Chapter 1 The More You Stay in Kolo World...

The longer Hao Ren stayed in Kolo World, the more astonished he became at the secrets buried within this bizarre space. Initially, he thought it was just an ordinary alien dimension sandwiched between the Dream Plane and the Surface World. However, as he delved deeper, he discovered the residual power of the Creation Goddess, primordial beings possibly even older than the First Born and the Guardian Giants, and traces of a "Lost Age" before the Creation Goddess created all life. Now, he had even found the likely prototypes of the Guardian Giants and the original model of the Creation Engine!

This alien dimension called "Prison" held so many secrets, seemingly pointing to an extremely ancient era and a truth no one had ever imagined. Yet, outside of Kolo, no known ancient record even mentioned this prison!

What exactly was Lockmarton? Were the jailers guarding it the prototypes of the current Guardian Giants? Why were there so many things in this prison and its defense system that differed so much from the Creation Goddess relics he had found elsewhere? Such as the Crystal Holy Mountain Asu Man and the Ark of the Covenant before him—they were clearly different from the Creation Goddess temples Hao Ren had found in other places!

With these questions in mind, Hao Ren looked at Loken, the King of All Kings, who was manipulating numerous holographic runes in front of the Crystal Pyramid: "The door is open?"

"The door—the Mirror Realm isn't the kind of door you imagine. It doesn't open; it only 'manifests' itself. And the Abyss of Oblivion that imprisons Lockmarton isn't the kind of sealed space or prison you imagine either. It has actually been around everyone from the beginning, but you just couldn't sense it," Loken said, pushing certain runes floating on the Crystal Pyramid to specific positions. With each of his actions, Hao Ren felt a subtle and obscure change occurring. It seemed that the huge cave before him was unconsciously transforming into another place, and Loken's voice gradually became ethereal. "I will send you to the other side of the Mirror Realm. There, you will see the true Kolo—and face Lockmarton's challenge directly."

Loken's voice grew more distant. Hao Ren was surprised to see the jailer's figure gradually fading, as if he were already in a different space-time from everyone else. Half of the other twenty jailers beside him underwent the same change, while the other half remained as they were.

"Ten of my companions will accompany you. They will explain the situation on the other side of the Mirror Realm. The other jailers and I will stay here—in the 'Awake World,' there are still many things waiting for us."

"Go, destroy Lockmarton. Whether you succeed or not, we will hold out until the last moment before you return."

Loken's voice finally faded away completely, and the eleven ancient jailers, including him, disappeared before everyone's eyes. With them disappeared all the divine light flowing through the entire Ark of the Covenant cave. The surrounding iridescent lights vanished, and the entire cave presented a bizarre, deathly, dim state. The Crystal Pyramid became dull, and the stone ground and the Asu Man crystal clusters above had become ordinary, bare rocks at some point. A cold, twilight glow representing Lockmarton's will drifted above the cave, filled with malice.

Ten of the remaining ancient jailers stood beside Hao Ren and his group. The leader was a burly male giant with jungle-like thick hair and beard, his gray-white braids scattered wildly behind him, the ends of the braids tied with heavy stones. His entire body was so swollen that he seemed about to burst out of his rocky skin. He bowed slightly to Hao Ren: "I am Loken's brother and deputy, Gorton, the King of Mountains and Rivers. Let's go, the Eternal Battlefield awaits us."

Hao Ren looked at the people around him and shrugged: "If I'm not mistaken, we've already crossed the 'Mirror Realm' and entered the Abyss of Oblivion. I pretty much understand the spatial structure of this Kolo World now."

At this moment, after Hao Ren and his group had completely disappeared from the air, only eleven jailers, including Loken, remained before the Ark of the Covenant. The cave they were in was still filled with divine light, runes wandering on the Crystal Pyramid, and the light of Asu Man scattering from the top of the cave, filling the entire cave with a sacred and solemn atmosphere.

As for An Xi, she had returned to Asu Man, as the newly restarted starship needed her adjustments.

Outside the cave, the Holy Mountain Asu Man had already begun operating, and the powerful light of order swept away the chaotic shadows shrouding the Holy Land, bathing the entire continent in sacred order—at least temporarily bathing in it.

Loken withdrew his gaze from the Crystal Pyramid and looked up at the increasingly bright and clear Asu Man crystal cluster dome, his tone deep: "Those warriors have restarted Asu Man, and they have also awakened the old fellow in the Will Nexus. Old friends—we have never been so close to final victory as we are today. Almost everything is in the best condition. This time, we have no reason to retreat."

As Loken spoke, the bottom of the Crystal Pyramid was gradually covered with a layer of twilight light. Under the twilight light, some shadows appeared out of thin air, and countless twisted and grotesque things like flesh and blood grew out of the shadows, bit by bit gnawing at the real world. However, as soon as they came into contact with the light around Loken, these growing things would let out a brief wail and return to their cold, deathly darkness.

"Loken, how much chance do you think those warriors have of succeeding?" A female jailer took down a short staff from her back, and milky white holy light emerged from the staff. "They are going to face Lockmarton—an existence that even we find difficult to defeat. It has been lurking and accumulating power on the 'other side' for ten thousand years, and will only be more cunning and powerful now."

"I sensed an aura similar to the Mother's from them, especially from their leader, the one who looks like a human. He is surrounded by many different powers, including a part of the Mother, a part similar to the Mother but not exactly the same, and a part that I cannot distinguish... You should remember a saying the Mother once said..."

"Outside of this world we know, there should be existences similar to her—that's what the Mother said," the female jailer said, "So you suspect they are..."

"The Mother has always been lonely, but I think she can no longer be lonely," Loken said in a low voice, an energy-condensed scepter forming out of thin air in his hand, the lightning erupting from the top of the scepter shattering a mass of shadow that had just crawled out of the bottom of the Crystal Pyramid. "Those warriors should be from the Mother's 'hometown.' I can vaguely hear the Mother's voice, she tells me to trust those warriors. So, while they face Lockmarton, face our rebellious brother, let us stay here and absolutely not let chaos cross the line!"

"When the covenant is opened, people from the real world can enter the nightmare world, and the monsters in the nightmare will also enter the awake world through this channel," the female jailer said in a low voice, her tone slow and deep, with a chanting-like rhythm. The cave was already covered in shadows at some point, and countless unspeakable things were twisting and wriggling in these abnormal shadows that still appeared out of thin air under the light, spreading outwards. "Lockmarton will not let go of this opportunity... But this time, we are not so easy to deal with!"

Clusters of light exploded, and shouts of battle rang out. Shadow and holy light engaged in a fierce conflict. In the sacred Ark of the Covenant cave, the jailers and the monsters that poured out of the nightmare world launched yet another desperate fight—the last fight!

The battle in the Ark of the Covenant cave did not affect the other side of the Mirror Realm. In this nightmarish world, all that could be observed were some floating lights and shadows flickering around the dim Crystal Pyramid. These small anomalies did not stop the challengers who had already entered the nightmare.

Hao Ren and Kalaxius led the remaining warriors through the long tunnel. Under the guidance of the ten jailers, they were gradually approaching the surface.

Apart from the barbarian soldiers who blindly followed the alpha wolf and did not think about any profound principles, the Holy Land warriors led by Kalaxius had realized that they had entered another world—although the principle was difficult to explain, they could be sure that they were walking on strange land!

After leaving the Ark of the Covenant cave and moving upwards, they should have passed through Asu Man's crystal corridors and halls. However, now, in the same direction and the same location, they could only see endless rock tunnels and rock caves filled with strange runes and patterns that had been abandoned for who knew how many years. In the caves, they could see decayed weapons and twisted, huge skeletons, as well as mercury-like pools of water emitting a silvery-gray light.

Any high-ranking cleric living in the City of God's Grace could be sure that there was no such place underground in Asu Man!

"Don't get close to those luminous pools of water," Gorton, the King of Mountains and Rivers, rumbled as a reminder. "That's the lure of the nightmare. The thirsty will sink into these false oases, drink their own blood, and die. The bones by the water's edge are the victims who were deceived."

Mulu cautiously looked at everything he encountered along the way. He walked behind his "brothers" cast from rock and metal, and finally found an opportunity to speak: "The caves here seem to be designed specifically for giants—they are very tall."

"Because in the beginning, only we giants guarded the nightmare world," the King of Mountains and Rivers glanced at Mulu, then nodded slightly. "There wasn't time to say hello just now—you and I should be brothers, the Mother created you later."

"We never knew of the existence of you rock brothers."

"Because we belong to the part that must be forgotten," the King of Mountains and Rivers patted Mulu on the shoulder, the rumbling sound echoing throughout the cave. "...As a life form, you look more complete than us."

Mulu wanted to say something more, but at this moment, the tunnel had reached its end.

Dim yellow light came from the front, and a dim, chaotic sky was faintly visible in the distance. Along with it came faint sounds of fighting and thunderous roars.

"Welcome to the 'real' Kolo," Gorton said loudly, "Welcome to the last line of defense on the Nightmare Frontier, the Twilight Fortress!"

After speaking, he muttered in a low voice: "Calling it the Twilight Ruins is the same."