark horizon ahead.

Compared to when he set out, the Pope was even more silent at this moment. He stood on the deck like a withered pine tree, his thin arms tightly gripping his cane, his body without the slightest sway, and his eyes looking at the horizon were as deep as water. In those emotionless eyes, one could not see the slightest emotion of the old man.

It was difficult for Hao Ren to guess what a conglomerate formed by the souls of successive Popes would think. This old man had surpassed the concept of a regular life. He came from mortals, but eventually transformed into a non-human existence. In those eyes that carried the passage of ten thousand years and the wisdom of hundreds of sages, what did he see? And what was he paying attention to?

"That is Spiral Hill." After a long silence, the Pope suddenly spoke.

Hao Ren followed the old man's gaze, and on the horizon, a hazy and huge black shadow gradually became clear.

Spiral Hill was not a hill, but a strangely shaped, spiraling tower.

He saw the distant earth rise up, forming a conical base. Huge rocks and black substances of unknown material stretched out from this base, probing into the sky like the tentacles of some strange creature. It twisted and spiraled upwards, looking like a crooked spring, and inside this "spring," large masses of black smoke and flashes of lightning rolled endlessly.

Behind Spiral Hill, a large expanse of thick fog connected the sky and the earth like a gray and white wall. In the surging fog, countless bizarre things could be seen constantly emerging, as if absurd and grotesque dreams were appearing in the real world.

If he was right, that should be the "Chaotic Sea" that the old Pope mentioned.

With the blessing of legion-level divine術(shu), the army once again increased its speed, quickly sweeping across the plain like a silver carpet flying close to the ground. Spiral Hill became clearer and clearer in the field of vision.

"It knows we are coming," the old Pope quietly looked at the strange spiral "tower," his tone as calm as if he no longer had human emotions. "Kalaxius, order people to sound the horns. The final battle is about to begin."

Above Spiral Hill, the dark clouds began to churn. Huge tentacle-like objects condensed from the mist and smoke, drooping from the clouds to the ground as if licking the earth. Twilight moved between the clouds, and bizarre patches of light, like the eyes of evil beasts, vaguely revealed an unprecedentedly huge black shadow as the light and shadow floated, and a huge pressure began to surge between heaven and earth.

Pillars of smoke and dust appeared out of thin air under the stirring of the tentacles. Terrible howls came from all directions. Chaotic demons constantly gathered with Lockmarton's awakening. One second they were just smoke and dust, and the next they had gathered like a tide.

"Woo—"

The low horns sounded from the three magic导(dao) warships, desolate and tragic.

"Everyone, draw your swords! Chaos is coming!"

The commander's roar swept across the battle formation like a storm. Golden war flags began to burn fiercely. Sacred runes of order flashed on the chest of every warrior. The legion seemed to be plated with a layer of light, becoming a dazzling blade in this dim and gloomy nightmare world.

Compared to when it first set out, the size of this fearless legion had shrunk by nearly a third. Thousands of warriors had fallen on the journey across the scorched earth plain. More than ten encounters, two chaos storms, and deadly psychic attacks had taken the lives of many noble souls and left those still alive exhausted, with almost no time to rest. The attacks from the nightmare were endless. The last battle had just ended, and the soldiers had almost no rest as they faced the final battle.

However, no one retreated, and no one regretted it. This was a war against an evil god. Nothing but death could end it!

When the cry of "Chaos is coming" resounded throughout the battlefield, the warriors once again raised their weapons, facing the approaching dark tide!

The black tide formed by the chaotic demons finally came into contact with the silver spearhead of the Holy Domain Expeditionary Force, and the two tides of silver and black collided, and the whole world seemed to stagnate for a moment.

Then, water splashed everywhere.

Countless limbs flew into the air, both human and demon. The point of collision between the two legions seemed to have turned into a rough grindstone, and scattered sparks and debris burst out in the fierce friction. The front ends of the two tides paused slightly, and recessed inward a little, but the next moment, there was a more violent rebound and re-collision!

And in this meat grinder-style advance, the silver spearhead of the Holy Domain Expeditionary Force slowed down, but it still did not stop, but continued forward with slow but firm steps, constantly approaching the base of Spiral Hill.

On the deck of the Saint, Lily looked anxiously at the melee on the distant front line, and occasionally quickly circled around Hao Ren: "Landlord, landlord, when are we going up?!"

"Wait a little longer," Hao Ren paid attention to the changes in the clouds above Spiral Hill. He knew that brave soldiers were dying on the road to the charge every minute and every second, but he could not now put the forces at hand into the battle on the ground. The sacrifice of those soldiers was to buy space for the second wave of attacks, and he had to understand this point. "Pay attention to the movements of Gordon and the others. After they join the battle, we will go down to help, but pay attention to saving energy—there are even greater challenges waiting for us ahead."

"Okay!"

Lily nodded vigorously, and then focused on the battle formation where the ten Ancient Wardens were located.

The Mountain King, Gordon, was now watching the battlefield closely.

The battle line was still advancing, and the warriors of the Holy Domain were using their flesh and blood and almost fanatical sacrifices to "smash" a path in the chaos army. Spiral Hill was now covered with layers of black legions, but the silver spearhead of the Holy Domain Expeditionary Force was like a sharp blade cutting into rotten meat, cutting open this thick barrier bit by bit.

In the battle of the vanguard legions, the rear troops were able to continue to advance.

Suddenly, a powerful mental pressure swept the battlefield.

Like a gust of wind blowing across the lake, indescribable psychic power swept through the mental world of everyone on the battlefield, and countless bizarre illusions and negative emotions emerged, causing everyone's breathing to stagnate. Although the high-level battle clerics quickly dispelled these psychic intrusions with divine術(shu), the feeling of palpitation could not be dispelled for a long time.

The Mountain King Gordon's eyes sharpened. At the same time that the psychic storm swept over, he saw strange things appear in the smoke pillars in the front line.

Two huge tentacles took shape in the smoke, and countless ugly monsters with swollen bodies and a height of four or five meters emerged around the tentacles and rushed to the battlefield—

"Lockmarton spawn appeared!" The Mountain King's voice was as loud as his title. "Wardens, prepare to fight!"